Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Shelf Life of Factory Ammunition

I've got 8mm Turk from the '20s and 7.62x54 from the 30's, 40's and 50's that shoot just fine.

I don't recall ever having a misfire from thousands of rounds of old milsurp.

There was this story in the "American Rifleman" a few years ago. After the War with Spain ended the US Navy recovered the battleship Maine from the bottom of the Bay of Havana. There were rounds of small arms ammo that had been sitting under water for several years. They tested them, and not one single round failed to fire properly.

I have rounds I loaded in the early 80s and just finished firing some of them about four years ago.

I haven't had an old smokeless round misfire, but have had some less-than-perfect experiences.

A friend traded some old .303 British military ammo to me a few years ago, made sometime around WWI. It is in very good condition but the mercuric primers have deteriorated enough that so far EVERY round has been a hang-fire.

My grandfather-in-law. who lived in Florida, wanted to go deer hunting with me here in Montana about 20 years ago, and had an FN Mauser .270 with iron sights. He realized he couldn't see irons well enough anymore, so shipped me the rifle and box of Winchester ammo he'd had around for years, asking me to mount a scope and sight it in do it would be ready when he came up. I mounted the scope and the second round I fired blew a hole through the sidewall just above the case head. Luckily, the 98 action, even though of the denigrated "H" ring style, deflected the gas from my face, and I just felt a little on my left ear. I looked more close at the rest of the ammo, and there were some tiny signs of corrosion I hadn't noticed at first glance, probably from being stored within 3 miles of the Atlantic Ocean for a number of years.

Given proper storage probably infinite. Given improper storage probably toast yesterday.

In 87 we pulled some 7.62x54R (Nagant) ammo apart that was loaded in the 20's and used the powder and a Lee Loader to load some 308. We had a LOT (about 2 feet, as I recall) of vertical dispersion but all of the rounds hit a man-sized target at 600yd.

Mercuric primed surplus ammo was how I learned about hang fires. Dad wanted a rifle and picked up a '91 Argie to sporterize when they were dirt cheap in the '60s. Even with a full ten second count opening the action was scary, some rounds went off past a five count. Everything chlorate primed no matter how ancient has worked fine for me, as well as the early non-corrosive primed stuff I've come across. I can't imagine newer production doing worse. Happy Father's Day Dad, I can't do better than wish through the ether.

Yeah, there's a reason everybody switched from mercuric priming!

The most interesting thing about my old .303 ammo is that it's also loaded with Cordite. Broke down one round and the "powder" is in perfect condition. It's interesting to light a stick....

As always the wiser question is shelf life of this ammunition. There is ammunition from the late 19th century that has been pretty good and from the late 20th century that has failed - especially but not exclusively new technology like the lead free primers and frangible bullets. Not a knock on current production which may be pretty well worked out by now but certainly wasn't always.

I have ammunition in the 10-20 year old range that I have full confidence in - don't even consider old and I have no plans to check my records for actual age - but then again there is some I don't.

How it is stored has much to do with how long it remains viable. Constant cool temperatures and low humidity are best. Stored in metal cans with desiccant thrown in, the ammunition will outlast your grandchildren.

Dark Lord of the Polvere Nera
Copyright 2012 - Stephen Redgwell

For more than 1500 years, Sabrero, Necromancer and Dark Lord of the Polvere Nera controlled the earth. He gave man the magical grains that fueled so much discontent. As its spell over the world grew, the mysterious vials of the �black powder� were responsible for much iniquity and death.

�Behold, Vertigo! Look upon the evil of man! Witness the vileness of his ways; his greed; his lust for power. Watch, as he plunders and kills others, taking from them that which he wants! This gives me pleasure! I will never forget the day that I gave Bacon, Franciscan man of God, the means to make the devil�s fire.�

Sabrero�s manservant Vertigo stood beside his master and watched the field of death that grew ever larger. Men fought and died. They stabbed and gouged each other; the sheer malevolence of a world on fire could be seen in the eyes of the men with the black powder sticks.

Sabrero chuckled to himself and said, �Bacon was in awe and frightened both, when he made his first bowl of the magical powder. What was it he said?�

�When the flame of powder toucheth the soul of man, it burneth exceeding deep.�

"He thought himself profound. No so! He was bewitched!"

Sabrero stroked his long white beard and contemplated the folly.

�Indeed, Bacon never saw Beelzebub�s hand, nor mine, in that sulfuric mix. It feeds the evil. Watch, as they kill each other. It is the powder that changed man. It truly has taken possession of their souls. Though the secret is known only to a few, it�s very existence has influenced the world! They will continue the battle until no one is left standing. They do not know how to control the powder. In truth, it controls them!�

�Master, will the powder not fail after a time?� asked Vertigo, confused that such a simple mix of ingredients could destroy the world.

�It can be made to fail, but man preserves and guards it. He makes ever increasing amounts of the powder, so that he will never run out! He generates his own misery. It is an obsession! It is his doom!�

�But Master, can they not break free of the spell?�

�Never! They are too weak; too self absorbed to be its master. As to your question, �Will the powder not fail after a time?� The answer is no. As long as there is evil in man�s heart, it shall continue to gain strength and spit death upon all who touch it! This is our gift of pestilence!�

Well; it's been over a year since the last post on this thread but I was reminded of it the other day when I dug out some of my old 1937 vintage Kynoch 7x57 140 gr. ammo. Last year when I was on this thread I couldn't find my notes on the chrono results with that stuff. So today I went to the range and brought the same old 1908 Brazilian Mauser along with some of the exact same ammo and chrono'ed it at about 72 degrees today along with several other guns but here's what the 77 year old Kynoch 7x57 ammo did from the 28" barrel of the Brazilian Mauser; (5 rounds) as measured by a shooting chrony:
Low: 2843
High: 2895
Average: 2877
Extreme Spread: 51.7
Standard Deviation: 20.85
Not too bad for 1937 vintage ammo. It was in a spam can until the early 1990's and in a cool dry environment with no big temperature swings since then. Plus; it's about as accurate as anything else I've put through that old Mauser, which is a good shooter but not exactly a tack driver. But that's mainly due to me being in my 60's and discovering what old guys say about those crummy little iron sights designed for teenagers (grin). Here's all 5 rounds: 1.2871 2.2886 3.2843 4.2895 5.2889.