Ammo shelf life

[T2C]

I have powder I have had since 1992. I have primers from about the same time frame but they have been kept in a ammo can.

Humidity is the enemy of primers. Just because they go off doesn't mean you are getting your money's worth out of them. For instance before primers actually misfire if you shoot long range you will probably start seeing high and low shots you can't explain.

I agree with this. I also see a difference between the performance of Match Target .22lr ammunition that has been stored for several years or recently purchased. Once you start shooting targets beyond 125 yards, the difference in performance is remarkable. The cartridges reliably fire, but accuracy is notably different.

[spence]

I agree with this. I also see a difference between the performance of Match Target .22lr ammunition that has been stored for several years or recently purchased. Once you start shooting targets beyond 125 yards, the difference in performance is remarkable. The cartridges reliably fire, but accuracy is notably different.

I just got a chronograph, and since I'm really geeky with numbers, and there's a lot of pretty comprehensive chrono work out there, but I've never seen any of the exact same series of barrel lengths through the entirety of whatever series of kinds/types of ammo that's been shot, that's one thing I intend to do in the relative future.

However, I took it out and ran a few 9mm and .45, and a couple .32 loads just to get a feel for it, and see what they were doing. All the 9mm were pretty consistent to what you'd expect, except one. The Remington UMC/ grn and white box stuff was pretty spot on in the FMJ, but the JHP I shot that day was way low. When I got all the data in, I remembered that the particular box it came out of is about ten years old. It's been stored in generally good conditions, no moisture, perhaps a little low on the temperature. I'm curious to see how the 115 and 124 gr FMJ compare to the new and older JHP I have sitting around, especially across five barrel lengths.

[Uni-Vibe]

I found a run of the mill box of my .45 ACP handloads a few years ago. The label said they were 32 years old. All 50 worked perfectly.

[m1a_scoutguy]

Storing correctly is the key for sure. Back in the early 80s, I had a buddy give me over 600rds of 45ACP, the cases were marked from 1929/1932! It was corrosive but out of the 600 I maybe had a handful that didn't go off. Most were all in original boxes, probably should have kept it and sold it to a collector, LOL Have no idea how they were stored but most went bang.