expiring ammo

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longhair

New member
now i don't know, but the guy at the gun shop told me today that they are going to do something to the powder or something where it will last only 2 years and then become inert. has anyone else heard this? this is not what a paranoid person needs to hear. sounds like they don't want people to stockpile. the shop owner is not known to be prone to spouting off weird stuff like this, but, here it is. what do you think, or what have you heard. is it possible to do that??

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fiat justitia
 
Sounds like the degrading primer scare of a few years back. I really don't think the ammo companies would want the liability of doing something like this (misfires and such).Also I believe there would have had to be some type of legislation passed to do this. The powder companies would have had to develop special powders to achieve this(if even possible) I really don't think they would do this on their own spending millions of dollars on it. Sounds like B.S. to me. I'm sure it would be all over the gun press if true. Keep packin' and stackin'.
 
Incidentally, longhair, that is a great, quotable phrase: "This is not what a paranoid person needs to hear."

It seems more and more appropriate lately.

I just had to comment,
Mort
 
well, you know how you hear things. that's the reason i posted the question on here. Mort, i'm glad that you took pleasure with line. :)

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fiat justitia
 
The paranoid need only be right once.

Do you really think the military and police forces will rotate their stock? Maybe "they" intend to let mil/police keep using the normal powders.

From my (admittedly foggy) knowledge of chemistry, there is NO WAY to set a time limit on gunpowders. I suppose a gradual degradation is possible, but I don't see it happening - can you imagine a "best used by..." date on ammo? I really, really doubt it.

BTW, my race team is TEAM PARANOIA Motorcycle Roadracing. Started as a kind of a joke, but stuck.
 
i hear ya' Jeff and Morgan :) i ain't no chemist or nothin', and i didn't know how'd they work it all out, but it's what i heard so i thought i'd pass it along and see what everybody else had to say. still....i think i need to go to the gun store today!!! ;)
HAPPY NEW YEAR

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fiat justitia
 
I think this goes back to some of Sen. Moynihan's whining about "reducing gun crime" and his gazillion-percent taxes on "bad" ammo, taggants in gunpowder and explosives, and the concept of "expiring" primers and gunpowder.

Us reloaders are dangerous folks.

Anyhow, the response of those not significantly chemistry-impaired was that it ain't chemically possible for something to happily and reliably go "bang", and then after some predetermined time go "psss..."

Don't worry about this particular pipedream.

FWIW, Art
 
I think Art is on the right course. The story as I read it was about reloading powders being changed. Certain misguided congressmen wanting to put chemical taggents in reloading powder so pipe bombs could be traced. The powder industry apparently tried some experiments and came back that the taggents deterioated over time. This caused the powder to become unstable. The powder industry obviously wanted no part of something that would cause their product to be unstable and possibly cause lawsuits or recalls.
 
Not meaning to be disagreeable, but I have to disagree.(does that make any sense?)



For todays chemist wizards, making a date-degradeable powder would definately be possible. The method that occurs to me first would be to add an agent which would alter the chemistry of the powder so as to render it inert or nearly so. This agent could be encapsulated in a coating which would erode away over time by fumes from the powder within the close confines of the cartridge case. I am not a chemist, and I don't play one on TV, but I believe this is certainly doable. >p?

The question is, why would any powder maker do this unless forced to by law? That would require an act of congress, and our lobbyists would be all over such a proposal.
At least I hope they would, with Slick in the WH you can't be sure of anything.
 
Ed...
I am a chemist (sorta...lots of chem courses)...and you are right, it is possible to do....HOWEVER: (for expiring powders)
1)It can't be done reliably to a specific time in that a fudge period is needed...so if I wanted to make a one yr powder...it would be one or 2 months on either side.
2) Much research and testing would be required to overcome the effects of the adulterants on performance specs. Read: big buck expenditure
3)Some type of replacement/refund/return organization would be necessary...read more money and bureacracy
4)A nightmare of legal liability ranging from ammo failure during the specified "active" period...so I wasted my lifetime dream trip to Africa cuz the ammo failed; the intruder killed my family cuz the ammo failed; etc ad nauseum. Sometimes even now we get the occassional dud, but give lawyers this kind of "ammo" against powder manufacturers and every single failure could be blamed on this.

Bottomline, the whole deal would cost an absolutely obscene amount of money...no manufacturer would voluntarily do it. Prices would raised to cover this. I'd bet most manufacterers would get out of the biz if laws were made. That opens up a whole other can of legal worms.

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"
 
D.C.- You are right of course, the problems would be so unmanageable that no powder manufacturer could survive the expense and lawsuits. My point was that it would be possible from a technical standpoint, but that it will never (hopefully) be anything we will have to worry about from a legislative standpoint.
 
Even a scare can cause a shortage,so I increased my supply at the gun show yesterday.No one at the show was "aware",except me. Jerry




















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