49 year old reloads

[Magload]

I know we normally do talk about stuffing shotgun hulls BUT i came across some boxes of 12ga trap loads and field loads I loaded in the 60s. do you think they are safe to shoot in my Win 101 ? I recall they cost me a whole 65 cents a box of 25 to load with Red Dot and shot was $7.50 for 25 pounds. Been wanting to shoot some trap as the range I belong to just put in a new range. Don BTW these are Federal paper hulls.

 

[max]

Try them out in a single shot or pump gun, but they should be just fine.

 

[Backlighting]

How were they stored over the yrs? ...might make a difference.

 

[DWalt]

No reason they shouldn't be perfectly OK.

 

[Magload]

At least with the over and under it is easy to see if the barrels is clear is they are bad. Don

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Why wouldn't they be as good as the day you loaded them????????????
I would have BEEN shooting them up.
I've been shooting some 40S&W's that I loaded in 2000......They all shoot as good as if they were loaded yesterday.

 

[Bosquebass]

As long as they are not corroded or swollen they should be good.

 

[Nevada Ed]

It would be a lot easier to shot them...............

than to break them down and try to save that powder that has been under pressure all this time !!

They should be just fine.
I shot some real old Winchester Super X factory loads at the trap club a few years back. The light breeze was in my face and I noticed on a few of the shots, that a very light mist of paper wading was falling out of the sky and hitting my face.

Just hope you used the newer plastic wads..........

 

[scooter123]

I agree with the others, no real potential for harm in a shotgun load. Worst case is one or two fail to fire. Just remember to follow the rules for a hang fire and after waiting 1/2 a minute or more dispose of the rounds that failed to fire.

 

[Double-O-Dave]

While in the Army, I was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood (aka "Fort Lost-in-the-Woods") back in the late 1970s. We were conducting a search for a kidnapped child and were clumping through the brush and scrub. One of the guys found a fully loaded, cocked and locked 1911 inside of an old metal box. Our unit armorer checked the barrel and fired all 7 rounds without any problems. It was later determined that the piece had been "lost-in-the-woods" since the 1940s. After all that time in the woods without care or maintenance, and the piece and the ammo functioned just as intended. Impressive. Yeah, I think your reloaded ammo will just fine.

Regards,

Dave

 

[Magload]

Ok I am going to use them and when the clay bird doesn't break I will just blame it on the loads. I haven't shot this shotgun or any other since the 70s. Used to shoot trap every week and was petty good at it. Don

 

[Gamecock]

Found some salami in the fridge. Looked a bit dry, color off a bit. From oxidation or bacteria? Looked at it some more. Threw it in the trash. Why take a chance?

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

Haven't eaten green salami from the fridge, but I have shot quite a few 35 year old rifle reloads, they hadn't turned green like the salami.

Have a few shotgun shells that belonged to my Dad, he died in 1953. They look perfect, but I wouldn't shoot them for the world. They are wrapped in memories.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

I shoot 30/06 Greek HXP in my Garands.........Old/stored in warehouses and its shoots just fine.........Used to buy wooden crates of 7.62x39....old/stored(anybodies guess) and it all shot fine too.....When I was young(a long time ago) we bought old moldy boxes of Rem-Umc surplus steel case 45acp......Never had a dud.....Shelf life on ammo kept dry is a long time.

 

[old tanker]

I have some duck and goose loads I loaded when lead was still legal. Don't have much call for BB and #4 shot these days, but the Winchester 209 primers and the 571 powder work just as good as they did in 1977.

Having been stored inside GI ammo cans and in the basement likely helped.

 

[Big Cholla]

There is one BIG consideration that you should be aware; really old paper hull shot shells have a chance of burning thru around the circumference when fired with part of the hull lodging in the barrel. I personally wouldn't shoot any old paper hulls thru a shotgun that I couldn't look down the barrel(s) and make sure it is clear before the next shot. I was given a case of 12 ga trap loads that today are a minimum of 60 yrs of age. I bought and rehabbed a single shot long-tom break open Ithaca trap gun just to use in shooting up that case. I am still working on it with a few boxes left to go. I take a shotgun cleaning rod with me and if a partial hull is lodged, I swab it out and go on to the next shot. The 60 yr old ammo is shooting just fine, but it does leave a burnt off hull in the barrel about 1 in 25 shots. ......

 

[Nevada Ed]

Tis the reason many seasoned trap shooters shoot a BT99 or a O/U......... (SxS)

Safety is a good thing.
Cost of a shotgun, secondary.

 

[chief38]

As long as they were stored in a relatively cool & dry environment all should be good. I shoot reloads from many years ago and never have any issues.

 

[Budnjax]

properly stored ammo should last a long long time

keep ammo in a cool, dry place. Back in the 1970s I bought thousands of rounds of WWI U.S. surplus 45 ACP ammo in what appeared to be horrible shape: dirty, green slime on some cases, etc. I cleaned up the dirty cases and proceeded to shoot the whole lot in a year or two. Out of about 8000 rounds of this awful looking ammo, only about 7-8 did not fire. Now, of course military ammo of WWI vintage had corrosive primers, which tend to hold up better than the non-corrosive variety, but even so I have no doubts than your ammo should work just fine.

 

[Moe Mentum]

Shoot them ! worst that could happen, would be a dud.