What is the shelf life of ammo?

A

antenna

New member
What is the shelf life of factory loaded ammunition?

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"Stop forest fires--ban matches."
 
Per the ammo Mfg. themselves: there is no limit on storage (shelf) life ...... IF:
The Ammo Is Properly Stored & Handled!

i.e. cool dry storage, not exposed to excessive heat or mosture in shipping, etc. etc. I have some ammo that is ten years old & the shot to shot consistency is every bit as good as my new lots of ammo.

In Fact: I get greater shot to shot variance out of "cheep" new ammo than I ever have with "old" premium ammo. My personal preference for my target shooting & long range hunting is Federal Premium, but I know from shooting with my buddies that the Winchester & Remington quality appears to be every bit as good in their "premium" lines.
Hope this helps, k
 
There was a substantiated report of pre-WWII .45ACP ammo working flawlessly within the last 5 years. I've forgotten where I read it however. It was also a test of the old "does a magazine spring get weak if kept under tension?" question since the ammo was found in fully loaded mags. The answer to that one was no, the magazines also worked just fine.
 
most military ammo is a bit more time tolerant than civilian stuff

lacquered primers
it's not as pretty but it will go bang for 50 years

just remember
store in a cool dry place

dZ
 
Whatever brand you choose, I recomend storing in sealed containers with cilica gell. You can find bags of it at pet stores, marketed as a space age kittylitter. But it's still just cilica gell. It's very good at sucking the moisture out of the air in your containers.
 
cdf, that sounds like a good cheap source for silica gel if the percentage is high enough in the kitty litter. Do you have a brand name to look for? Most of the stuff that I've seen is some form of kaolin clay or such.
 
wallmart sells silica too

look in the flower drying/craft area

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"walk softly and carry a big stick, one that goes bang in .308 is fine"
 
The fact is that no one really knows the life expectancy of modern ammo because it has not been out that long. I do know that within the last six months I fired a few .30-40 rounds made in 1898 and it went off. Older than that is rather iffy, though.

Smokeless powder has been known to deteriorate if not made right; there is no known shelf life limit for black powder if kept dry. or in sealed cartridges.

Storage is the key. Heat destroys both primers and powder.

Jim
 
I have some 1943 GI .45ACP stuff that still goes bang. And some .243 I loaded in 1968, which shoots tight groups...

I've run across some commentary that .22 rimfire ammo doesn't last all that long. No shelf-life was given, but there were comments about failure-to-fire for several rounds out of any given box.

I've had a bit of problem with .22 Mag dying in my NAA derringer; I replace the stuff fairly regularly...

FWIW, Art
 
Have shot some 06 U.S mil from 54 and it works fine with 10-15 years of garage storage, very hot in summer 110 approx and cool in winter 40's.
 
Back in the 80's I fired off some boxes of paper hulled Remington UMC 00Buck loads that were army WWI surplus, picked up by my dad, courtesy of the '67 Detroit riots. It went bang in my Browning Automatic Five and kicked magnificently. It was about 60 years old at the time... Any more questions? :)

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Be mentally deliberate but muscularly fast. Aim for just above the belt buckle Wyatt Earp
45 ACP: Give 'em a new navel! BigG
"It is error alone that needs government support; truth can stand by itself." Tom Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1785
 
Although most ammo has a very long shelf life, assuming proper storage conditions, those of us who like to shoot heat-treated castings need to be aware that some loss of hardness will occur with the passage of time. Bullets with hardness in the range of 25-30 Brinnell will drop to about 20-Brinnell over a period of about 10-yrs, depending upon the temperature of storage. The colder the better, as warm storage tends to increase the rate of hardness loss. This is most apparent when using unenriched wheelweight alloy. I have found that even though a loss of hardness will still occur, by increasing the animony content to about 3% and keeping tin content to not more than 2%, heat treated wheelweight alloy remains more stable over a period of time. However, those of us who like to use heat-treated hard-cast bullets and want them to stay hard, need to shoot them within about 10-yrs, again assuming reasonably cool storage conditions. That is one of the only drawbacks of using proper castings, but really, replacing one's or shooting up one's ammo every 10-yrs isn't too much of an inconvenience given the advantages of proper hard-cast bullets.
www.garrettcartridges.com
 
Hey, good to see Randy was permanently driven off. :)

I have some milsurp .303 from September 1966. Not what you'd call reliable; sometimes it takes 3-4 hits to ignite, and then there's the slowfires. Good for flinch training, though.

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"The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it."
-- John Hay, 1872
 
I bought one of those "Food Saver" vacuum machines a while back. I throw however many boxes of cartridges into a bag, seal it, and date it. Bulk, unboxed ammo is more difficult. My loose .223 bullet points pierced the plastic bags as they went under vacuum pressure. Pre-wrapping in rags, heavy paper, or spare boxes should fix this. This process is obviously moisture-proof and theoretically shouldn't need silica gel or other media that might need ocacsional maintenance. Very handy for storing in my basement, which is extremeley cool, but runs about 70% humidity. I haven't stored ammo this way long enough to report on long-term effectiveness, but did test the bags with various foods, refrigerated and not. Their manual doesn't lie‹foods keep about 3-5 times longer when sealed with this thing. I assume ammo will enjoy greater benefits. Costco has Food Saver machines and the replacement bags for them (which are very expensive). Much cheaper than Cabela's and other places I've seen them. Anyone else tried this over a long storage period? Six months for mine and the seals are still good.
 
Watch for signs of overpressure...backed out primers, bulged cases...had that with badly stored 20ga shotshells from early 1980s. Shoulder splitting is less dangerous but can lead to sticky extration.

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Oleg

http://dd-b.net/RKBA
 
If you have some old ammo, sell it to a cartridge collector and buy new. You will have new ammo and some money left over, round for round.
 
DeadCalm, I do the samething, and like you, I really don't know how much a difference it will make. I figure it can't hurt none though. I also put the sealed bags into ammo boxes. I reckon if I don't shoot anything for 30 years I can report and tell you how well it worked!! :)

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RKBA
www.southernparty.org
 
15 years ago I fired up over 400 rounds of surplus 30-40 that had been stored in less than ideal conditions. All fired (it was all pre 1900 vintage), did have a few hangfires but only 6 or 7, not bad if for ammo that was begining to show signs of corrosion. Storage conditions are the determining factor. If you want a good source of free dessicant try your local piano shop, pharmacy or auto parts store, all use silica packets of different sizes in their shipping containers.
 
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