Paper shells - shoot, sell, or retire them?

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bainter1212

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Hi all,
Was recently given a box of old shotguns shells. Looks like they are all very old paper hulled shells.

Most of them are 16 gauge but there is one box of 12s as well. All the shells appear to have been stored well and look almost new.

Any reason not to shoot these? Are they valuable to cartridge collectors? I collect guns, not ammo, so I don't know what ammo is collectable or not.

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They have more value as collectibles than shooting them up...

ADDING:

Those 3 boxes of .30 Remington are worth money also...

Yeah I started another thread on those. The boxes of .30 Rem are crumbling at the touch.......
 
Any reason not to shoot these?

Yes, the gunpowder may be dangerous. The shooting community believes that gunpowder lasts forever, but it does not. Gunpowder is a high energy compound breaking down to a low energy compound, and is breaking down from the day it leaves the factory. As it breaks down the powder grain breaks down unevenly. This causes burn rate instability, at least that is the term. Basically, at a microscopic level, it does not burn evenly anymore, conflicting pressure waves cause pressure spikes, and old ammunition has, and does, blow up guns.

Just when the stuff goes bad is impossible to predict ahead of time. Western militaries spend lots of money paying guys and girls (QASAS (Quality Assurance Specialist Ammunition Surveillance)) to go through their ammunition and toss out the bad stuff. They have test equipment, like gas chromatography mass spectrometry which are far too expensive for regular people to own. Third World countries just let the ammunition depots blow.

Also, old paper shell stuff has a bad reputation for leaving a paper hull up the barrel.

Sell it to someone who wants to collect old ammunition. The boxes are neat.
 
Sorry if i derail the thread but there isnt any appropriate sub forum on here for general ammo questions.

I have a thousand rounds of mostly 1942 and some 1945 headstamp 45acp rp, wcc and wra. It is all in near perfect condition but not in original boxes. Any idea of value? I see ammo in original 20 round boxes going for $1 a round.

Of couse I plan to shoot a tiny bit of it just for fun and save a box or two but i'd like to turn it into powder and primer funds for my cast loads that i load for a couple bucks a box.
 
I have some paper hull shells, many of which I have shot. The paper shells are actually where I first discovered #2 buck, and it's now my favorite size shot for reloads. I got them from my father in law a few years ago, and I have no idea how long he had them. They shot just fine.

But Slamfire brings up a very valid point, if they are too old, not properly stored, etc. they can be dangerous to fire. Some things you can determine visually, others you can't. If the paper is still stiff and waxy, they were probably stored properly, and depending on how old they are, could still be safe to shoot.

If the are deteriorating, don't shoot them. Break them open and dump the powder or sell them to an interested collector.

What's the condition of that .30 Remington? My father in law has a Remington model 8 in .30 Rem. He buys short run factory loads (probably reloads) from an outfit in Texas (don't recall who) and shoots that old 8 every few years. He may be interested.
 
if you decide to shoot them make sure you check the paper in the area of the case head for any pin holes or cracks. I shot some really old 12 gauge Remington paper shells in my 870 and everything in front of the case head went out the barrel
 
Thanks everyone for all the responses. I have decided not to shoot these shells, will probably just trade them for something else like FROGO above did.
As for the .30 Remington.....the brass is dull but the ammo looks useable. May be best to pull the bullets and reload the casings. I will probably post them up for sale or trade shortly.
 
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