Old Rim Fire Ammo

L

LynnTX

New member
I went to a local indoor range last night for the first time in a long time.
I was firing a couple of 38 spl revolvers but also brought my Ruger Mark II 22lr pistol. It gets expensive shooting up 38 spl ammo, so I planned to keep the cost down by firing the Ruger during much of the session.

I was shooting up some old 22 lr ammo that had been in my gun cabinet for number of years and just as I started using the gun I had 2 FTF right off the bat. I don't recall ever having that happen with this gun before. I ejected and retained the cartridges and out of first 30 rounds, I had a total of 5 FTF !!!

I broke open a box of recently purchased 22 lr ammo and went through 100 rounds without another single FTF. BTW - I examined the ejected cartridges and they had quite deep firing pin marks on them. Just looking at them, they should have fired but did not. Does old ammo like this actually go bad while stored in a gun cabinet? I admit this particular heavy metal locker is in my garage which is not heated or cooled.

It kind of made me question my Ruger - but I still think it was the old ammo that was at fault.
 
It is possible, especially since they were left in the garage. I have used rimfire ammo that was decades old, and it was stored in sealed containers and was fine. Perhaps you got a batch of bum ammo when it was new, and now you are just discovering it. Or, perhaps moisture got in the cases. Lots of possibilities.
 
Thanks Mike,

I had never heard that oil fumes could cause problems with rim fire ammo.
Could be, since I sure don't have an answer about the FTF's with the firing pin strike marks on them.
 
I do know that oil fumes can contaminate powder and primers, as well as moisture. I just don't know how it can get into a .22LR. Of the ones you had a FTF situation, pull the bullet, dump the powder and check the bottom of the base, for any staining or discoloration of the primer material. Mst of what i have seen, is a light green color. Now, to answer your question; Yes, it's possible but I have never had this kind of problem with "Vintage" ammo.

However, I have had FTF problems with some newer bulk ammo.


Be Safe !!!
 
I've had 25 year old RF that worked fine and 5 year old that failed to fire. You never know how the stuff was handled and/or stored before you bought also. Temp changes can affect the longevity. I had some in a storage shed that froze in the Winter and probably hit 120 in the Summer for a year or two and failed at the range. Rimfire ammo in my closet stored with year round 70-76 degrees, dry and no oil or solvents in the area have never been a problem.
 
Thanks Mike,

I appreciate you posting the link. I was just uninformed on the subject. Although I have always had guns around, I did not tend to check out forums like this until the last couple years.

I believe the old ammo was a mix of Remington and a couple of other lesser brands. Some of the Reminton had been loaded in a couple of Ruger clips that I had kind of forgotten about, so they were the first up on the Range. Almost all the failures were in those first 2 clips. They had been stored in a plastic Walmart pistol case with the Ruger and a 357 revolver. I went and picked up a small box of 22 LR at the range since I had forgotten to pack extra. Didn't have a single failure out of the new box, and I didn't even recognize the brand so it wasn't any premium quality.

Guess my education about ammo storage was incomplete and it is really worth thinking about some care that needs to be taken in the future.
 
Mike,
Never heard of that before. Good info.
I have fired .22lr that was about 40 years old without problems, but that was in a cold dry climate.
 
Were you using Remington bulk ammo?
Click to expand...

That was my initial thought as well. I have a 550 box of Remington Golden Bullets at aren't that old and have several misfires every time I use them. They usually work when I put them back in for a second try. I guess the priming compound wasn't evenly distributed around the rim on some.
 
I believe the old ammo was a mix of Remington ...
Click to expand...
Before reading that post, I was going to ask if the old ammo was Remington. Unfortunately, Remington has a fairly high rate of failures - even with new ammo.
 
With the heel type bullets, I don't think (I could be wrong) that rimfire ammo has the same kind of "seal" that other ammo has against fumes. That may be why it is more susceptible to going bad.

One thing I always do when I get a dud .22LR, before I finish shooting, I rechamber the ammo, so the firing pin hits in a different spot and try it. Lots of times, it will fire then. Uneven distribution of the priming compound during manufacture is the most common caue of RF duds.
 
I was recently given 3 Fed and 3 Rem Golde bullet bulk packs that are about 15 years old. I've only shot about 50 of the Feds. They all worked fine but that's a small sample. I'll try to post a range report when I have time to do so.
Might be interesting to compare accuracy and reliability. This ammo has been kept in a closet.
 
I went shooting with a firend who had stored his 22 ammo in the storage shed outside, here in Michigan. Besides the occaisional FTF, in was not very accurate, and we were sprayed with lead from his semi auto rifle. I had him try some of my new ammo, and the report was much milder, but the accuracy went from 6 inches at 35 yards to 2. So it doesn't necessarily get weaker, some of it was more powerful as it deteriorated. We just threw the old stuff away since it was beating the gun up, did not function well, and not accurate.
 
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