ammo shelf life

Ammo I handloaded in the late 70s/early 80s still goes bang every time.
In the early 70s a friend and I shot up a quantity of 1918 .30-06 ammo, and even though the cases were brown, it all fired.

Smokeless powder will break down, over time. Currently it appears to be close to 100years for the stuff made over 100 years ago, depending on the precise formulation and storage conditions. Ammo from the losing side in WWII seems to have a higher rate of failure than most others, but considering that the specs might have been "eased" a bit during the latter part of the war, it is understandable.

There is no way to make a chemical compound to go "inert" in a year (or other set period of time) without having the possibility that a percentage of it wil go inert right away and some will last long beyond the intended inert date.

Look at the epiration dates on chemical products. Many have them, but nothing I know of goes bad the day after that date hits. Some last years beyond that date, with full effectivness, provided they are stored properly.

Any rumor about ammo or primers going inert after a year (or whatever) because of some govt intent to prevent stockpiling ammo is nothing but bunk.

Its is designed to scare us in to buying new stuff, and keep buying new made stuff every so often. Nothing else.
 
hahahahahha! degrades in one year? hahahha!

If you take reasonable steps to properly store you ammo, I wouldnt worry about it ever going bad.
 
He claimed that the ammunition manufactured in the last few years had a US government mandated new powder formula that self degraded within a year after manufacture to prevent stockpiling ammo.
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That rumor has been circulating since the early 90s when Clinton put his ban into efffect.:mad:
 
It is all cool now, I had assumed it sounded like conspiracy theory babble to begin with.

I figured had any manufacturer actually complied, it would have been independently tested, and they would have become instant pariahs among their kind.

I have purchased some more cheaper ammo, $34 per 100 at wal-mart, Federal FMJ 55gr, will see how it shoots later this week.

I have some research on tried and true tested ammo now, will pick up a few boxes just to keep a few mags full, the rest I will see which cheap ammo works best in my weapon for general use.

I am just going to buy or lease a cheap acre of land out here somewhere to set up a range where I can shoot things like car doors, concrete blocks, bricks, sandbags etc. I have a friend with a bulldozer that can make me a berm on one end.

My Lady has already been informed it is what I want for my birthday, call it investment property :D

That way I can test which loads give the performance I would expect or want for targets, distance accuracy, barrier penetration etc..., and the price I can accept for stocking up. (And maybe a place to bury a *storm shelter* to hold some of it) What the hell it will be fun and practical at the same time.

I set up remote cell band wireless networks all the time, security of such a shelter would be trivial, link it right to my cell phone.

Ahh, up too late tonight, perhaps a nap is in order, imagination is wondering...

Man this is becoming an expensive hobby....
 
My father was using military surplus 30-06 ammo from WWII or before with his Remington 700 back in the late 60's and early 70's. People now a days are using old ex-sov imported 7.62x39 and 7.62x54R all the time.

Just the other day I shot off some buckshot from my fathers shotgun that was from 1990 and some 22LR that was from 1991 that I fould in one of his gun drawers. Mind you neither the buckshot OR the 22LR were properly stored in ammo cans....
 
Let's just suppose for a minute that, in a hypothetical situation, powder manufacturers did create some type of powder that had a limited shelf life as mandated by the government:

Can you imagine the resulting lawsuits that would occur from such things as a person losing their life because the powder went out of date in a self defense load being used in a critcal life/death situation? Or damage/injuries resulting from a squib load due to out of date powder?

It ain't gonna happen.
 
powder manufacturers did create some type of powder that had a limited shelf life as mandated by the government
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But...then how would the government and armed forces stockpile ammo or munitions? "Special" batches just for them?
 
hmmm... I have some 15" diameter PVC from work.. couple large boxes of 45 and a hi point might just be what I'd need if I ever "needed to take back the fort"

Gotta got get a shovel.

but seriously - I wonder how the shelf life of reloads compares to factory FMJ. specifically plan lead?
 
The only concern I would have would be chemical decomposition or propellants and primers. I would think for safety reasons as others had mentioned that the science of that is probably proportionate to the quality of the original ammo, and that the liability would preclude the logistics.

I believe the metals in an environment free of contaminants like a sealed PVC section would pretty much have nothing to decompose them. There is a finite amount of oxygen in that tube, and no more coming in, same with moisture.

I have already drawn up some simple ways to dry nitrogen charge the tubes, and with a desiccant pack...

I.E. provided the chemicals present are stable in their environment, I may add another 100 years to my shelf life. :D

It is not like I would ever need 1k rounds for anything other than trouble, so why keep them in my closet, all I need is enough to hold down till I can dig the hole or get back to it.
 
Another thing to consider....

About the 1-year shelf life rumor....

Ammo sits on store shelves and in warehouses for periods of time, often well over a year, before it is purchased and used.

IF it were made to go inert after a year (or other set period of time) we would be hearing of large amounts of ammo that was bought "new" and were duds.

Also, think of the loss of investment to our govt, (who buys millions or billions of rounds) if in a year they were all duds.

Believe me, NOTHING is going to bring the idiocy of that kind of thing into the public eye more than having a bunch of ammo issued to our troops and have it be all or mostly duds by the time they need it.
 
i have some 303 ammo that I believe was manufactured in the late 1940s or early 50s. it came loose packed in an ammo can with Arabic writing on it and contained sand. in other words it was not properly stored.

I have not had a single failure to fire.

Failure to fire in older ammo is probably a primer problem and not a propellant issue.
 
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