Older 22 ammo: safe? collectible?

[doggy_breath]

Hi,

A friend gave me some old 22 ammo that had been sitting in a basement for a long time. It had so much dust on it that I didn't realize what I was getting, and now that I've cleaned it off, I wonder if it is safe to shoot and/or collectible. I have a Ruger Mark III 22 LR pistol and a Savage Mark II 22 LR bolt action rifle, both rated for high velocity. There's not much info about the speed/weight of the ammo:

Western Super-X 22 Long, 29 Grain (yellow box)
Federal Hi-Power High Velocity No. 710, 22 LR (red/white box)
Remington Hi-Speed "Golden" Bullet Kleanbore 1522, 22 LR (red/white/green box)

I did a little research, and I think the Western would only be OK to shoot from my rifle and the others should be OK from either. But I'm not going to try any of it until I learn more. Also, I did some searching on the internet and it looks like the boxes might be collectible. I don't know about auctioning off the ammo itself (laws?), but empty boxes, sure. If it seems that this stuff is collectible, I want to let my friend know and offer to give it back.

Thanks!

 

[arspeukinen]

The lead may have got thicker "grown moss" but if it fits it's ok to shoot.

 

[hso]

This gentleman appears to know quite a bit and makes recommendations for selling old ammo.http://www.oldammo.com/links.htm

 

[22-rimfire]

I suspect it would be safe to shoot. I would suggest you shoot from a bolt action rifle or revolver to check out the ammo. Once you confirm that its' okay, shoot away.

Old 22 ammo is collectable. But honestly, it doesn't get very interesting until the ammo is pre-1960 for the most part unless it is some odd ball brand.

 

[rcmodel]

Of course it is safe, unless the cases or bullets are badly corroded.

The .22 Long will probably not feed in a rifle marked .22 Long Rifle.

But other then that?

They are not old enough to be worth anything to a collector, unless the boxes and ammo are in pristine 'collector grade' condition.

Choot'm Liziibet! Choot'm!!

rc

 

[mnrivrat]

I think while not worth a fortune they are of collector interest and no need to shoot them up unless you are out of everything else. Particularly if the ammo is reasonable clean and the boxes the same.

Besides, they will increase in value even if they are more common, as new collectors have to start somewhere and prewar ammo is getting very hard to find. I think you have 1960's vintage stuff - if not corroded it should be OK to shoot if you decide to. 50 years old perhaps and counting - I will gladly trade you a box and 1/2 on a swap for more modern ammo if yours is reasonably clean. Ammo can be shipped and I will pay the postage. So if nothing else you have an offer that increases your shooting supply.

 

[rcmodel]

prewar ammo is getting very hard to find.

But, none of this is pre-war ammo.

Unless you are talking about the Gulf War.

rc

 

[rszwieg]

Thirty years ago I burned up a bunch of red, white and green box Remington ammo and it shot fine. I'd shoot the other stuff too.

 

[barnetmill]

Old ammo sometimes does not chamber correctly or fire normally and this is from experience. It depends of course on how old it is and how it was stored. I was firing some old .22 during a match and had two cases blow out the case head blowing particles back my way during the final rapid fire part of a 900 match. I should have stopped with the first signs of malfunction, but wanted to finish the string. Second time it happened it tied up the gun momentarily. The most dangerous thing is to pull the trigger and get no discharge and eject the case without checking the barrel for a lodge bullet. Gun in .22 lr will not blow up in most cases but it will at least ring the barrel.
Yes I am firing old .22 ammo out of necessity today that I normally would not use.

 

[slumlord44]

Definitely not safe to shoot. Send it to me and I will properly dispose of it for you. Just kidding. Should be ok. Getting to the point where some collectable ammo is not worth any more than what new stuff will cost you. Personally shoot some of the older stuff that I have little money in but like to keep a box or two for my ammo collection that I somehow inadvertently ended up with over the years.

 

[doggy_breath]

Thanks

Hey All,
Thanks for the replies. I'll shoot the 22 LR and at least keep the boxes because I like them, but I think I'll keep the 22 Long ammo just because it's something I haven't seen much. Thanks again!

 

[45lcshooter]

I would think it would be ok to shoot. Just watch for like someone said before, moss on the lead bullet, and tarnish on the case. All you have to do is rub them in a rag, before you shoot. Ive been at the range already and been the brass rat, and found copper cased or copper plated 22 shells that has a defined detonation mark on them, but never went off. Put them in my single shot 22 that has a hammer spring that feels like 300 lbs. and pulled the trigger and it went off.

 

[JohnBT]

Only ten bucks. I had to check to see if it was new enough to have "WARNING: KEEP OUT OF THE REACH OF CHILDREN" on it. It does.

www.ammolady.com/id42.html

"R62. Remington Hi-Speed 22 long rifle "Golden" bullet with Kleanbore priming. Product code is 1522. Box is in good conditon, but has a price label on the bottom of the box. $10.00."

She has Yellowjackets for ten bucks, too. R60.

 

[Gun Geezer]

I've got 22 ammo that is >15 years old. Shoots fine.

I do not know of any laws restricting sale of ammo.

 

[medalguy]

No laws restricting the sale of ammo except local laws possible. However there ARE laws prohibiting shipping ammo through the mails. An earlier posting said something about trading and paying the postage. I hope that means "the cost of shipping via UPS/FedEx ground." Just saying.

 

[230RN]

I'd be interested in knowing how the "longs" fed through and actioned the Mark III.

Just technical curiosity. I haven't seen Longs in a very long time.

 

[doc2rn]

I have tried longs in my Ruger MK III they shoot but wont cycle the slide far enough back to chamber the next round. Almost like shooting standard velocity rounds.

 

[230RN]

^ Thanks. I didn't think so with that light 29-gr bullet. I rarely used longs in my bolt rifles, and mainly to avoid the chamber erosion that was supposed to occur with shorts.

Don't know if shorts actually did that or not, but "just in case."

Terry, 230RN

 

[Mk VII]

You may well find that old stuff is not all that accurate; it doesn't improve with age.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

I have shot 22 ammo from the 50-60's and it worked fine.

 

[Dr. Sandman]

+1 for shoot it!
Alternatively, take it to the next gun show and see what the old ammo guys have to say about it.

 

[kendak]

shoot it ...got a box of military .22 headstamped 1943 & tried to give it to a collector & he wasn't interested so I think I'll see if it good to go in my Colt

 

[1KPerDay]

I've personally shot several bricks of 1960's era Western Super X (yellow box) and Remington Klean bore "golden bullet" (red/white/green) over the past couple of years with absolutely zero problems.

It was stored properly and no funk on the bullets. The remington ran my "remington golden bullet only" guns perfectly and was IMO much better quality than RGB of recent vintage.

Wish I had 500,000 rounds of it.