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Thread: Old Ammo: How Old is Too Old?

  1. #1
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    Old Ammo: How Old is Too Old?

    Howdy,

    A friend turned me onto ~1000 rounds of various rounds. Some look nice and current; brand and boxes I've seen in the past 5 years or less. Other look older like some Armscor Precision with a blue red and orange white box. Some Winchester 5.56 I've never seen before....

    Oddly till 2020 I never had to deal with old ammo! With cheap, plentiful and available at even Walmart I kept my 1000 rounds at home and cycled out the boxes when I went to the range. Shot maybe 100 rounds a week for pennies. NOW! I may have 2000 rounds and some of this older stuff I just got.... and not shooting as much as I wait for the pipeline to start moving again.

    Anyways.... It's been a long time since I shot ammo older than 5 years or even one year on my shelf. I've heard warnings on second hand reloads but gather even 20++ year old factory ammo should be fine. Right?

    I suppose if I get a squib or hang fire dump that box! Any other concerns?

    Thanks!

  2. #2
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    Someone else reloads are "always" suspect especially if you don't know the person or his ability ! If its ammo you could use if you don't have one buy a Inertia bullet puller and break it all down,burn the powder,reload with known powder and weights and move on. If you don't reload still break it down sell the components and buy what ya can. Now as far as OLD ammo goes, back in the day a buddy gave me close to 800rds of Military 45 ACP ammo,,this was back in the mid 80s,most of the ammo was from the 30s and the oldest was from 1929 ! It was corrosive but 95% of it went bang and the rest I did just that, broke it down, got rid of the primer and reloaded it ! Even if the ammo is old if it looks good & its factory/military surplus & it was stored right there is a really good chance it will be fine !

  3. #3
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    I've shoot foreign factory surplus ammo from the 50s and up. All worked.

    Not playing with anyone's reloads.

    Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk

  4. #4
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    I never thought it was to much of an issue as long as not exposed to extremes.....

    But even amidst this ammo crunch I was at a gun shop with an ammo shortage and they had a table of maybe 1000 rounds of common calibers...45acp for sure... for dirt cheap and no one was buying! Boxes looked old but in good condition and familiar so maybe 30 years old if memory serves.... Big sign "buy at own risk"...and there was a couple old boys griping about seeing old ammo for sale at the local gun show and everyone, 'cept me, agreeing no way would they buy it...

    I travel and hit gun shops all over the SW just to see which way the wind blows if anything and do see old ammo for sale at good prices but after that experience have been gun shy about investing....

    The cache I just bought has enough good SD rounds and definite recent sealed boxes so I'l quite happy! I'll use the old Armscor for assassinating paper targets.

    Feels good to hit a nice quota of ammo so I can shoot without counting the rounds for a while!

    Thanks!

  5. #5
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    Until we start talking about lead free primers, reasonably stored ammo will keep for decades. 5-10 years is nothing.
    2012 National Zumba Endurance Champion
    الدهون القاع الفتيات لك جعل العالم هزاز جولة الذهاب

  6. #6
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    According to an interview with one of the Hodgdon powder guys a few years ago on gun talk radio, gun powder has a half life of 50 years if stored properly. Ammo will outlive many of us.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by ST911 View Post
    Until we start talking about lead free primers, reasonably stored ammo will keep for decades. 5-10 years is nothing.
    That applies to early non-corrosive primers too.

    Oddly enough, corrosive chlorate primers from the heyday of their use are generally considered to be near eternal, but I have some Yugo 1950's 8mm that is a crap shoot on whether it will fire on the first hit and many won't with repeated strikes.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by jsbhike View Post
    That applies to early non-corrosive primers too.

    Oddly enough, corrosive chlorate primers from the heyday of their use are generally considered to be near eternal, but I have some Yugo 1950's 8mm that is a crap shoot on whether it will fire on the first hit and many won't with repeated strikes.
    I had that ammo years ago and it all worked well. No second attempts. On both the white and tan boxes

    Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Arik View Post
    I had that ammo years ago and it all worked well. No second attempts. On both the white and tan boxes

    Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk
    I bought loose boxes or a tin of it that all fired fine, but the crate(2 tins) I bought due to the initial experience was never as good.

    Always had good luck with the 1942 Turkish 8mm that was loaded to low end .300 Win Mag levels. Stuff was like watching cannon fire in low light out of bolt gun and was apparently the demise of many self loading 8mm's.

  10. #10
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    Ammo is remarkably stable with even less than ideal storage. The oldest factory ammo I have shot ( with perfect function) was pre World War One military 38 long colt. Anything made post World War Two I wouldn’t give it a second thought

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