Rimfire shelf life

I still have 22 Ammo from the 80's that goes bang...

The ONLY 22 ammo I have ever had that went 'iffy' on me was a box of Aguila hyper-velocity that I forgot about in the glove box of my truck for three years...

Conditions must have gone from well over 120º in the closed up truck in the Summer, to -20º in the Winter...

Found them and started shooting them in a revolver...Some fired fine, some were 'soft' but cleared the barrel, and some would not fire at all...

I pulled a box from the same brick that had been kept indoors, and they all fired fine...The brick was over 10 years old at that time...
 
I have seen, seen fired, and even fired some rimfire ammo so old the lead had oxidized and the brass was dark brown. Various calibers, not just .22LR. They seem to fire (or not) about like modern stuff.

What seems to matter most is whether or not the round was made properly to begin with (enough primer, even all round the rim), and the conditions it has been stored under.
 
Was out of the hobby for awhile. Got back into it with my grandson. Found a brick of 22 in the old stuff my sons and I were using years ago that was 25 years old. Seemed to work OK yet.
 
In 2006, I shot a smallbore prone match with Eley Tenex ammo made in 1981 before they changed priming mix. The 40-shot score of 400-40X had all record shots going inside 1 MOA at 50 yards. Darned near a National record, but the 4th shot in the continuance was out about .010" so I quit shooting.

Wogpotter, it was Eley's rimfire priming mixture change in the early 1980's that made their ammo less accurate. Ammo made they made before then has never been equalled today. Other rimfire ammo makers followed suit. It all happened due to an explosion in the primer making site at Eley; their mixture was too dangerous to handle.

The result is all the USA 100-yard 40-shot records set in the 1970's for rimfire prone matches have never been broken. That ammo easily shot under 1/2 inch at 100. Nothing made today does that well.
 
Last edited:
Iv got .22 shorts and CCI cb longs that I bought around 25 years ago and they shoot well . Iv stopped shooting them because they are hard to find now .
 
Whoever told you that, Deerslayer, was just wanting to take your "old" surplus off your hands.....did you sell them any?
Click to expand...

No not at all. It was a thread in a facebook group where people were complaining about folks panic buying and hoarding .22lr. Someone mentioned, they didn't know why anyone would store rimfire ammo for long periods, as it doesn't store well and last that long. And others on the thread seemed to agree. But I got all the info I needed here to debunk that nonsense. Thank you guys!
 
During the drought I found a box of Rem Golden .22s from 1974 - not only shot but were better quality than the current ones - I think properly stored ammo is good for a long time!
 
I just think they made better rimfire ammo back in the older days, especially Remington. When I was a teen, duds were all but unheard of, and that old box of Remington .22 shorts I found backs this up.
Maybe it's the race to the bottom competing for the market that only regards retail price.
Remington ammo used to be good.

Today, I look for Wolf MT and settle for CCI standard velocity target. No duds and both very accurate in my rifle.
Also, if you figure inflation, that vintage ammo cost as much as the good ammo today.

Even shooting the more premium ammo, the most expensive part of shooting my .22 is the trip to the range and range fees.
 
Rimfire doesn't keep as well as centerfire.

That's not saying much--centerfire keeps forever if it's good quality and stored under decent conditions. :D
 
I have a few bricks of 22LR that date back to the 1970's. I went through several buying binges in my lifetime with promotional 22 ammo; one being in the 1980's, and one being in the early 2000's and before the last shortage. The better grade stuff tends to be purchased and shot within a few years. I can't attribute many duds to age.
 
I have hundreds of "wester auto" brand 22LR's in thier original boxes ($0.49/box!) from the mid to late 50's and they fire just fine. Tested a few just to be sure. Stored in the house under "human living conditions".

3-5 years in nothing.


banger
 
I bought 4 of those 1996-97 Remington Nascar "racecar tins" during the peak of the craze (Sept 2013?) from a guy at a small-town gun show for 5.5 cents a round. They had 7 boxes of Remington ammo - 1 each of Thunderbolt, Cyclone, Viper, YellowJacket, High Velocity(HP and RN) and Target. I sold the boxes and empty tins on Ebay for average 12 bucks apiece, so I think I made out pretty well. ;)

And yes, it all shoots fine.

My brother has a brick of Blazer RN that has a $9.99 tag on it - I'm guessing late 80s? He recently got some newer ammo, so has been shooting the old stuff up. Works fine in semi-auto or whatever you put it in.
 

Attachments

  • remington racecar tin.jpg
    remington racecar tin.jpg
    51.3 KB · Views: 15
I have 22LR over 45 years old...no problems. All depends on your storage. Consistent temp dry room...
 
Last edited:
My friend inherited a ruger .22 from his dad and it came with a couple boxes of ammo more then 10 years old and he has a lot of ftf and fte with that ammo. The gun was stored loaded for vermint control so maybe the springs have weakened as well. It shoots fine out of my single six but some of the rounds sound really strange, almost like the are underpowered or something.
 
Still shooting some I bought in the early 1970's. It was $10 a brick :p. Has always been stored inside the house.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top