Is vintage ammo safe?

[bushmaster1313]

I saw some vintage M19 WWII 12 gauge brass shotgun shells for sale.

Is it safe to handle these shells

I am worried that old primers might fire upon handleing

Thoughts please

 

[Zack]

I think its safe. I heard people using 60+ year old ammo shooting still! I got some ammo for my mosin nagant and its over 40 years old! I fire it. But I never heard about shotgun shells. Only long rifle and pistol.

 

[shotgunjoel]

It should be fine. People have and shoot ammo from WW1 and 2. Primers and powders don't really become explosive or sensitive with age. Usually if it changes at all it with become less sensitive or explosive.

 

[SW28fan]

On a whim a few months ago I shot some 1937 manufacture British 303 mkVII ball ammo. They all went off and shot rather well.

 

[cjl8651]

Might get a hang-fire like this guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7exg9S_5tQ

 

[Sunray]

"...old primers might fire upon handling..." Not in a million years.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Primers and propellant do not become more sensitive with age. Simple handling, even rough, is not going to set them off.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

No Problem with old ammo!

 

[ol' scratch]

Not really a worry about the primers firing upon handling; however, the primers may be corrosive. If you do shoot them, just to be safe, clean the shotgun very well.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

WWII brass shotgun shells are collector's items. Sell them to an ammunition collector and buy some fresh ammo.

Serioisly though, I bought two WWII M1 carbine magazines and a web pouch from an estate sale, ammo dated 1944, with green corrosion on the brass (stored under less than ideal circumstances). I cleaned the magazines up (they were lightly rusted). The ammo had no collector's value, so I dumped it in a container of hot water and dish washing liquid, and scrubbed the green verdigris off, and dried them on the kitchen window sill. They all fired when I took them to the range (30 rounds of .30 M1 Carbine vintage 1944 fired about fifty years later).

I also bought a box of mixed box of .45 ACP which included thirty rounds of WWII steel cased ammo (not in an original box, with twenty rounds of modern brass cased .45 mixed in. I fired those steel cased rounds in a vintage military match (3 targets in 3 strings of ten rounds) and shot one of my better scores with my .45.

I have also gotten some British .303 of 1946 vintage with several duds, loooong hangfires (pull the trigger, click, one Mississippi, two Mississippi, KaBOOM!).

Is vintage ammo safe? It depends mostly on storage conditions.

ADDED: Back in the 1970s my stepdad and I shot some .30-06 ammo he had inherited from a relative in Remington semi-auto rifle. Some of it was 1920s vintage; it all fired, but not all rounds fully functioned the action.

 

[welldoya]

I would think it would depend on how it was stored. 20 years ago I got some old .45 ammo from my grandfather. It was from WWll and he had it stored in a shed.
It had a think layer of green mold on it. I cleaned it all off with very fine grit sandpaper. Took it out and fired it in my Colt Commander. First shot fired fine, the second and third shots didn't. I ejected them for inspection. The brass was split right down the side. Scared the heck out of me.

 

[WardenWolf]

World War II .45 ammo is particularly problematic. They often did not seal the primers and it tends to go bad at rates far exceeding other WW2 ammo. I've heard of extended hangfires and other problems associated specifically with .45 ammo. I would expect the shotgun shells would exhibit similar problems due to their inherently open nature.

 

[Average Joe]

Its safe, whats the worst that could happen, it won't fire.....Its old guns that I would worry about, not the ammo.

 

[paintballdude902]

ive fired some wwI era .30-06 and wwII era .45 all went bang fine with the exception of some pakistani .308 fromt the 80's i had a bunch of hang fires

 

[bobelk99]

Ammo is definitely safe to handle, but I would follow Carl's idea and sell it, or hold for a special buyer.

Either way, unless you have a collection interest, there is no gain in just keeping it.

 

[Coatofplates]

the only ammo I currently have for my enfield revolver is 1948 production, so far I've had one fail to fire out of 500 rounds shot.

 

[GraceOutcast]

Concerning hang fires. How much time actually passes before it fires? Is it a millisecond or a few seconds? I've never run into one before

 

[KC9LDB]

What i would pay for a box of Western LRN nickel plated 38 SPL's! I had 3 of them, shot em up, 60s vintage, awesome

 

[thorazine]

Concerning hang fires. How much time actually passes before it fires? Is it a millisecond or a few seconds? I've never run into one before

Good question.

I don't bother and go straight into malfunction clearing mode.

 

[Werewolf]

Good question.

I don't bother and go straight into malfunction clearing mode.

Which is exactly what the US Army teaches its soldiers to do (or at least they did in the early 70's when I joined).

A civilian range is a bit different. They don't want ejected ammo going off on the ground 30 seconds later.

The club I am a member of insists that on any hangfire that you wait at least 1 minute before ejecting the round. Happens to me with Remington blue box 22LR all the time. I still can't break the army habit and wait a minute. I get a click on a loaded round and its out of the chamber and another loaded quick. Habit? good training? take your pick.

 

[doc540]

Why risk it like I did?

 

[WardenWolf]

Depends on a lot of things with a hangfire. With WW2 .45 ammo, I have heard of multiple accounts of hangfires exceeding 5 seconds. One of these caused the death of a robber and would-be murderer who had stolen an old vet's gun. He made the mistake of looking down the barrel after the gun went *click*.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Hangfires will teach you about follow-through: if you are clinching up in anticipation of recoil (unconciously pulling down or pushing up) it will show. The only thing that should move when you pull the trigger is the trigger finger. Hard primers and a light hammerspring (requiring occassionally a second or even third strike to fire a cartridge) will have the same effect: if you are flinching, it will show.

If you have a misfire with a modern automatic and fresh ammo, it is probably dud ammo or the bolt not fully locked (hammer hitting the cocking cam rather than the firing pin) so immediate malfunction clear is a good combat discipline. With vintage ammo, though, it could be a hangfire that will fire eventually. Immediate malfunction clear is not a good range discipline. Our range currently requires eyeprotection worn by anyone on the firing line, even with a bolt action, and hearing protection by all on the range.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I had some forty-year old German-made German-marked 7.62x33mm (.30 US Carbine) and fired it all; wish I had kept it now.

A guy wrote elsewhere that he had a Japanese revolver and a box of shells inherited from a relative; he took it out and fired it. He later inquired about the collector value of the revolver, and was told the revolvers were fairly common war trophies, but the ammo was rare and collectors were then paying $6 a round, more than that if in the origiinal box.

 

[CoRoMo]

The only problems I've encountered with old brass shotshells is an occasional dud. They're actually more frequent than occasional.