Literature on ammo degrading in extreme heat?

[KhanRad]

I've heard that ammunition left for extended periods of time in extreme heat can alter the properties of the powder charge. Is there any literature available for this?

My department stores its ammo in a warehouse with no climate control, and the temperatures during the hottest part of the summer probably get to 120-130 degrees in there.

[DocGKR]

120-130 is generally within acceptable range for most milspec powders. The problems start becoming severe above 150 F. Black Hills has done some superb work in this area, as has St. Marks.

[KhanRad]

Thanks. I have no idea how hot our patrol rigs get in the summer, but I prefer not to store large quantities of ammo in the trunk just to be on the safe side.

[LHS]

On a related note, I was going through my outdoor storage closet (Phoenix, AZ) and found a box of 20 rounds of 9mm 124-gr Federal Hydra-Shok from about 2004. It's been in a camping bag in that non-climate-controlled closet pretty much since I bought it, though several nasty summers. I don't know exactly how hot it gets, but the closet gets full sun through most of the day and always seems nasty hot.

I figured the ammo was probably crap, so I didn't want to use it for any kind of real use, but I took it out to the range yesterday and ran it through a pistol with no issues. Went bang every time, and while I didn't have a chrono, it felt consistent and normal.

[Iraqgunz]

This has been a recent issue for me as well because our ammo is kept in a container and the ambient temprature outside is at least 115-120 on the average day.

The inside temp is well over that. I have been unable to locate any solid information so if anyone has leads point me to it.

[uwe1]

This has been a recent issue for me as well because our ammo is kept in a container and the ambient temprature outside is at least 115-120 on the average day.

The inside temp is well over that. I have been unable to locate any solid information so if anyone has leads point me to it.

IG, have you left any ammo in your vehicle during a few Arizona summers? I'm too new to shooting to have conducted this experiment.

I am considering keeping a cheap Mossberg500 (as a trunk gun) in the rear storage compartment of the SUV along with some slugs and buckshot and don't want any kaboom type mishaps.

[GotAmmo]

When i ran an ammo supply point in Iraq for my BDE we stored our ammo in CONEX containers with no shade to keep the containers cool...temps easily reached over 100 in those things... no matter the age of the ammo we never got any reports from the line that the ammo was malfunctioning whether it SAA or demo and pyro. Even stored alot of it outside in direct sunlight, unpackaged etc etc

I didnt provide any written proof but maybe situational experience can help