Loading long term ammo

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KY DAN

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I want to load 500 rounds of the following rounds to set aside for "whatever" mainly in the event of a untimely death so my wife and family would have access to them.

(Yes I could teach them and I have tried to with little success due to their lack of interest, there are books on the subject in my stash so its on them not me)

45 acp
38 special
357 magnum
44 magnum
9mm
308
270 Winchester
30/30

Should the ammo have its primers and bullets sealed?

Powder to be used is a follows
Win 231
Win 296/h110
Imr 4895
Imr 3031

All ammo will be kept in a sealed 40mm ammmo can.

What's everyone's thoughts on this?
 
Hugger-4641 said:
Stay away from double base powders like 231 and 296/h110. These will be the most likely to be affected by temperature extremes and will degrade quicker. Single base powders like 3031 will keep for decades if stored properly.
Click to expand...

Could you please elaborate on this?

By extreme what do you mean? My ammo currently lives in a climate control area 70 ish winter 70ish summer.

Could you recommend a good powder for long term pistol?
 
I like 231 in my 10mm, but for long term storage of pistol rds, I'd probably use something like Acurate Solo 1000 or 1250.
There are some double base powders with low Nitroglycerin content that might be better choices if you can't find a single base. I know the VVN powders are single, but some of them have had corrosion issues.
 
KY DAN said:
Could you please elaborate on this?

By extreme what do you mean? My ammo currently lives in a climate control area 70 ish winter 70ish summer.

Could you recommend a good powder for long term pistol?
Click to expand...
Single base powders are your friend.... hogden universal, imr 4198, 3031, and a few others, along with the 300 series of vihtavori is the ticket. Solo used to fit the bill but is gone....
 
Would bullseye Alliant brand be ok?

My local area of Hopkins County is a dry waste land of reloading supplies
 
Thanks AJC1, I was trying to look some more up. I knew 4198 was single, but I haven't used Universal . There is still some Solo around, but not on any store shelves unless its a consignment.
 
I've read about several folks who vacuum seal some ammo. Would that help with the stopping the break down?
 
Mark_Mark said:
learned something new!
Click to expand...
Not that simple. The U.S. Army Defense Ammunition Center Technical Assistance Office, that administers the Propellant Stability Program specifically calls out single base IMR powders like IMR 3031 and IMR 4895 as being the least stable.
“Propellant formulations which have historically proven to be most dangerous due to instability are various version of IMR powders. … Formulations M10 and IMR are the single base propellants which are known to exhibit the greatest depletion of stabilizer”
That said, Elsewhere they say well- manufactured single and double base propellants should last a minimum of 20 years if properly stored away from heat and moisture. Triple base propellants are even more stable, but those aren’t used in small arms.
Both single and double base powders contain nitrocellulose. NC is inherently unstable and breaks down to form nitric oxides that further accelerate deterioration. The biggest factor in storage stability isn’t the presence of nitroglycerin in the double base powders, but the type and amount of stabilizers used. Many stabilizers aren’t compatible with nitroglycerin and so can’t be used in double base formulations.
The nitroglycerin in older double based powders IS the reason for their poor temperate stability when ignited, but that’s a different topic from storage.
 
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Most of the currently used NC stabilizers, like 2-NDPA and DNT also happen to be toxic and are being phased out in Europe due to REACH. Coming to america soon!
 
twarr1 said:
Not that simple. The U.S. Army Defense Ammunition Center Technical Assistance Office, that administers the Propellant Stability Program specifically calls out single base IMR powders like IMR 3031 and IMR 4895 as being the least stable.
“Propellant formulations which have historically proven to be most dangerous due to instability are various version of IMR powders. … Formulations M10 and IMR are the single base propellants which are known to exhibit the greatest depletion of stabilizer”
That said, Elsewhere they say well- manufactured single and double base propellants should last a minimum of 20 years if properly stored away from heat and moisture. Triple base propellants are even more stable, but those aren’t used in small arms.
Both single and double base powders contain nitrocellulose. NC is inherently unstable and breaks down to form nitric oxides that further accelerate deterioration. The biggest factor in storage stability isn’t the presence of nitroglycerin in the double base powders, but the type and amount of stabilizers used. Many stabilizers aren’t compatible with nitroglycerin and so can’t be used in double base formulations.
The nitroglycerin in older double based powders IS the reason for their poor temperate stability when ignited, but that’s a different topic from storage.
Click to expand...
^^^*look at all those words
 
This is a good topic. I will put the powder selection aside. Sealed ammo cans are your friend as are small desiccant packs placed within. Moisture is always a problem with anything firearms related as is temperature swing. Sealing primers is a good idea. I have shot ammo from WW1, .303 British loaded with Cordite so I am of the mind that proper storage is the key. If you keep the moisture out and minimize temperature swings you would be okay. But, there is always a but, there may be some powder choices that are better than others.

Just make sure the seal is good on the ammo boxes and fill them up as best you can, then deal with the remaining air with desiccant. The more air the more moisture.
 
Define what you call long term?

If less than 10 yrs most any powder will work.
> 40 yrs all bets are off on all powders. Those some may weather the storm better than others.

My IMR4350 last 40 yrs before it started showing indications of breaking down. The can of W748 lasted around 45 yrs. My can of W540 is till good as well as Herco, and Red dot,
 
Honestly, where are you planning to store these reloads?
Inside your house they will last for years.
But, if I was doing this,
I would not load them up and just store them, I would load them up, and put them in rotation and replace them as I use them.

Just as an FYI,
I am still shooting some .38SPL that I loaded with Win231 on 03/07/2012, just stored on a closet shelf, they are fine.
I label all my reloads:
IMG-1158.jpg
 
Blue68f100 said:
Define what you call long term?

If less than 10 yrs most any powder will work.
> 40 yrs all bets are off on all powders. Those some may weather the storm better than others.

My IMR4350 last 40 yrs before it started showing indications of breaking down. The can of W748 lasted around 45 yrs. My can of W540 is till good as well as Herco, and Red dot,
Click to expand...
Unless they’ve changed procedures, the Army doesn’t start stability testing until the propellant lot has reached 15 years old.
 
twarr1 said:
Unless they’ve changed procedures, the Army doesn’t start stability testing until the propellant lot has reached 15 years old.
Click to expand...
I think a nice rotation of your ammo is the best solution. Like a pantry, old stuff in the front news stuff in the back. Then keep the military sealed surplus stuff in it’s original container, like MRE’s! that what I do! a Army Buddy dropped me 4 cases of MRE’s 5-6 years ago. I should probably start eating some
 
SSG Bob there has the right of it...load it up, and put it in rotation. Should encourage you and the family to shoot more as well! Make it a personal goal to shoot through that entire stockpile on a regular basis. Even if you don't "shoot that much", it should be easy to go through that much ammo in 5 years. Every year, load up a hundred of each, add that to the hoard, and take out the oldest 100 of each to shoot up. It will never go stale as long as you live...and will allow the maximum longevity following your "untimely demise" as you put it. If I was doing this, I'd buy a big ammo can for each caliber. Pack the ammo in 50rnd mtm cases, date each one with the load information. Pack them in the ammo can with dessicant. Then each year, unpack your ammo can and repack it with the newest ammo always going into the bottom, and the oldest on top minus the oldest boxes that you're taking to the range. Replace the dessicant each year when you do this. This is the way.
 
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