old ammo?
I am only just starting into bulls eye shooting and my father has given me his old revolver with about a case of old ammo to go along with it.The ammo is CCI maxi-mag and CIL Imperial high velocity .22lr. Either of which is older than I am (I think the ammo is pushing 30yrs)With the exception of the exterior boxes looking like they have had a little oil and a lot of dust on them the internal boxes look brand new.Here's the question; is this stuff still safe to shoot?
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I have some 30-06 ammo that is 40+ years old. I also have some 32win ammo thatis 20+years old. Is it safe to shoot or what? Appreciate any info, thanks. 0 -
Yep. Safe and should work just fine. 0 -
AGE won't make the ammo dangerous to shoot, - might make it miss a stroke now and then, like age does to me. 0 -
its crap...send it to me[:D]..just kidding.. i just shot up some 1950's 8mm yugo and it fired fine 0 -
ammo that was made before the mid fifties could have corrosive primers. If you decide to shoot them, special care in cleaning after shooting should take place and everything will be fine. 0 -
Yes, it should be safe to shoot (or at least as safe as when it was made).
Ammo doesn't get MORE powerful with age. It either stays the same or gets less powerful.
As mentioned, people regularly shoot military surplus ammo that is 50+ years old with no problems.
Two caveats.
If the ammo was stored really badly it might not go off at all. (Though realistically, 40 year old ammo is far more likely to function fine).
Second issue, with any really old ammo, there is a slightly increased risk of "hangfire". . .that's a delay between when the firing pin hits the primer and when the round goes off.
So *IF* you happen to pull the trigger and hear a "click" instead of a "bang", leave the muzzle pointing downrange and count to 10 before ejecting the round. (You're really supposed to do that anyway with any ammo).
Its pretty unlikely to happen, but you wouldn't want to have the breech unlocked (or partially unlocked) when the round goes off; that could be bad.0 -
Like Beantownshootah says, hangfires are a bit scary. Keep the buttstock on your shoulder and count to 30, and even then eject the round with the gun shouldered, because if the thing fires just as you are dismounting it you will likely be nastily hit by some part of the gun.
I did have some hangfires with surplus 9mm ammo that were almost comical, if not for the uncertainties involved. Some of the rounds seemed to have bad powder, not bad primers. The bullet would be driven into the barrel, and the powder would sizzle but not with enough pressure to expand the case, resulting in sparking powder coming around the case and out of the breech. I would have to hold the gun while it hissed and sparked, but eventually the pressure would build enough to seal the chamber and expel the bullet. I pulled most of the ammo down for the bullets.0 -
STORAGE CONDITIONS ARE THE BIG FACTOR WITH OLDER AMMO. A LOCAL 'BLEW-UP' A M-100 WIN. USING AMMO THAT HAD SAT FOR SEVERAL YEARS IN THE FRONT WINDOW OF HIS PICK-UP. THE LETTERING WAS SUN WASHED COMPLETELY OFF THE BOX AND THE POWDER FROM THE REMAINING ROUNDS WAS GROUND SO FINE FROM BOUNCING AROUND THAT IT LOOKED LIKE FINE SAND.[xx(] 0 -
Regarding old ammo, I have been firing up some 40 to 50 year .22LR that has been sitting around. On some of the rounds I had to take a Dremel tool and grind off lead oxide that had accumulated on the rounds. 99.9% fires OK, but accuracy has been poor. I will get some good groups and then they are all over the place.
I also recently fired some reloaded .45 acp and factory loads as well that are just over 40 years old. No problem at all with these rounds.0 -
Not only is it safe, it will probably fire just as the new stuff. Provided it has been kept dry! 0
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