Old Ammo, Wood Stocks & Suchlike

A

Art Eatman

Staff in Memoriam
I figured I'd shift my .243 sight-in over to my coyote loads. 70-grain Hornady, ahead of 3031. The box sez I loaded the stuff in 1982. The rifle had been sighted in for 85-grain Sierras; 2" high at 100 yards. The Hornadys hit 3" high. I adjusted down to 1" high, doing my usual three-shot groups.

Both groups were 1/2". So, 19 years just ain't real old. I've previously shot some 25-year old handloads in this rifle; they performed just as well.

I hadn't shot this rifle since October of 1997. It was still dead-on for zero, which ain't bad for a wood stock that's been in the gunsafe for that long.

FWIW, Art
 
Art:
Love wood, plastic just don't get it for me. When I got my "Stuff" in Nam, they told me, "here, it's Matel, it's swell. All my guns have wood.

HJN
 
About 15 years ago I got to dump some ammo through a .56-56 military Spencer carbine.

The carbine was made 1864-65 or so, the ammo probably in the 1880s, judging by the box.

Off the bench, 4" group at 50 yards with about 70% success rate for the ammo.

Not bad for a 120-year old rifle with no sights to speak of and 100 year old ammo...
 
I have some old GI .45ACP marked "EC 43" which still quite happily goes, "Bang!" Among some "stuff" are some .45ACP of around 1912 vintage, but the one I tried didn't fire.

I have a red-tipped GI .30-'06 round, but since that's my birth year (1934, Dennis!) I;m keeping it as a souvenir.

I have some 7X57 made by Winchester, "Suitable For Machine Guns", which I'd like to try...

As late as 1990 I loaded some ammo with Dupont 4064 from an unopened can that was new from before 1950. Worked just fine.

As for the .243, I'm still impressed with being able to get a "casual" 1/2" group with a rifle that hasn't been messed with in four years, and ammo of that vintage. Sez a lot for Sako, among other things.

Art
 
ok, i can play this game ...

my father gave me his 9mm Star Model B in 1982, before leaving the country to live in Italy where he could not take it, and a box of antique 9mm ammo. i had seen this handgun around my house at odd times since at least the early 50's, and he never shot it once. so in 1999, seventeen years after he gave it to me, i shot it for the first time. my buddies started laughing and got behind a 4X4 saying they were "behind me" 100% and gonna stay that way. it went bang, and i am still here.

also, my uncle lou, who as a pup flew air cover for Patton into Bastogne and 30 years later presided over the evacuation of Saigon in 1975 as commander of pacaf, gave me a luger he had received from another uncle (after whom i am named) in France, when that uncle was presiding over a german pow camp. responsible thing, go home and clean it and maybe even take it to a smith to check out. fun thing, straight to the range with a box of ammo. three guesses which one....not shot in 56 years. worked flawlessly.
 
>>>>It was still dead-on for zero, which ain't bad for a wood stock that's been in the gunsafe for that long. <<<<

Art,

I'm pretty well convinced that the old/new adage about wood stocks warping and changing your zero is a creation of those who want to sell you a plastic stock. I've hunted for years in the rain belts of coastal Alaska where one tends to soak his rifle all day and then dry it out near a fire every night. I've never had my zero change on any of my rifles.
I'll acknowledge that I do take care to "float" all my barrels so there is no wood contact, and I use "Sno-Seal" (a beeswax compound) liberally betwixt wood and metal. That probably tends to seal the uncoated wood in the barrel channel where moisture could seep in. I don't use it for that reason though, I use it because that's where rust tends to start.

I just think the whole concept is a marketing ploy. If you take some minimal care with your woodstocked rifle you need not worry about "warpage".
 
I've had some similar experiences with "old" ammo & rifles not fired for years.

Keith, same here. Colorado doesn't get the rain y'all do, but many a snowstorm & that snow does melt all over the rifle. Worse case was my bud, who when emptying his rifle after a very snowy day (read that as ~2+ feet of way wet), dry fired upon closing the bolt. Didn't fire = was frozen/locked up due to melted snow that froze inside the bolt. Stuffed in a pocket for a few & then liberally sprayed with some gunk-out. Good thing he didn't see an elk earlier. ;)

I free-float/glass bed every rifle - most often before first firing. No huge channel betwixt bbl & wood - usually about the thickness of a fed note folder over twice. Stock channel is sealed with couple coats of polyurethane afterwards & lightly resanded to take out any bumps. I then use a good quality paste wax on the barrel.

Sno-Seal is great stuff - but I only use it on my boots, etc. ;)
 
About the same time I bought the Sako--1970 or so--I ran across some sort of patented wax for gunstocks. I applied a couple of coats to the inside of the stock, and add a coat every decade or so. That may well be what's made the difference; that little gun has been ultra-reliable for a long, long time.

:), Art
 
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