Shelf life of ammunition
I found this on the Federal Ammunition web site:
"What?s the shelf life of ammunition?
Store reloading components and ammunition in a cool, dry place, protected from direct exposure to sunlight. If stored properly, loaded ammunition has a 10-year shelf life."
How many actually believe this?
I have ammo that is 50 years old, and functions perfectly and shot some much older than that and it also functioned perfectly. IMO, they are getting people to throw ammo away and buy more ~ much like the 'expiration dates' on so many items these days like some foods and prescriptions.
"What?s the shelf life of ammunition?
Store reloading components and ammunition in a cool, dry place, protected from direct exposure to sunlight. If stored properly, loaded ammunition has a 10-year shelf life."
How many actually believe this?
I have ammo that is 50 years old, and functions perfectly and shot some much older than that and it also functioned perfectly. IMO, they are getting people to throw ammo away and buy more ~ much like the 'expiration dates' on so many items these days like some foods and prescriptions.
0
-
I shoot a lot of 60's and 70's milsurp ammo.
Have never had a problem with it.
There is the possibility that the manufactures are looking at product liability issues. I would be surprised if modern ammo has a built-in shelf life that is any different that perfectly functional ammo manufactured 60+ years ago, but if it is stored in a place with excessive temperature and humidity extremes, there may be an issue that they feel can be avoided if that stick the 10 year label on it.0 -
I mark my reload boxes with the date. I also label them: "after 100 years, use for practice only".
Neal0 -
I have 8mm lebel self contained smallbore smokeless powder centerfire ammunition dated 1893 from kynoch that functions fine...
And with much remorse I must confess I am not aware of the storage conditions or locations and environments over the last 126 years - I can only report on how it has been kept since 2003...
So I will contribute this data to the narrative.
Mike0 -
Yep, same here.Quick&Dead wrote:
I have ammo that is 50 years old, and functions perfectly and shot some much older than that and it also functioned perfectly. IMO, they are getting people to throw ammo away and buy more ~ much like the 'expiration dates' on so many items these days like some foods and prescriptions.0 -
I still have a little bit of black tip AP 30/06 ammo from WW2. The ammo was given to me,
{us} teenagers from the DCM program, along with M1 garands to learn how to shoot big bore. That was in the early 1970's.
Who ever wrote that 10 year BS, I like to see them hold a 100 yard target in front of their
chest and let me shoot some 74 year old ammo out of a 105 year old "03 Springfield!!!0 -
Agree. As a matter of fact I have ammo that I left in an unconditioned office trailer in 100 degree heat and high humidity for at least five years and I have fired several hundred rounds of it with no issues. No Crono to check it out with but it still works and clears the barrel. 0 -
I think if its stored properly it is fine for a long time.
My ammo I keep in my Carry guns gets shot every 6 months. I never leave a bullet chambered in a SA handgun for more than a day. Like I was taught in the Army, chamber a new round every morning.
Revolvers I leave loaded for a year if I have not shot the ammo in them. I have a few that have been left loaded in a drawer for several years. I am about to shoot them this week, clean them and replace the ammo.0 -
I have fired 100 year old 7.62x54 without a problem. I have several more Russian spam cans from the 1940's ,,I had one can way back that when I opened it the ammo was slightly corroded,,so we shot up the entire can that day 0 -
I have expended more rounds of LC 69 .30-06 ball / FMJ ammo than all other ammo types and variants combined...
I suspect a significant percentage of the remaining enbloc cljpped .30 cal floating around or stashed away is Lake City 1969.
Mike0 -
10 years? I've been wearing the same pair of underwear longer than that! :P 0 -
Manufacturers of all products and their Lawyers love expiration dates. I loaded some ammo 40 years ago with Hogdon mil surp 4831 in the paper canisters and it still shoots fine. 0 -
Negative on 10 yrs. 0 -
As long as it doesn't have any corrosion (green discoloration) on them, I wouldn't worry about it. But then if it does have corrosion on them, they weren't properly stored
And the only reason why I say don't use them if they have corrosion on them is because the cases can be weakened by corrosion thereby creating a possible kaboom. But the likely hood of that happening is really low.... Unless you're shooting them through a Glock, which even with Factory fresh ammo can go Kabooms0 -
badchris wrote:10 years? I've been wearing the same pair of underwear longer than that! :P
And I hear tell that you smell like you haven't washed them in 10 years either0 -
remingtonoaks wrote:badchris wrote:10 years? I've been wearing the same pair of underwear longer than that! :P
And I hear tell that you smell like you haven't washed them in 10 years either
No one crowds me at the range lol!!0 -
I shot a big Turkey yesterday with a shell that I bought in 1999. The turkey hadn't got the memo that the ammo was too old. 0 -
badchris wrote:remingtonoaks wrote:badchris wrote:10 years? I've been wearing the same pair of underwear longer than that! :P
And I hear tell that you smell like you haven't washed them in 10 years either
No one crowds me at the range lol!!
And I bet you when you fly, you get the jet all to yourself...
I guess wearing 10 year old dirty underwear has its privileges, like flying around in a private jet.0 -
Uncoated 22cal ammo will sometimes "molt" and won't chamber. Guy at the range gave me a Remington 100 pack that wouldnt go into his gun. The lead had swelled up at the grooves and wouldnt fit. A bit of sandpaper and I have free ammo, thank you! 0 -
Possibly the only ammo that concerns me is OLD rimfire ammo. I will not risk .22 anymore because you can purchase and it is back to 20.00 bucks a box again. Even though I have bricks of .22 that are 50 plus years old, I have stored them so I know the storage history. But even if the rimfire looks perfect chances are if it is 100 years old I will hold onto every hangfire for 20 seconds.
I have some different calibers of rimfire from pre 1900's and on occasion will open a "fresh" box to see what happens. The last box of Dogbone .32 looked perfect but after shooting the box a 50% fire rate is what I got. Was it worth the cost? To me yes I bought it at 9.00 bucks, now worth?
Rimfire is to be used with caution even if it is new Thunderbolt.0 -
I bought a couple of boxes labeled .30 Government (30/40 Krag). I tried two & both cases split & the went pop rather than bang. I destroyed the rest.
I also have several boxes of 45/70 shot shells. I pulled the wood sabot out of one & the shot had all turned to a powder.0 -
I have fired a plethora of pre 1900 rimfire and teatfire and cupfire and pinfire and other odd developmental and patent infringement ammunition through some fairly odd vintage firearms...
My small supply of .22 extra long rimfire ammo certainly was not produced recently...
I have had duds and hangfires and poofs and case failures of various types but nothing catastrophic.
Mike0 -
10 year old ammo should definately not have any problems unless stored in severe locations and then it may be fine. My only concern with old ammo would be in a concealed carry gun. If I'm betting my life that the ammo will perform as it should I would be using relatively new ammo. The 10 year limit would make some sense in that case. 0 -
It's a good salient point to contribute to the discourse...
I think a decent rule of thumb for concealed carry or primary defense weapon is to swap out the ammo once a year unless quick visual assessments or function tests yield problems.
Mike0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
23 comments