Oil on Ammo/Old Ammo

[jacklord]

I recently took my .38 snub nose revolver to the range and put a couple boxes of ammo through it. After the session, I cleaned and oiled the gun, making sure I oiled each chamber and the barrel really well. I reloaded the gun with the personal defense ammo I usually carry and noticed that the casings had a small amount of oil on them(Apparently I oiled the chambers too well). My 2 questions are:

1. Can oil on a round cause it to misfire? I didn't notice much oil on the primers but I can't be sure, the oil was mostly on the casings.


2. How long do you keep ammo before deeming it too old to fire?
In this case, I bought some hollow point rounds for carry and at $20 a box, I don't shoot them at the range, I just use them for carry.


Thanks

 

[jonnyc]

Ammo stored correctly (not oiled) can still be used 50+ years down the road. I don't think I would carry ammo that was older than 10 to 15 years. I would never carry any ammo that had contact with any significant amount of oil. Clean and oil your cylinders and chambers, then wipe them DRY.

 

[The_Shootist]

Interesting

I always thought you should run a lightly oiled patch ONCE thru the barrel and cylinders in high humidity (which SE Texas qualifies as ) areas.

But I'm wondering about the usefulness of this in stanless steel revolvers, particularly mine that get shot/cleaned every week or two.

 

[dragongoddess]

I always leave a thin colt of oil on all surfaces.

 

[Ala Dan]

I use Break Free CLP on all surfaces and gun parts; then I run a soft,
dry patch down the bore and inside the cylinders too remove any excess
amounts of the substance. This procedure has worked well for many years,
as my firearms stay in a climate contolled environment. I have not had any
signs of rust too show up on any of my firearms; as they receive lots of
TLC~!