Shelf-Life of Commercial Ammunition

[Cyborg]

What is a good ballpark for the shelf-life of commercially manufactured handgun ammunition? I bought some Winclean .40 S&W a couple of years ago, put it away and sorta forgot about it. It has been in my house the whole time. Is it likely to still be good? How long does ammunition last, anyhow?

Geez! I hope this is thr right forum to ask this.

Cyborg

 

[oneounceload]

Your ammo should be fine since it was kept indoors - if it had been left in a leaky outdoor shed here in Florida, I might have some concerns.

If you want to give it a little more protection, pick up some surplus green ammo cans that still have a good rubber seal and keep them in there

 

[Steve C]

I bought some Winclean .40 S&W a couple of years ago, put it away and sorta forgot about it. It has been in my house the whole time. Is it likely to still be good? How long does ammunition last, anyhow?

Leave it there for another 100 years and it would still shoot. Ammo is like people, it doesn't like hot, cold or wet. At moderate to cool temperatures it will last close to indefinitely, longer than the average humans life.

 

[da3394]

I "discovered" a box of .45 ACP's that I had put in the safe at least 36 years ago. I loaded them up and all 50 of them went BANG. No problems.

 

[WardenWolf]

Depends on your climate. In Arizona, you can store ammunition in your garage for 30+ years and it will all work. In Louisiana, I would expect it to go bad fast. Good commercial ammo, where they sealed the primer pockets and sealed the bullet to the casing, can last indefinitely if stored properly. We haven't made ammo with a real "shelf life" since World War II, when rate of use and production needs resulted in them eliminating sealants.

 

[Justin]

The primers in Winclean will start to go bad after a few years. At least, that was my experience with a couple of cases of it that I bought a few years ago.

 

[Orange_Magnum]

Put your extra stock of home defense ammo in a sealed zip-lock bag. Should double the life span.

 

[WardenWolf]

Actually no. Sealing ammo is a bad idea unless you vacuum pack it as well. The reason is that sealing it also seals moisture in, which can condense if the temperature fluctuates.

 

[jaydubya]

I found the best way to preserve ammo was to leave it in the magazines and stash the magazines in my sock drawer for thirty five years, along with the pistol they came with. When I became interested in shooting again, they all went bang. Again, sock drawers are much better storage places than a leaky shed, right next to a potbellied stove.

The ammo was 9mm navy ball, by the way. Carried it and the Browning High Power on two flying cruises to Vietnam.

Cordially, Jack

 

[FunkyD]

I have some old 22 mag that my dad bought in the early 60s that is still quite good (and loud!).

 

[Rodentman]

I can't store ammo in my sock drawer since my cat sleeps in it, sheds a lot of fur and often hurls in there as well. I just put everything in the safe.

I had some .22LR's that were about 25 years old. I got another .22 finally and they all fired OK. Some seemed a little more "powerful" than others (if that word can apply to .22) and there was a lot of residue in the pistol, but they fired. I got rid of all the old ones at the range. I'll try the new ones and see if they are cleaner.

 

[jjohnson]

Usually Decades, but Don't Bet Your Life on it.

Well, I still shoot WWII surplus ammo frequently, and not all of it has been stored properly. Most of it shoots just fine - and I mean like one dud per thousand rounds or more.

On the other hand, I have some .22 ammo that's been with me through a couple of moves, like Indiana/Colorado/Florida/Minnesota in the last 30 years, and now and then I find a carton that has a couple duds out of each box of 50.

The point is.... no guarantees. For plinking ammo at the range, no problem, but for self defense? No way. Same goes for hunting ammo. The stuff I carry afield gets shot up at the end of the season.

I've heard lots of folks that CCW that rotate their SD ammo on a day they remember, like buy a new box of the 'good stuff' on your birthday and treat yourself to shooting up the old stuff at the range. How about living it up on New Year's by shooting up all your old CCW ammo and replacing it with new?

Works for me!

 

[Lone_Gunman]

In Louisiana, I would expect it to go bad fast.

I am south Georgia, which has a similar climate to Louisiana, and have never had ammo go bad on me. I hope I live long enough for some of my ammo to go bad, but I doubt I will.

 

[XD-40 Shooter]

My dad has 22 ammo that is 40 years old, still shoots good.

 

[rcmodel]

WinClean is not regular ammo.

It will have a shorter shelf life then normally primed ammo, although how much shorter I could not say.

The recommendation to shoot the old ammo first, and buy fresh replacement ammo is good.
However, how do we know the fresh ammo was stored as well as the old ammo we already have ?

We don't!

I have a fairly large wholesale dealer near me, and his pallet loads of new ammo is stored in an unheated butler building on the dirt floor.

Once, termites got to several pallets of new shotgun shells, and ate the pallets, the cardboard cases, and the paper shell boxes inside them.

He was selling brand new 12ga AA trap loads in paper bags there for a while!

rcmodel

 

[Cyborg]

Thanks All

Thanks to all who took the time to answer. I live in San Antonio, but my house is airconditioned so the temperature/humidity stay relatively constant.

Interesting about WinClean. I have a little deelie-bobber that can evacuate the air from the right brand baggie, I may very well seal the remainder of what I have in one.

I was interested about in general because I have some Gold Dot .40 ammo. Am I correct that it should have a good lifetime?

Part of my question was looking towards a possible SHTF/EOTWAWKI situation. A storm like that should be visible on the horizon for a while so I would expect to have time to prepare. That would include stocking up on ammunition. WinClean is dirt cheap @ WMart - quarter cent/round approx. It isn't optimum for defense, but in a S/E situation, it would not hurt to have some. It beats $1.25/round for the Speer. What is it Stalin said "Quantity has a quality of its own." or suchlike? It would certainly not be pleasant to be on the receiving end of a flat-nosed .40 cal round like a winclean.

Again, my thanks.

Cyborg
My rule is keep your friends close and your enemies at > 7 yards.

 

[PRM]

Agree with the other posts - I have bought a lot of sealed mil-surplus ammo that dates to WWII and it has shot fine. Even black powder - I found a can that I had put back several years ago. It had to have been at least 15+ years old. This was in a foot locker in an out building (hot in the summer, cold in winter, but dry), still shot great.

 

[LightningMan]

Some ammunition has a limited shelf life but most ammo if keep properly will last longer than you will live. I suspect Win-Clean ammo may be like the SS 195 LF 5.7 x 28mm rounds. This ammo (for the P90 & FiveseveN) has "lead-free" primers, hence the LF on the label, and lead-free primers will not last forever. I don't remember if this is correct but I think it has a about 5 yrs. of shelf life, then you will start having misfires as the primers begin to degrade. If you go to one of the FiveseveN forums you can find more information about the LF type ammo. LM

 

[rcmodel]

Your best long-term storage containers for ammo is surplus GI steel ammo cans.

That's what they were designed for.

They are also far safer in the event of a house fire, because they will contain all the flying primers and case fragments.

Thats what they were designed to do!

rcmodel

 

[Ky Larry]

I recently found a box of Remington .357 158gr JHP's at Mom's I'd left there in 1980. They shot fine and yes, current .357 ammo is downloaded. This 28 y.o. ammo was loaded hotter than todays ammo.

 

[arizonaguide]

I'm sealing up a bunch in the vacuum pack (seal-a-meal) bags, before the obomanation begins.
They will remain dry, and somewhere safe (right around ground temperature).
Doing the same thing with lots of dried beans and a quite few MRE's.

All works out to be about the size of a (double sealed) 5gal paint bucket (or two).

 

[Gun Slinger]

What rc said!

Ammocans seal out all the "environmental problems" and keep your ammo nice and fresh, can't beat 'em. Throw in a dessicant pack with the ammo and it'll still go bang when you (or your heirs) open it in 65-70 years.

 

[WardenWolf]

Well, I still shoot WWII surplus ammo frequently, and not all of it has been stored properly. Most of it shoots just fine - and I mean like one dud per thousand rounds or more.

Note that World War II .45 ammo in particular tended to not age well. There have been several documented cases of 5-second hangfires from WWII .45 ammo, including one that ended a criminal's life as he tried to use the pistol he'd just stolen from a veteran to shoot a gas station attendant. The gun went *click*, the would-be murderer looked down the barrel, and it went BOOM. One of the detectives who responded to the break-in was called to the gas station as it was nearby. After verifying the serial number, the service pistol was returned to its owner.

 

[Average Joe]

I don't know exactly how long, but since they keep digging up World War I ammo, and detonating it, it should be a very long time.

 

[shotgunjoel]

I got some Super X 22lr from my aunt when she gave me my grandpa's rifle and it had ACE Hardware stickers that said $1. Don't know exactly how old that makes it but it's not recent. It shot great and was pretty acurate.