I was reading a review that was written by Terminal Ballistics Research on their website ballisticstudies.com. The author is one I have followed for a while. I respect most of his opinions and feel they are based on considerable practical experience. He mentioned one aspect of bullet performance that I have never considered before: how old the bullets are / how long since they were manufactured. His observation written in an article on the .35 Whelen is as follows:
"please understand this; projectile performance varies with age. The older the projectile, the more it will have naturally annealed, while the core may have become somewhat powdery. It is quite common to come across such old projectiles for the .358’s at auction because this caliber suffers from fad buying. Rifles are purchased on a whim, tried but not fully utilized and then cast aside. Generally speaking, if the projectile packet is sun bleached and completely faded, the projectiles will be akin to varmint bullets."
I find this surprising, and not a match to my own limited experience. Is this a real thing? I understand that cast bullets can vary somewhat in bullet hardness and malleability over time due to changes in the crystalline structure of the lead alloys and may lose "hardness". But never heard of or experienced anything similar with jacketed bullets. Your comments and opinions please!
