"I read somewhere on the internet" (disclaimer) where a person claimed to have found a statement somewhere on the Federal Ammunition website, which said that ammunition has a reliable life expectancy of 10 years.
This flies in the face of numerous reports of functional WWII surplus centerfire ammunition, and old paper-hull shotshells from the 1960's and earlier.
I have had bad experiences with 10 year old .22LR Rimfire ammunition, but never with centerfire ammo or shotshells?
Let's discuss this subject a little, in light of the "collections" possessed by some of the membership here.
I don't think I have ever seen ammo go bad due to age if it was in fact stored correctly. I have shot some old 22 shells and shot shells that I know had to be around 15yrs old. I'm pretty certain all went bang that I remember.
Functional and performing to spec aren't the same.
I've got a bunch of oooooooold ammo around. It still goes bang as it hasn't been exposed to wild temperature swings, humidity or water. Haven't chrono'd any of it.
Recommendation of a friend in law enforcement is that if your life might depend on it - ammo in your home defense or carry weapon - rotate it out every 6 months to be sure. Gives you the opportunity to practice with what you will be shooting in a critical situation and provides for a margin of certainty re ammo going boom.
Well I understand the need for wanting fresh reliable ammo especially if I worked for law enforcement. But 6 mo of rotating ammo would in my opinion be rediculous. I would have no problem whatsoever even using ammo that was 2, 3, 4, or even 5yrs old if it was stored right. Trust me if the gov't is buying 1 and 1/2 billion hollow point bullets that stuff is gonna be around for along time. And I would bet all will shoot just like those that came off the assembly line more than likely.
I keep all my ammo stored indoors, and it only gets handled when I go hunting or shooting. I would hunt with some of my 20+ year old rounds without hesitation.
Keep it dry and store it in a dry location and it'll last a loooooong time!
Quote from: stinkpickle on April 11, 2013, 10:20:29 PM
I keep all my ammo stored indoors, and it only gets handled when I go hunting or shooting. I would hunt with some of my 20+ year old rounds without hesitation.
:agreed: Keep it dry and it will last forever......
Just shot some some Remington 2x6 Duplex that have been in an unheated building since the 80s.
no malfunctions at all.
i have even shot the old paper shells and they seem fine
I've got a partial case of Winny dove shells that's 13 years old that does just as good as the day I bought them.
I've got shells that are over 30 years old that still go bang every time I pull the trigger
I regularly shoot HP competitions with Greek milsurp ammunition that is 50+ years old. I doubt it was stored "correctly".
As a test I recovered some .30-06 ammunition from a shipwreck off NC. The headstamps are pre 1918. The brass was solid but weakened by the submersion in salt water. You could clearly hear the powder shake so I pulled 2 bullets and dumped the powder. It did not appear to have suffered from time or saltwater. I took a match to it and it burned as you would expect.
I still have 12 guage shells that I reloaded 20 years ago, they shoot fine.