How old is too old?

[Andy Griffith]

I've heard that the only things that will change the properties of modern smokeless powder is high heat over a long period of time and moisture.

Moisture can rarely enter into the inside of a factory sealed cartridge- even those stored in a humid basement for 50+ years will likely be just fine. Unless of course, they happen to be paper shotgun shells.

Heat isn't the normal kind- even being out in an attached garage likely won't change it or even in your car during a hot summer, but if you find cartridges out in a wreck of a car that has been sitting in Death Valley for a time, I probably wouldn't shoot them, as smokeless powder exposed to high heat (150F+?) gets more powerful and unstable over time.

 

[oldRoger]

I inherited some boxes containing miscellaneous old rifle ammunition. Much of the stuff is for calibers I don’t have and will not be getting. One particular lot was 7MM Mauser: headstamp: DWM 1936. I decided to pull a few bullets (bullet is long jacketed soft-point). They pulled very hard, most split the necks, inside is green “stuff” looks like corrosion. It’s not flammable any longer.
But for the rest I have fired lots of old 50’s .45acp, including steel, it all worked as intended. I still have some 1952 .30 cal, some of the first lots after the Military went non-corrosive; it also works exactly as intended.
As Dick says the stuff is sealed tight.

 

[MTKTM]

The ol' "cool, dry place" thing is a good guide when it comes to ammo storage. Some stuff from the 80s can be unserviceable if it was kept in a garage in a humid environment, and some from WWI can work fine if it was stored under better conditions.

I'm currently shooting a thousand rounds of old 308 ammo from broken down M-60 belts manufactured in '65, and it works great.

 

[Checkman]

Over the past six years I've been working my way through several thousand rounds of 38 special +P SWC that were manufactured sometime in the seventies. They were stored loose in an old army ammo can that had a good rubber seal and was kept in a closet. Untouched for many years. No issues so far.

 

[Batjac]

I just opened a factory sealed can of Red Dot my dad gave me. This can has to be at least 35 years old but looked like it had just come off the shelf. Loaded up some 38 Special just to see if it would work, started even under minimum and worked up, and they all went bang just fine.

 

[500 Magnum Nut]

As long as the cartridges aren't green or corroded it's good. Most of my supply is over 20 years old...

 

[flop-shank]

I just opened a factory sealed can of Red Dot my dad gave me. This can has to be at least 35 years old but looked like it had just come off the shelf. Loaded up some 38 Special just to see if it would work, started even under minimum and worked up, and they all went bang just fine.

Smell old powder. Your nose will tell you if it's good or not.

I was given about 2/3 lb. of old Hercules Unique from circa 1970. If had the sweet solvent smell, but a little mustyness. It was just starting to spoil, but most of it had good color. I loaded a buzzillion .380s with that can of powder and it all shoots great.

Your nose will tell you what's going on.

 

[jrd1976]

OK we know that old ammo that has been stored reasonably well will shoot. But what does it do to the guns? Until the early to mid 50's, US military ammo was manufactured with corrosive primers. I don't know when commercial manufacturers dropped corrosive and mecuric primers. Guns have to be cleaned according to the standards of the time period of the ammo, which means, in most cases, washing the bore and action with soap and water. Cleaning with modern solvents will NOT remove the corrosive and mecuric residue and will ruin the bore.

As for powder, I still have some H110 that I bought 35 years ago. I read somewhere that prior to Hodgdon labeling H110 powder as "Newly Manufactured" it bought WWII surplus military powder and repackaged it, so my H110 is probably over 65 years old.