ammunition stored below freezing?

A

anonimoose

New member
Howdy folks,

I apologize if I'm posting in the wrong forum. Mods, please feel free to move the thread or delete it (and tell me to repost).

I'm a Marine who's moving from Quantico, VA to Yuma, AZ. Over Christmas leave, I stored my personal weapons and some ammo (Remington .223 FMJ and Winchester 9mm FMJ) in an outside storage space during the recent blizzard. Both are also in the back of my car as I make the long trip west this week, and I've had to pass through some awfully frigid parts of this great land.

Once I arrive in Yuma and my weapons/ammo acclimatize to the hotter weather, should I have any concerns about using said ammo? Will the contraction/expansion have hurt the primer or the casing or anything like that?

While we certainly did live-fire exercises under below-freezing conditions while in training, the ordnance guys (and the ammo they kept watch over) always seemed to me to be kept out of the cold....

respectfully,
Moose, USMC
 
You may have a change in impact when you shoot the ammo. But storing ammo in cold temps wont hurt it.

If you go from point A where its 20 below, to point B where its 60 above, chances are you ammo is going to warm up to the 60 degrees before you get a chance to fire it.

The difference is zeroing at 20 below and then going to 60 above. On the average, a 15 degree temp change would change your impact about 1 MOA.

The best way to handle this is keeping a good data book where you record temps as well as everything else.
 
i'm pretty sure the old milsurp ammo you see everywhere was not stored in climate controlled warehouses. imagine 50 years of freezing winters and hot summers and the ammo is still accurate when shot today.
 
Once I arrive in Yuma and my weapons/ammo acclimatize to the hotter weather, should I have any concerns about using said ammo? Will the contraction/expansion have hurt the primer or the casing or anything like that?
Click to expand...

No worries regarding your ammo.
 
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