45 Year Old Reloads Still Work Fine

[max]

I got a text from my BIL saying he loaded up some .38 wadcutters I loaded in 77 and he reported they are still working fine.

 

[Laketime]

I hear if ammo is stored right away from extreme heat it will last a very long time.

 

[NYlakesider]

Not surprised! I also have/had a bunch of different reloaded calibers and gauges from that era they all work fine. If your humidity is right you can get a long shelf life.

After over 50 years I again started shooting skeet. I had about 200 12g rounds on hand they all did their job, Just one was a little less powerful by the sound and recoil but it still broke the bird!

 

[Sam McCord]

45 year old ammo if stored properly should be just fine. Not surprising that it all fired.

 

[IAM Rand]

Soooooo what you are saying is that after all these years, your lead is still good.

Gotcha!

 

[Sistema1927]

Long story that I will try to make short, but....

My Dad was informed by the FBI back in the late 70's/early 80's that they had word that the mob had put out a hit on someone with the same name in our city. The agent advised him to get a handgun and carry it. Prior to this, had never owned a handgun, even though he had rifles and shotguns.

He purchased a Charter Undercover. I was loading .38 at the time for my Model 10, and was experimenting with a Federal Hydra-Shok bullet. It was in wadcutter profile, with a large indentation in the front and a spike inside it. I loaded him up a box of 50 using W231. He shot some, and they shot to POA.

Just recently, I discovered that he still has that revolver, and it is still loaded with that ammo. I took some, and ran them through a 442. No problems, and even though I was only shooting into wet newspapers, it appeared that the bullets both penetrated well and expanded.

I might not be correct on the date, but I am guessing that this was close to my 21st birthday in 1977. So, better than 40 years ago.

 

[cadmike]

Last weekend I shot some reloads I loaded 2 weeks ago. As luck would have it, they fired just fine.

 

[robvious]

we shot 1940's vintage ammo in CMP practice.. ran just fine in our M1 Garands and M1 Carbines.. storage is the key

 

[sophie]

I agree, storage is the key on ammunition. I've got some of my reloads from 1982 in 38 Special and 357 Magnum that I still shoot today. Some in cabinets and some in metal ammo boxes. Shoot good as always.

 

[nbedford]

I started reloading back in 1982 and lately I have noticed that some Bullseye I still had in an old cardboard canister from about 1985 just does not have as much pop as it used to have. I loaded some 38 Special 158 grain lead swc's and they were averaging about 510 fps or so out of my 10" TC Contender. Should have been at least 200-300 fps faster. Not much left in the old canister, but I don't think I will use any more of it. BTW they were extremely accurate loads.

 

[CLASSIC12]

I just shot those 19 rounds of reloaded 44 AMP from 1972 and they also worked just fine

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Long story that I will try to make short, but....


He purchased a Charter Undercover. I was loading .38 at the time for my Model 10, and was experimenting with a Federal Hydra-Shok bullet. It was in wadcutter profile, with a large indentation in the front and a spike inside it. I loaded him up a box of 50 using W231. He shot some, and they shot to POA.

Just recently, I discovered that he still has that revolver, and it is still loaded with that ammo. I took some, and ran them through a 442. No problems, and even though I was only shooting into wet newspapers, it appeared that the bullets both penetrated well and expanded.

I might not be correct on the date, but I am guessing that this was close to my 21st birthday in 1977. So, better than 40 years ago.

I use to load that same bullet in 38 S&W with the bullet the same length as a LRN> They always shot great! I discovered this spring, I still have around 50 of the projectiles in the box!

Ivan