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

I bought a pair of late 50's vintage Sako L46's in .222Rem and he gave me a couple of boxes of ammo with them. They shot pretty good, not sure how old they were but were marked with a price of $4.00.

I will go one further than Battue, ABSOLUTLEY DO NOT SHOOT IT, instead, shoot me a PM and I will give you an address where you can send it for disposal. I will see to it that it does not get into the wrong hands of some one who will waste it on opening day, as we have the dreaded Condors here in Califoristan, and it would be a federal offense to use that for hunting!

I'm shooting WWII 8mm ammo. Works fine.

I did no comparison, as with the earlier posted .223, but I recently opened a twenty year old case of Remington .30-06. I could not tell it from new production except for the graphics on the boxes. It also worked fine and grouped about like I expected from that rifle. Jack

You guys should listen to the old guy I overhead at the gun shop.

According to him this new ammo has additives in the powder so that it deteriorates so you cant stockpile it. The old ammo you could keep forever.

So I guess old ammo that is old is OK but new old ammo is bad.


You guys should get out more often and get the facts.

Did he share any other hallucinations?

Recently, a friend of mine got a batch of ammo from a widow friend of his. Remington and some Hansen branded Yugoslavian NNY factory ammo, up to 30 years old. He traded me what he got in two calibers he doesn't shoot.

So far, there have been splits near the case head in every caliber and every brand. I now know that a Sako will blow hot gas on your face, a Savage 10 will blow out the extractor, and a Remington 700 you won't know what happened until you take the case out.

I'd never experienced leaking gas from a case until this experience.

If we were in desperate times, Then I might consider shooting those 20-30 year old loads. But since we are not desperate, why not pull the bullets and fire new ammo.

I would be concerned about the brass after that many years. I have a bunch of 12 ga. shells that are pre world war II and they have failed to fire what few times I have tried. I have seen some shot shells that drew dampness, have a delay in complete firing and ended up going off as the semi auto shotgun action started to open. It is worth being cautious.

I would fire it without even thinking twice about it.

Don't you guys all have old ammo from your dad or grandpa that's been sitting in the bottom of the gun cabinet for a few decades?

Fired many a round of 30 year old Lake City match in the M1A. A lot of guys at our gun club have and I never hard of a problem. I have reloaded military brass dated as far back as 55 it was fine.

I still have a bunch of circa 1937 7x57 ammo made by Kynoch and put into a 1000 round spam can. It was in the can until 1992 and has been in a good, stable, dry environment since then. Still shoots great and is very consistent over the chronograph. If kept in a good environment, it seems most ammo will last many decades. Worst stuff I ever had was some old 303 British mil-surp that looked pretty grungy so I figured it wasn't stored too good. It all went "bang" but wasn't as accurate as I expected; upon chronographing it was found to have very large velocity variations from shot to shot.

^^^ what does that old 7x57 ammo chronograph at? I assume they are 173gr bullets, right? Have you shot any game with them?

I have purchased and shot many incredibly old 22lr rounds, often finding them dirt cheap at yard sales and flee markets, sometimes am even able to trade the empty boxes afterwards for new ammo. I have also fired a good deal of surplus ammo mostly 8mm and 30-06 that was from the 40's and 50's. Also south African 308, not sure when that is from? At one time I had purchased and used for hunting norma and kynoch 9.3x57mm ammo that I thought was from the 50's maybe 60's with excellent results.

Two years ago I was assisting a women clear her garage and she gave me three buckets full of vacuum packaged ammo all milsurp, I was only able to use about 300 rounds of 9x18 so the rest went to a friend, it was a wonderful find.

When clearing out older homes whether visiting estate sales, especially if we are in a rural area or assist family moving older parents it is pretty common to find a can or box of ammo. Last time I found a coffee can of shotgun shells that I fired and in the most recent case I found a small jar with 3 22lr rounds they shot well, what I think was a 22 short missing its bullet, a high brass slug that I have never seen before and I haven't shot yet and some 7.62x39 which I gave to a friend they fired a very large group and 1 30-06 round pulled the bullet gave it to a friend (bullet is 220 grains which surprised me) I then fire formed the case to 35 whelen.

Yeah if I where paying big money for a hunt I wouldn't use that kind of ammo but I am not really a fancy guy and I like to use what I find.

I have fired german ammo waffen/swaztiga/ marked from 1937 with no issues.
I have pulled projectiles/powder from early 50's french 30.06 ball, reloaded in new brass, and chron'd it with about 10fps variance.
I have a box of ammo from the civil war, unopened, for a spencer carbine. I would not fire it because of what it is, but i have a feeling it's an even bet some of them would work.
and i have fired 30's production german 8mm in a M.G. 42 without any issues at all.

Just went through some of my old shooting log books and couldn't find my chronograph results for that Kynoch 7x57. Got my first chronograph in Mar. '97 and this stuff was chron'd in '97 or '98 from a 1908 Brazilian Mauser with a 28" barrel. On the boxes the bullet is listed as a 140 gr. Solid Pointed Bullet. Even says "Nitro-Cellulose Powder" also. I can recall getting very consistent velocities and low extreme spreads with this stuff. Too bad I don't recall the velocity. Still have close to 900 rounds of it and this season for sure I'm gonna chrono it again in the same gun and be sure the results get into my records. Haven't hunted with any of it cause I figured a solid wouldn't be the way to go on any critters that I'd be hunting.

I've shot WW1 ammo and it worked beautifully. Perhaps the powder had degraded slightly, but it worked and gave me 2-3" groups from an '03 Springfield. The only thing I didn't like is the corrosive primers.

Why doesn't old factory ammo "weld" the case neck to the bullet?

Have it stored around moisture and the process will begin. It needs moisture for the molecules of the two different metals to start a bond or corrode. I looked it up. It is known as galvanic corrosion. An electrical current is initiated. Car batteries work on the same principle.

I didn't think my basement had an excessive amount of moisture until I purchased a dehumidifier. Turn on the house AC and it fires up almost immediately.

forever, if stored right

Our military folks are still shooting .50 BMG ammo from the 1940s.