Ammo Gone Bad?

[rwsmith]

Military ammo......

Military ammo is often sealed at the bullet and primer. They still recover something like 900 tons of unexploded ordinance from WWI (ONE!) in France/Belgium every year. 260 people have been killed and hundreds injured when a plow blade hits a live one.

Wow, I just realized the the 100 year anniversary of the start of WWI was two years ago.

 

[kaaskop49]

My experience with WW2 small arms ammo has been US and German stuff all fired as if it were made last week. On the other hand, .303 British, click-boom hangfires were not uncommon if the ammo was much over 20 years old. Had the same troubles with .380 Mk1z revolver rounds. It did not seem to matter where in the Commonwealth it came from, Radway Green was as bad as P.O.F.

I remember reading that much British small arms ammo used cordite as propellant. Could this account for hangfires?

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

 

[andyo5]

I was once given a box of .45 ACP ammo, made for the military and marked with a 1918 date. None of them fired, until I rebuilt them with new primers. Then they all fired. The old primers had gone bad. Everything else was fine.
When I lived in Evansville, Indiana; I was able to purchase some Evansville-made WWII 45 ACP ammo. It fired as if it were new.

 

[Ed Fowler]

The WWI ammo many times is corrosive I suggest you clean the firearm soon after shooting.

Learned that the hard way!!

 

[rwsmith]

I have acquired...

I did a mass reloading around 1994, loaded everything I had. Primers all sealed, organized in new 1 gallon and quart cans by caliber. With moisture silica gel desiccated pads inside. The cans sealed up tight and water proof. I went out of country for several years on jobs.

Around 2014 I thought I might test random loads to see if the loads and stored powders, primers still worked as planned. It all went bang.

The only dud I ever had was when I was face to face with a big angry black bear six miles into the backbush, it was a 158gr 357mag factory round made by PMC, South Korean made. I lived to never use PMC again.

I've acquired a dislike of PMC ammo, also. It seems inconsistent.

 

[rwsmith]

I'm sure the war produced....

About ten years ago I visited a friend and we hit the local range. He'd acquired some GI .45 ACP of WW2 vintage, and it was pretty bad--variations in recoil, and lots of misfire primers--say 2-3 rounds per 7 round mag. I'm pretty sure this stuff was steel case, US GI, tho my memory could be flakey.

While scarfing brass at my local range about four months ago, I came across some interesting .45 Auto cases and dud rounds. "UMC 14" and "FA 27". Oldest ammo I've handled, I think someone got into Grandpa's stash. With the number of duds to fired cases, this stuff looked about 50% bad, if the knucklehead who fired it didn't pick up any of the brass.,

I also found an abandoned box of Winchester .40 S&W, with about five dud rounds, and forty or so unfired rounds. The box looked relatively new, maybe 15 years old, with "Winclean" non-toxic primers and brass-encapsulated bullets. I tried firing them from a Sigma 40F and an AMT DAO Backup. I don't know if the 'non-toxic' primers don't age well, or what conditions that stuff was stored in, but the misfire rate was about 30 out of 40.

I'm sure that the war produced some bum stuff. It may even have ended up on the surplus market because it wasn't worth a toot.

Just think. In 1942 the government issued a contract for a huge cargo airplane to be built in two years. Howard Hughes dragged his feet so much (he was detail obsessive and wanted the best, if not perfection) and the H-4 never lifted off until 1947. The 'Spruce Goose' wasn't BAD, it was just several years too late. The government wanted its money back but Hughes was able to defend himself in Senate hearings. He pretty much said, "You try building a five story airplane with a wingspan as long as a football field."

I don't think anybody quibbled over bad ammo. Just throw it in the warehouse and after I retire you can sell it to the public.

 

[old tanker]

I remember reading that much British small arms ammo used cordite as propellant. Could this account for hangfires?

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

It seems to me to be primer related as it is as common in Brit ammo with the "z" suffix as it is in ammo without. .303 ball marked "Mk VII" in the headstamp is Cordite loaded. Ammo marked "Mk VIIz" would have been loaded with nitrocellulose powder. The British Army found that did cause some differences in barrel wear. As a result the would stamp a "7" on Vickers machine gun barrels that had been fired with Mk VII Cordite loaded ammo. After that, they could not be used to fire over the heads of friendly troops using "Mk VIIIz" ammo.

 

[Lee's Landing Billy]

I had a BIL that inherited a 1911, holster, with 2 two toned mags full of 230 ball from an old Colonel that had carried it in WW1. This ammo was headstamped 1917. We went outside to run our highly scientific test..Load pistol..pull trigger. What we learned was NEVER stand in front of this combo unless you are ready to shuffle off your mortal coil.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Last year I was digging through dad's old shed (he passed in '99) and found a box of S&B .380. in an old tool box.

The box almost crumbled in my hand and the cartridges had taken on a light grey/green hue.

Curiosity got the best of me so, I cleaned 'em up and off to the woods I went. I sent all 50 down the pipe of my Bersa without a hiccup. I have no idea how old they were.

Thanks dad.

 

[ParadiseRoad]

...I just fired a couple of shotgun shells that I reloaded about 40 years ago...worked just fine...

 

[AJ]

Years ago when I was stationed in Calif. The local PD brought us a shopping bag full of loose .45 ACP. Seems as a widow had brought a bunch of ammo into their station for them to dispose of "in a proper manner". They sorted out what they wanted and then gave us the old .45 ACP to incinerate, as we had one aboard the Naval Weapons Station. The First Sgt. and I took it to the range. Of course we used issue M1911A1's, not our own Colt Series 70's to shoot it. If you are going to have a chance of ruining a gun it might as well be the governments...... Anyway in the bag was stuff from the Nineteen teens, twenty's, thirties, forties and fifties. All went bang except six rounds from 1936.