How long can factory ammo be stored?

V

vito

New member
Is there a limit to how long stored factory ammo will be still be as reliable as when new? I'm talking about storing it in a relatively well sealed container, in the house (not on an open shelf in a high humidity garage or something similar). I keep a fair amount of ammo on hand (for me), i.e., about 500 to 700 rounds in each of my pistol calibers and don't keep it so well organized that some of it might not be cycled through my guns for many years. Especially some, like my 357mag ammo that virtually never gets fired, is probably 10 years old or more. Do I need to be concerned that it won't go bang if I ever need it to?
 
I had some 38 ammo that sat in my basement for 17 years . A few months ago I went out and shot some of it . It all went bang with out a problem . I now have chose the ten year mark for rotation . There was a thread a little while back that discussed this very issue . I will see if I can find it .
 
I'm shooting Eastern Europe military surplus ammo from the early 50's and every one so far has shot just fine. The necks often split when fired on very old bottleneck ammo (it wasn't annealed), but that doesn't seem to affect anything except reloadability. This is all Berdan primed anyway.
 
The exception is .22RF. I still shoot CCI that's from 1981. Cheap promo crap does go bad. I have about 500 rds of crap to go through and am getting 6 to 10 duds per 50.
In the 70s I shot a lot of Nazi marked 9mm,yeah I wish I still had some.
 
I'm not surprised at all. I'm still shooting .30-06 from WW II and .30 carbine from the same period. ALso Brit & Russian ammo from the war, and it all shoots just fine. Wish I had more (a lot more).
 
I have factory loaded 9mm Speer that I gave to my BIL in 1990. He never shot the Smith and Wesson Model 59 that I gave him and his widow gave the gun and the ammo back to me. It shoots fine.

I have some battle packs of .308 that date back to 1981 and they shoot just fine.

I have some from 2004 as well as some current production and I don't expect any issues with that either.
 
Have ammo that is WW1 ere. Still works. I picked a Brenek deer slug up out of plowed field. The lead had turned white from the elements, but it fired true. I think some of the "canned" ammo would last forever as long as the container wasn't open.
 
Old Ammo

WWC 41, I shot all but 20 rounds of that and still kick myself for it.
Cool, dry storage place is the key to long lasting ammo. If you bought it store it like that and your great grandkids will thank you.
 
Keep it high and dry and it will out last you. I have 30-30 ammo from the mid 60's that shoots just fine.
 
I've shot several hundred rounds of Turkish 8mm Mauser dated from 1932-1941. I haven't had a single round that failed to fire yet.
 
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