Ammunition Longevity

[chief38]

I shoot old vintage ammo on a regular basis. I usually reload for my Range sessions however when my Dad passed away 14 years ago he left me a plethora of old old ammo. I inherited many factory boxes from the 1940's, 50's, 60's and 70's. I have hunted with them, used them for practice and competition and have never ever had one fail! They are accurate, reliable and give me the Fizz when they are shot.

The only ammo or shot shells I have ever had fail are 5 paper hull Browning marked 12 gauge shells that when hit did not go off. I don't know exactly how old they are, but more than likely about 100 years old. I found them in an old abandoned barn and although they look like they are in perfect shape, they were exposed to much simmer heat, moisture and extreme cold in the winter. As far as I can remember, those are the only pieces of ammunition I have had not work. I am not counting the very rare "dud" from newly loaded factory ammo or rimfire ammo of course.

 

[RM Vivas]

I've shot black powder USGI .38 long colt ammo with 1890's headstamps and never had an issue.

 

[Mike0251]

The 43 is good stuff, I opened a spam can of it 2 years ago. The bullet does have a steel core as well in addition to the steel case. The repacking was done to put the cartridges in the new spam can that was invented because the original packing in wood crates deteriorated in the island climates.
Bullets By The Billion is an excellent book on the EC cartridges.

 

[BSA1]

Taking a lesson from our military I have ammunition I have stored for several decades in military surplus ammo cans that look as bright and new as the day I purchased them.

Stored indoors in waterproof and air tight cans with good rubber seals will help keep the ammunition usable for years to come.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I shoot old vintage ammo on a regular basis. I usually reload for my Range sessions however when my Dad passed away 14 years ago he left me a plethora of old old ammo. I inherited many factory boxes from the 1940's, 50's, 60's and 70's. I have hunted with them, used them for practice and competition and have never ever had one fail! They are accurate, reliable and give me the Fizz when they are shot.

The only ammo or shot shells I have ever had fail are 5 paper hull Browning marked 12 gauge shells that when hit did not go off. I don't know exactly how old they are, but more than likely about 100 years old. I found them in an old abandoned barn and although they look like they are in perfect shape, they were exposed to much simmer heat, moisture and extreme cold in the winter. As far as I can remember, those are the only pieces of ammunition I have had not work. I am not counting the very rare "dud" from newly loaded factory ammo or rimfire ammo of course.

The OP said this 303 British ammo was from WWI, not post WWII. There is a big difference IMO and while most all ammo I have shot which is that old runs perfectly fine, there is always that one lot that doesn't.

A friend had some very old 7.5 French ammo and it was nice and clean but the first few rounds caused bad hang fires, up to 20 seconds, maybe more. I know because I personally saw it shot. He was firing it in a K31 and that ammo just was not safe. The next week we fired his reloads without a problem made with the brass and bullets he pulled down but with fresh powder. That was the only time I've seen old ammo hang fire.

 

[Skeet 028]

I had some pre WWI 30-06...looked pretty clean Shot 10...all were hangfires but no more than a second...like shooting a flintlock....also every case neck cracked or split. All hit the target but the first barely...my fault

 

[shown50]

I just shot 12 rounds of some R P 38 spl through a new to me snub barrel swapped 1905 4th change m&p I’m not sure on the age probably 60s-70s it was from my grandfathers stash(sheriff starting in 63 and retired early 2000s). There were probably 25 rounds total of mixed wadcutters and targets, the 12 I shot were perfect the rest had corroded from being stored in his first gun belt and some in a leather pouch. Also about 15 years ago my dad had a box of Super Vel .357s from the late 70s early 80s and we shot all of them through a model 65 3 inch no issues at all, fireballs were huge haha.

 

[rockquarry]

Ammo has an incredible lifespan if stored in your house. No ritualistic storage procedures are needed. I wouldn't consider ammo from the '60s or '70s very old.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Ammo has an incredible lifespan if stored in your house. No ritualistic storage procedures are needed. I wouldn't consider ammo from the '60s or '70s very old.

I agree, ammo from the 60s or 70s really isn't that old.

 

[Alk8944]

Sometimes good, sometimes bad. About 45 years ago I had the only incident with old ammunition I ever had. I had a Ruger #3 in .30-40 Krag. I picked up an old box of black powder .32 S&W ammunition from our evidence room that was probably pre 1900, and was shooting in in the garage through a .32 S&WL to .30-40 adapter I had made. I was sure that I saw a bullet hole from every shot, but the lighting wasn't the best. When I cleaned the bore I found it was ringed about 4" back of the muzzle. I don't recall having any hang-fires, just the one squib.

The rifle never did shoot for beans as a .30-40, 4"/100 yards was about the best no matter what I did, and the ring didn't hurt anything! I decided to have it re-bored to .35 caliber for a .35 Krag. The work was done by Bob West who was recommended by Fred T. Huntington (RCBS). Once re-bored the gun will now shoot under 1"/100 yds, so all-in-all the result was favorable! The dies I use are RCBS .30-40 that I converted to .35 Krag.

Fun gun to shoot, but with 250 Hdy .35 RN it sure is a kicker. I shot a scope loose on the gun and it won't hold elevation.

 

[desi2358]

There are a lot of misconceptions out there concerning ammo and its life expectancy. Also concerns about ammo somehow degrading and becoming more dangerous. Never seen any evidence of old powder becoming stronger but plenty of it getting weaker until it simply won't ignite at all. The greatest danger from deteriorated rounds would seem to be from squib loads sticking a bullet in the bore and not being noticed.

The primer seems to be the most common failure point, some priming compounds simply do not age well. Powder going bad can also kill the primer as it breaks down. Badle deteriorated powder is usually obvious, green crud coming out around the bullet or primer (or eating holes through the case wall) is a sure sign of trouble. Such rounds should not be used and I usually break them down to salvage the bullet. As to cases with no visible damage, if the powder is starting to go bad, in my experience, they either will not fire or will result in a noticeable weak discharge. At which point any other rounds from that lot get torn down and inspected.

I got in the habit of pulling down any misfired rounds years ago. Sometimes find indications that the powder was in the early stages of breakdown. In many cases the powder is fine though, the primer simply failed. In such cases I have reprimed and put the original powder and bullet back in and they worked fine.

The above applies mainly to smokeless powder of course. Black powder, so long as it stays dry, seems totally unaffected by age. The primer is the vital point as far as whether old black powder ammo will still work. And some of the old compounds seem to hold up fairly well............ As a cartridge collector I end up with a lot of odds and ends, duplicates, stained cases and often common rounds. Earlier this week I gathered up some old 32 S&W Long including some really old rounds with copper primers and took an old hand ejector out back to try out. The gun shot well (as it always has) and there were no hangfires and only two misfires out of 36 rounds of assorted ammo ranging in age from the early 1900's to @ the 1960's................ There were twelve rounds with the old style copper primers, only one failed to fire. All those old ones that did work were black powder loads, impressive blast and smoke compared to the smokeless loads! No way to know how these were stored over the years but I have little concern for the lifespan of modern ammo under normal household storage conditions.

 

[46er]

Breaking up a cartridge collection a few years ago, there was a 12 Ga. USCCO CLIMAX(?) black powder. It went bang. Century old.