Looking around for some photography equipment I had stashed away I was surprised by what I found. Two boxes of Speer's 45 Auto, 200 gr JHP Lawman! I had put the apparent dates on the box when I bought them-12-92. Add to that, a box of Winchester's Black Talon 45's.

Also close by was a box of the Corbon 45+P "Flying Ashtrays"(velocity 1050 fps). It was stamped inside the box Dec 16, 1993. I'm wondering if this great find is still good. I would image so as it's not been kept in the attic or a damp basement area. Any guesses?

I'm no expert but I know the ammo that I put through my Garands and M1 Carbines that is 50 years old is still reliable. This ammo was not kept in climate controlled ammo friendly environment most of its life. I always give good inspection as precaution with ammo new or old. I think people underestimate the life span of ammunition. I'd have now problem shooting your forgotten stash.

I may take a couple out and try them in the 4506. I'd hate to shoot all those "treasures" up in one day.

You should have no problems with that ammo, none!

Good to hear-I have both pistols stoked with the "Flying Ashtray" for years from that same box. The 4506 ate them as well as any 45 would digest hard ball...always did.

Good ammo. I'd use them for "business" (CC/SD) or hang on to them. Too good to just burn up at the range.

I've also done this: come across ammo I didn't remember I had anymore. It's a lot of fun; I wonder why folks who are not shooters can't understand this...

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

During that same time frame you could buy the Speer 200 gr Flying Ashtray as a reloading component. I still have a box of those as well. It was cheaper than buying Corbon and gave the ability to see how a given pistol would handle them. The 4506 and 4516-1 gobbled them up like the two were made for each other.

I think those two pistols would probably feed frozen green beans if hand cycled.

It's like hitting the (small) lottery!

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Because of the metric system?

Exactly. I'm still hoping when I open the safe next time there will be a boxed 4" M29 in there I didn't know about.

Modern ammunition just does not go bad with age. I recently fired a box of Winchester .38 Special ammunition from the mid-1930s with 100% results.

Probably not. I'd dispose of them promptly. PM me for the address.

The Black Talon and CorBon are probably worth more to an ammo collector than just using it as "shoot 'em up" ammo, and I am sure you will have no reliability or issues problems with any of it.

Good try but, no cigar.

A couple of years back I shot up some surplus Spanish 9X23 that was made in the 1920s I think. That gave me a failure rate of about 5-10%. That is the oldest ammo I had ever shot and the only ammo that gave me significant misfire problems. I have shot a fair amount of 50 year old ammo with no trouble whatsoever. Unless it is very badly stored ammo last a long, long time.

In my ill spent youth, we did a lot of things. Like own 8mm Mausers and scrounged ammo at any gun store. It was all poorly stored milsurp. Much of it had arabic markings on the case and the boxes. We just assumed it lived the first 30 or so years out in the desert. Since it all went bang and usually was more accurate than we were, I got tired of hearing how it might not fire, etc. When someone asks that now, I just suggest as an earlier poster did. Send it to me for proper disposal. Yes, it was all corrosive and demanded good cleaning practices.

And I remember the early 1950s and going to a range with my father. Could be my retardation these days was caused by me picking up fired cases to look at them Back then, I liked the Winchester nickel plated 22s because they had real tiny letters stamped on them. As I got a little older and stopped at every yard sale I saw, I managed to pick up a few boxes of that same ammo, unfired. I did test some of that 1950s ammo and it fired very well. Still more accurate than I was.

Back when dad died in 1980, I inherited most of his gun stuff. My brother showed no interest, feeling civilians shouldn't own guns. OK with me, because I got so much. One treasure was his 1911 stash, with a bunch of them still wrapped in oil paper. WWII head dates. Yes, I was foolish and fired them over the years. Maybe wartime production was better, because they all went bang. Just like the WWI box of ammo I found at an antique show. Even the box was interesting to me. But like other ammo, it cried out for testing. And by the 1990s, it was maybe 80 years old. OK, maybe the corrosive primers were more stable. Or not.

Wake up, guys. This isn't meat or dairy products with a date code. Like use before last year. The commies and libs in government would like us to dispose of all ammo immediately. The only way I'll do that is if I get to use them as targets!

There is some ammo I won't shoot. The occasional inside primed .45-70s from the 1880s is just too cool to test. But I sure wouldn't want anyone trying to fire it at me.

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Dick Burg

The oldest ammo I ever fired was some 100 year old 30.06, 2 of the 3 I tried fired.

You can always send it to me for testing. I'm good like that, I like to help!!!

I'm sure all of it is perfectly fine.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

I'll be sure to keep that in mind. All of this great find and the good news about it gives solace to my worried heart. Those Talons are probably the most nasty of the entire lot. I can't recall why Winchester withdrew them, however. Probably for political reasons.

From the looks of the box it's been kept dry. I'd shoot it if I had to.

The oldest ammo I fired in any quantity was over 100 rounds of loose WWI .45 ACP military ammunition with 1918 headstamps (R A 18), and that was probably about 10 years ago. I got it cheap, but it was all in pretty ratty condition, stained and corroded, obviously not correctly stored. I think I had about a 30% dud rate. I pulled the bullets on the dud rounds and re-used them (they had cupronickel jackets). I have fired LOTS of WWII .45 ACP steel case ammunition, it all went Bang. I don't remember ever having a dud.

Everything I have gun related is kept in an environment where the humidity is never over 45% and temperature around 72-74 degrees. The dehumidifier runs quite often in summer months or when it's raining/after a rain.

The real question to that is did you ever have one in there?

Yes...in my heart.

Love it. Shot tons of that stuff in my early 457.