Hardly a week goes by that someone doesn't post a query whether or not a particular lot of ammo is still reliable or safe to fire. I scratch my head, thinking that I have stuff in my refrigerator that's older than the ammo in question.
There's a show on Netflix (sorry, forgot the title) in which four battlefield detective/hobbyists have received a government permit to explore the WWII eastern front, near Latvia. One of the items they unearthed was a live but heavily rusted and dirt encrusted 20mm round that's been in the ground since 1945. To prove a point, one of the men broke off the projectile with his hands (the round was that corroded) and poured the black-colored and coarse powder charge onto the blade of a shovel. He put a match to it and up it went, like the powder was made yesterday.
Artillery rounds, some from WWI, are still regularly found all over Europe. These too are handled with great care by EOD teams. They remain as dangerous as the day they were fired. Rounds that landed in thoroughly blasted and muddy ground often didn't encounter enough resistance to trigger the detonator. Every once in a while, a farmer manages to set one off by accident.
I have fired .30-40 Krag ammo loaded in 1917. I once accidentally fired a black powder, .38 Long Colt round and the danged thing worked just fine. The cloud of smoke as well as the odor told me what happened as I was practicing with ammo from a rusted coffee can full of odd-ball .38 SPL rounds received from an estate.
Ammo doesn't have an expiration date. What can cause ammo to go bad is leaving it in leather belt loops for long periods of time, or having brass and copper components in contact with a ferrous metal, causing an electrolytic reaction.
Even the admonition of storing ammo in a cool, dry place, may be overblown. I recovered some .22 rimfire that had been stored in a barn for decades, yet, every round fired. But, back in the 50s and earlier, paper shot shells did swell and fall apart if subjected to prolonged moisture. That must be where cool and dry originated.
When my dad passed, I was cleaning out his jeep and found a hunting belt containing a dozen rounds of .30-06 that had alternately baked and froze for at least 15 years, from when he last hunted. It took me a while to scrape off the verdigris but once clean, every round fired.
With this post, I know I'm preaching to the choir. Tomorrow, when the next poster worries about ammo longevity, refer him to this thread.
There's a show on Netflix (sorry, forgot the title) in which four battlefield detective/hobbyists have received a government permit to explore the WWII eastern front, near Latvia. One of the items they unearthed was a live but heavily rusted and dirt encrusted 20mm round that's been in the ground since 1945. To prove a point, one of the men broke off the projectile with his hands (the round was that corroded) and poured the black-colored and coarse powder charge onto the blade of a shovel. He put a match to it and up it went, like the powder was made yesterday.
Artillery rounds, some from WWI, are still regularly found all over Europe. These too are handled with great care by EOD teams. They remain as dangerous as the day they were fired. Rounds that landed in thoroughly blasted and muddy ground often didn't encounter enough resistance to trigger the detonator. Every once in a while, a farmer manages to set one off by accident.
I have fired .30-40 Krag ammo loaded in 1917. I once accidentally fired a black powder, .38 Long Colt round and the danged thing worked just fine. The cloud of smoke as well as the odor told me what happened as I was practicing with ammo from a rusted coffee can full of odd-ball .38 SPL rounds received from an estate.
Ammo doesn't have an expiration date. What can cause ammo to go bad is leaving it in leather belt loops for long periods of time, or having brass and copper components in contact with a ferrous metal, causing an electrolytic reaction.
Even the admonition of storing ammo in a cool, dry place, may be overblown. I recovered some .22 rimfire that had been stored in a barn for decades, yet, every round fired. But, back in the 50s and earlier, paper shot shells did swell and fall apart if subjected to prolonged moisture. That must be where cool and dry originated.
When my dad passed, I was cleaning out his jeep and found a hunting belt containing a dozen rounds of .30-06 that had alternately baked and froze for at least 15 years, from when he last hunted. It took me a while to scrape off the verdigris but once clean, every round fired.
With this post, I know I'm preaching to the choir. Tomorrow, when the next poster worries about ammo longevity, refer him to this thread.
