Ammunition shelf life--effects on ammo stored longterm

[BearArms Jim]

I am mostly questioning if match ammo looses any of its qualities over long periods of storage. assuming it is stored in ideal conditions.

I would also like to hear if anyone has wisdom and or had experiences.

 

[BearArms Jim]

this has become a concern to me while debating quantity of .308 fed gold medal to buy at one time.

 

[Aszerigan]

If its stored properly, this shouldn't be an issue. Put it in an airtight container with desiccant packs. Should be good for 40+ years.

 

[XtremeVel]

If its stored properly, this shouldn't be an issue. Put it in an airtight container with desiccant packs. Should be good for 40+ years.

Doing like said above would be best bet and could save some work years from now...

A distant family member recently gave me some ammo that was not stored in ideal conditions... It was some Twin City 5.56 dated 1967 and some LC dated 77. It wasn't looking too good, but it cleaned up and it shoots better than alot of the crap out there today...

 

[NIFT]

Perhaps, there are certain propellants that deteriorate over time, but I know of none.

Agree with all above that ammunition stored under reasonable conditions has extremely long shelf life.

When I first started reloading, I tried just about every powder/bullet/load I could get my hands on, and then never got around to shooting all of it. Just last year--over 30 years later--I finally shot up all that old stuff, with no problems whatsoever. Those were just plain ol' reloads without sealed primers or case mouths.

 

[DHolder]

My ammo is kinda like my jerky, I have never had to store it long enough to go bad.

 

[mike8170]

I have a bandolier of M2 ball that has a 1931 headstamp, and I wouldn't be scared to shoot it even now.

 

[sloughfoot]

Since your question was about "match ammo", I will tell you that I have personally witnessed a National Champion (Mitchell Maxbury) loading his long range ammo in the rear of his vehicle the morning of a match. Both at Camp Atterbury and Camp Perry.

On the other hand, Mid Thompkins freely admits that he loads all of his wife and daughters ammo well before the season begins. They shoot this ammo all summer long. And they usually do pretty good too.

As for me, I am not that good of a shot. I load my long range ammo the night before.

 

[CarmelHP]

I am mostly questioning if match ammo looses any of its qualities over long periods of storage. assuming it is stored in ideal conditions.

I would also like to hear if anyone has wisdom and or had experiences.

Smokeless NC ammo should have effective shelf lives exceeding your own life expectancy if stored in ideal conditions.

 

[CountryBoy19]

Since your question was about "match ammo", I will tell you that I have personally witnessed a National Champion (Mitchell Maxbury) loading his long range ammo in the rear of his vehicle the morning of a match. Both at Camp Atterbury and Camp Perry.

On the other hand, Mid Thompkins freely admits that he loads all of his wife and daughters ammo well before the season begins. They shoot this ammo all summer long. And they usually do pretty good too.

As for me, I am not that good of a shot. I load my long range ammo the night before.

I'm not sure how matches work so I could be off here. But is there a chance he custom tailored his load to the expected conditions of the match that morning?


Regarding FGMM, a couple years ago I bought 1k rounds of the old stuff, looks like it's been stored in marginal conditions (tarnished cases etc) but it still shoots great.*

* Great for me, may not be great for a match shooter. It's been a while since I've shot any competitive rifle; I like to think that I shoot pretty good (<1MOA), but I know I'm far from a champion shooter.

 

[Eddie]

I have shot old ammo, stuff that was 20+ years old that had not been stored properly and it sill fired. I even shot up some .22 LR that I found in a bunch of dirt and dust in the bottom of an old footlocker that was sitting inside a garage that was open to the elements. I ran it through a tumbler to clean it up and all but two of the rounds fired. I'm not saying that I would trust my life to old ammo but if I see some for sale at say an estate auction I'm not shy of snapping it up if the price is right. Besides, old ammo that misfires can be good for malfunction drills.

 

[chraland51]

I have a few 30-06 from Twin Cities or somewhare around there, dated 1953 and have never had any kind of issues with shooting them. My gun books even say that that arsenal in that year had already gone to non-corrosive powder which makes it all the better. A friend of mine who was a marine told me that they collected a lot of 5.56 ammo that was intentionally stored in the salt water of the Pacific. He said that he was very surprised at the condtion of the ammo cans and that all of the ammo shot just fine. I do not know how long the cans were submerged in salt water, however.

 

[sloughfoot]

No, he was not tailering his load for the conditions. The last thing we need is changing zeros from match to match or yard line to yard line by varying the amount of powder.

It has to do with a phenonomen called "cold welding". This is when the bullet and case neck create more neck tension over time because they get "welded" together.

I believe this is from handling bullets and inserting them into the case neck with bare hands. It is why the USAMU and many reloaders use latex or similar, gloves when handling bullets. The salts from your perspiration cause this chemical reaction.

Factory loaded match ammo is not handled by human hands so should not be subject to this reaction.

Since the OP was asking about factory match ammo, I change my answer accordingly.

 

[billt]

I got all of this (1,440 rounds of .30-06) from the CMP. It was loaded in 1967. Not one misfire thus far. Bill T.

 

[BearArms Jim]

Thanks for all the great input. I know ammunition stored for long periods will usually still "fire." I am just somewhat new to precision long range shooting with match ammo, and I was wandering about the rounds maybe loosing there consistancy or something.

Also, check out the Thread in Long Guns called: Long range playtime,
There you will find oneshotonekill and I shooting a 12" X 18" steel plate hanging 680 yards away. That is the first time I have ever shot at that distance and it was f ing awsom!

 

[billt]

Shelf life is also why most of the Com-Block Mil-Surp ammo you find today is still manufactured with corrosive Mercuric primers. Mercury based primers had a longer shelf life and were less susceptible to moisture contamination. Bill T.

 

[U.S. Patriot]

A guy I used to work with gave me a 500 round box of Winchester .22LR match pistol ammo. From what I could figure, it was manufactured sometime in the 60's or 70's. The ammo looked brand new. I ran it through my Buckmark, and it was quite accurate. I did have a couple of casings split on me, but other than that no issues. It was well taken care of.

 

[xHwyLT]

I have shot old ammo, stuff that was 20+ years old that had not been stored properly and it sill fired. I even shot up some .22 LR that I found in a bunch of dirt and dust in the bottom of an old footlocker that was sitting inside a garage that was open to the elements. I ran it through a tumbler to clean it up and all but two of the rounds fired. I'm not saying that I would trust my life to old ammo but if I see some for sale at say an estate auction I'm not shy of snapping it up if the price is right. Besides, old ammo that misfires can be good for malfunction drills.

I don't claim to be an expert on anything, but, I would be kinda leery running loaded ammo thru a tumbler. I had some .45acp ammo with green corrosion (verdigris) on it, I erred on the side of caution and took the ammo apart, dumped the powder, deprimed the cases (very carefully) then tumbled the brass cases. I always heard it was dangerous to tumble loaded ammo, because it could affect the powder & the way it burns, causing changes in pressure build up.
But, what do I know, it was just something I recalled reading.

 

[Prometheus]

Stored properly ammo will last a lifetime.

Even stored poorly it does well. I have some 1942~ 8mm mauser that I got in a wooden crate, on strippers in bandoleers. No metal tin, nada.

That ammo had to have sailed across the ocean and sat on customs docks for months.

Almost 70 years later and it still shoots pretty decent.

Air tight storage and controlled temps are the key to getting consistency as ammo ages. Otherwise primers and burn time of powder get affected.

In any event, the 5.45x39 russian milsurp I have from the 70's groups 3 rounds in 1/2" at 50 yards in my s&w 5.45 upper. Can you really ask for more than that?

 

[billt]

Jeff Cooper once addressed this issue. He said one time he had a friend call him about a 1911 pistol he had found in a steamer trunk that was locked away in an attic at his grandmothers house. She had passed away a short time before. Cooper told him not to touch it, and he would come over.

When Cooper arrived he found the the gun was WW I vintage, and was fully loaded in the original G.I. issued holster, where it had been for the last 60 years. They took it out back. Cooper pulled the trigger 7 times. It went bang 7 times. He said after that he never gave a thought to the age of his ammunition, or how long his magazines remained loaded. Bill T.