Ammo rotation

[SRT]

To celebrate the 100 year anniversary of my Smith & Wesson and Colt Army 1917s, I fed each revolver one half moon-clip loaded with 1917 head stamped Frankford Arsenal .45 ACP.

My slow-fire trepidation was for naught, as each round of century old ammunition faithfully ignited.

 

[Rastoff]

OK, I'll be the odd man out. I change my carry ammo every time I practice with my carry gun. This is at least once a month to as often as every week. I do this because I use the ammo that's in the mags when I get to the range.

Ammo doesn't rot.

This is a misnomer and could be a dangerous practice. Black powder does expire. This is why I'll never use anyone's reloads but mine. Yes, I have seen guys that got mixed up and used the wrong powder.

Further, it's not the age that's the problem, but the handling. Water and oil can migrate past the crimp and contaminate the powder or primer. I've heard that oil from your fingers can do this from being handled a lot, but I'm having a hard time believing it. There's just not enough oil on your hands to be a problem.

Still, handling is a concern. Sweat from your body can be problematic. Oil in your gun can be problematic.

If it's a self-defense gun, changing the ammo through practice can only be a good thing.

 

[joeintexas]

I'm certainly not saying changing out ammo is a waste but I have shot ammo that was at least 50 years old and it fired just fine. Before my dad passed away he had some 300 H&H mag and 38 specials from the 50s tucked away in an old chest. Each one of them went bang. Now if ammo gets wet that's a different story. I imagine there are as many opinions on this as there are on open/concealed carry.

 

[federali]

Much Ado About Nothing

Ammo has an indefinite shelf life and I've used ammo from WWII with no ill effects. When this topic comes up, I mention cleaning out my father's Jeep Wagoneer following his passing where I discovered a 12-round leather belt loop carrier containing my hand loaded .30-06 ammo encased in verdigris and buried in the wheel well. He hadn't hunted in at least 14 years prior to his passing and that ammo endured all that time in alternating northeast winters and summers, not to mention his salt-water surf fishing, which he did nearly until his last breath.

I cleaned up the ammo and all fired without incident as though it was loaded yesterday. I'm inclined to think that ammo a mere year or two old might suffer from a factory defect rather than storage or carry issues.

 

[TomkinsSP]

...Black powder does expire...

THAT'S mighty old carry ammo you have there.

 

[WR Moore]

Whilst we're telling all these stories about old ammo without issue, I need to pass on one of another type from Charlie Petty. It seems there was an old coot who kept a box of .30-30 in his pickup for his truck gun for quite awhile. Well, after some time, he fired one and the rifle kinda disassembled itself.

When an independent lab broke down a couple remaining rounds (yes there was a lawsuit involved), it seems the long term vibration turned the powder into....well, flour or something similar. Burning rate was pretty much instantaneous. The ammo company was found without fault.

Moral of the story is apparently don't get cheap- it can be really expensive.

 

[RGVshooter]

Just curious- How old do you let your carry ammo get before you replace it?

I had my first squib ever yesterday, lodging a .38 Gold Dot in my 442. I was using up some older ammo that I keep in a separate box. If I remember correctly, those five Gold Dots Might have gotten wet at some point.

two things...

ONE... if I suspect any of my carry ammo is "bad" then into the range bucket it goes, not in a carry gun.

TWO.... a dud or "squib" could happen with any ammo, new or old...

which leads me to why I feel revolvers shine... In a self defense shooting, if you do get a dud, most people and I've seen experienced shooters do this at the range when they're not even under any stress is they have that knee jerk reaction of pulling the trigger again. Nothing happens. why? because with an autoloader you have clear the round by racking the slide. And that takes lots of practice and plenty of ongoing training.

With a revolver if you get a dud, just simply pulling the trigger again the cylinder will rotate to the next round..

Carry a revolver guys!

 

[Kurusu]

@ the OP.

Hopefully you train regurlaly with your carry pistol.

Whenever you do. Spend the rounds you have been carrying first.

Reload the piece with fresh rounds. Repeat at least once every two months.

You won't have any problems (unless you are really cheap on buying the ammo that may save your life) with the ammo, and as a bonus, if your life will ever depend on your abilty with a handgun, you may find that training useful.

 

[petepeterson]

two things...

ONE... if I suspect any of my carry ammo is "bad" then into the range bucket it goes, not in a carry gun.

TWO.... a dud or "squib" could happen with any ammo, new or old...

which leads me to why I feel revolvers shine... In a self defense shooting, if you do get a dud, most people and I've seen experienced shooters do this at the range when they're not even under any stress is they have that knee jerk reaction of pulling the trigger again. Nothing happens. why? because with an autoloader you have clear the round by racking the slide. And that takes lots of practice and plenty of ongoing training.

With a revolver if you get a dud, just simply pulling the trigger again the cylinder will rotate to the next round..

Carry a revolver guys!

I was using a revolver. First round was a dud, 2nd a squib. Revolver or auto, I was holding a light rock.

Fortunately, the rounds were out of the "range bucket." I'm guessing they got wet. They weren't very old though.

 

[Rastoff]

THAT'S mighty old carry ammo you have there.

Black powder is still made. People still make mistakes. Yes, I have seen at least one person use black powder when he should have used smokeless. But I said that before.

 

[Old cop]

Thanks for the reminder. My agency issued new carry ammo annually and I have stuck to that schedule since retirement in 1997.

 

[TomkinsSP]

Black powder is still made. People still make mistakes. Yes, I have seen at least one person use black powder when he should have used smokeless. But I said that before.

I was just suggesting that a commercially produced BP round is getting up there in age.

Yes, boutiques make them today, I have made a few myself for a 120 year old Owls Head. The smokescreen it produces could have uses in a SD situation.

BP breaks down. Nitrocellulose breaks down. Last I heard a carefully stored control batch of the Original Original pre-Dupont Bullseye exists and is useable. Dual bases being oh, so much more stable.

 

[Flying Felix]

Ammo does in fact “go off”. The deciding factor used to be the primers, as the chemicals used were quite corrosive and as a result would degrade over time. Nowadays it’s the breakdown of the stabilizers in the propellant. To what result the degradation affects the ammo is very subjective but as a rule of thumb we generally give small arms ammo a shelf life of 25 years.

Now that does not mean that it will be faulty after 25 years, I’ve personally used ammo a lot older than that with no problems, it’s just that manufactures will not guarantee their product past that date. Funnily enough the acceptance figure for small arms ammo can be as low as 98%. 98% may seem high until you realise that that means one round in every box could fail! In reality, quality is very much higher.

In the military we insist that Operational ammo is swapped out every 6 months, a practice I continue into civvy street. We are not permitted to carry expanding ammo in Personal Protection Weapons so every 6 months I buy 200 rds of FMJ of the same batch. Shoot 100, so that I’m happy with its and my performance. I then fill my carry magazines and the reminder is locked away separated from my usual practice ammo, hopefully never required to be produced for evidential purposes.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Columbus, Ohio PD issues new ammo that is fresh from the factory every 6 months. You used to issued enough for your weapon, spare mags and two full boxes (50rds. each). The boxes and duty ammo were collected and used for qualification. After they went to Speer (well before 2000) the issued boxed ammo was not performing as per spec. The Ammo road around in the cruiser trunk, got hot & cold and lots of vibration. The powder started getting ground smaller and the pressure went up! They went back to Federal ammo for a while, I have no idea what they carry now.

Ivan

 

[Not Getting Any Younger]

After a 20-ish year stretch of not shooting much (kids, etc...) I'm using up my older ammo.
Everything works fine so far.

The 22LR is also 'good as new' - the FTF's seem just as 'occasional' as when it was new, but that is to be expected with some bulk 22LR.

I store everything in a climate-controlled place.

 

[Execpro]

All my ammo is kept in a temperature/humidity controlled environment. I have 10+ year old ammo I would have no problem trusting my life on.
The 15 rounds I carry for self defense (In my snub nose revolver and 2 speed strips) and 17 rounds for my 9mm Shield (Two-8 round mags and 1 in the chamber) depending on which gun I carry, gets shot up at the range every 6 months or so to keep my skill level up along with a box of 50 target ammo and more carry ammo.
This keeps ammo in my carry gun fresh. JMO.

Stay SAFE and shoot often!

 

[Whitwabit]

I shoot both my practice ammo and the carry ammo I use often
enough I have never had to worry about old ammo .. the one time my Compact got completely wet the ammo was put in the bad ammo bucket at the range ..

I jumped in a pool after a 18 month old that had fallen in and was under water .. all turned out well but no time to even think about removing my Compact before jumping in when it happened ..

 

[chief38]

Although I do shoot up my carry ammo after a year or so and put in fresh, I have NEVER EVER had a "vintage" round fail to fire. I hunt with Shot Shells inherited from my Dad, some of which are paper hulls and must be at least 65 or so years old. They never fail!

I also fired some .45 acp rounds that were loaded into 3 1911 WWll vintage GI Mag's. I do not know how old the ammo was but it did have the dome shaped primers so I am assuming it was at least from the 1950's. All worked perfectly and I do not even know how or where they were stored or carried.

Just to err on the side of caution it's not a bad idea to rotate out ammo after a year or so and if nothing else it gets you to fore your Service Rounds for practice!

 

[crazyphil]

Wild Bill Hickock emptied his guns every morning by shooting them.
Then he would clean them and reload with fresh ammunition. He told
a friend: "I ain't ready to go yet, and I am not taking any chances when
I draw and pull I must be sure..."

I don't reload with fresh ammo quite as often as Wild Bill, but whenever
I practice I shoot up the personal defense ammo in the gun and reload with fresh.

 

[18DAI]

Our agency issued us a new box of 50 rounds every 6 months. In retirement I have stuck to that schedule.

But as to the ammo in my carry gun, at the end of the week - every week - I take the top round out of the mag and the round in the tube and throw them in a coffee can to use on the next range trip.

That way I avoid bullet set back. Not so much an issue with 9mm or 45 factory ammo, but old habits die hard. Regards 18DAI