Is old ammo safe?

[Hoppe's#9]

About 1994 I purchased a used 624 Lew Horton Special and until recently it sat in a drawer in my office(for business not home defense) with about 8 boxes of Winchester 200 grain STHPs and 1 box of Winchester Western RN.I wish I knew what I paid for a box back then..The office is dry and the ammo looks good but I've read some threads of people with old bursting ammo,especially 22 LR.I also have some boxes of 38 Special
+P from IMI Sampson(Israeli Military Industries) which I don't think they even make anymore.With the current shortages I thought i would shoot them up,but I don't want any bursting barrels.The primers,shells and bullets all look good to me,any thoughts or should i just hold onto them for another 20 years lol.

 

[G-Mac]

I, personally, wouldn't think twice about shooting that ammo.

I shoot older ammo than that frequently.

Never had a problem.

 

[P&R Fan]

19 years isn't even close to old in my opinion.
I have shot ammo that was 50 or 60 years old or more on several occasions. If it wasn't exposed to a lot of water or oils it should be good for decades.
Jim

 

[Number1gun]

In general...yes. As above...condition. Kept in cool dry place..who knows.

 

[Arik]

Stored properly yes its safe. Im shooting surplus 8mm mauser from the 50s and 7. 62x54 from the 50s-70s

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[Old TexMex]

It's hard for ammo to be bad without looking bad. If it looks good, its fine.

 

[Class III]

I'd shoot it and not think twice about doing it.

Last year I shot some 45ACP that was head stamped "REM-UMC 17". I found 14 rounds in two two-tone magazines in the attic of the house on my farm. One round fizzled but the other six I dropped the hammer on fired fine. Unfortunately I didn't find the 1911 the magazines came from.

I've also got about 2000 rounds left of 30-06 that is head stamped "FN 52". That stuff shoots GREAT.

Class III

 

[glowe]

1990s ammo stored anywhere other than under water should be absolutely fine. I have done quite a bit of research on velocities of original black powder ammo, some from as far back as the 1880s and can count the number of misfires on one hand.

Oh wait, they stored the original batch of Unique under water for the last 110 years and when dried out, it still functions fine.

 

[30-30remchester]

I harvested a buffalo with a Sharpes civil war rifle and a cartridge that was 130 years old. One shot and over 3' of penatration. While I dont recommend shooting old blackpowder rounds, this proves it can be done with no harm (the buffalo may not agree with my no harm remark). I regularly test old factory ammo on big game, mainly from the 1930's and 40's with great sucsess.

 

[vipermd]

Some "old" mil- spec/"surplus" has been questioned as to increased pressures/ abnormal burn rates, based on it being stored cold, wet, dropped from planes,etc. The belief was that all these conditions "could" cause the perfect storm and therefore problems. I have read the info but have not found any documented tests of the "supposedly" BAD ammo. 1990 I am still shooting my reloads from mid 1980's in 38, 357,9mm,44 mag, 45, and never had a problem. Even if the cartridges were stored in OIL, the primer would prob fail before any other problems. Shoot it. Be Safe,

 

[SMSgt]

Fire away!

 

[rburg]

Or send it to us for proper and safe disposal!

These threads always have a poster who says that. If you're really scared of it, don't shoot it. Give it to a reloader who can pull the bullets and rebuild the rounds to their liking. It ain't rocket surgery.

 

[cotton42]

I harvested a buffalo with a Sharpes civil war rifle and a cartridge that was 130 years old. One shot and over 3' of penatration. While I dont recommend shooting old blackpowder rounds, this proves it can be done with no harm (the buffalo may not agree with my no harm remark). I regularly test old factory ammo on big game, mainly from the 1930's and 40's with great sucsess.

I have been tempted to try some old .32 black powder rim fire rounds in one or two of my tip ups. Has anyone tried that with old ammo that might date to the 1860's that otherwise looks in good condition?

 

[gregintenn]

I'm still shooting ammo from the 40's and 50's. It pretty much all goes bang.

 

[cotton42]

My blackpowder question aside, this thread caught my attention because I have small handful (50 rounds?) of military 30-06 that I don't trust (green corrosion, splitting cases) that needs to be disposed of. My first thought was to turn into local PD...but then a little Alex Jones popped up on my shoulder and started yelling at me ;-) Better to borrower a bullet puller and do it myself? Any ideas?

 

[arjay]

Either way works.

 

[glowe]

I have been tempted to try some old .32 black powder rim fire rounds in one or two of my tip ups. Has anyone tried that with old ammo that might date to the 1860's that otherwise looks in good condition?

My guess is that you do not have ammunition from the 1860s, unless you are a serious ammo collector. That stuff is very rare and does not bear any recognizable manufacturers of today. You most likely have 32rf from a much later date. Black-powder 32rf ammo was made into the early 1900s by most of the major producers.

I have tested Remington and Winchester 32 rimfire from the 1890s and found it still functions perfectly. If the lead is not oxidized and the cases are clean, you should feel safe shooting it in a good quality tip-up. 32rf was dropped by most makers shortly after WWII and was briefly imported by Navy Arms in the around 1990. Since there is not much of the recent manufacture stuff out there, lots of people have bought old full boxes just to shoot. You can pick up non-collector grade 1930s vintage ammunition for around $50 for a full box today.

 

[desi2358]

My blackpowder question aside, this thread caught my attention because I have small handful (50 rounds?) of military 30-06 that I don't trust (green corrosion, splitting cases) that needs to be disposed of. My first thought was to turn into local PD...but then a little Alex Jones popped up on my shoulder and started yelling at me ;-) Better to borrower a bullet puller and do it myself? Any ideas?

I would use an impact puller to salvage the bullets, they might need to be cleaned but should still be perfectly useable. If there is green crud coming out around the bullet or primer (or worse, through the case wall) then you have a good sign the powder has gone bad. Sometimes you can dump the powder out but occasionally it has turned into a lump stuck inside the case. I have burned the cases in my fire pit to get rid of the bad powder, sometimes the primer pops but never had one go more than a foot or two. The cases usually just fizz for a few seconds and don't go anywhere.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

I've had ammo as little as fifty years old give hangfires, which I had not experienced before, but it was loose ammo and God only knows how it had been stored. Ordinarily, I wouldn't even start wondering until the ammo is at least sixty years old, and I'm sure plenty of folks can tell you stories about good ammo older than that.

 

[BigBill]

I have 1938 turkish 8mm ammo that still goes bang. All my ww2 surplus ammo fires away. My reloads from the 70's still all goes bang and preforms like the day i loaded it. I store it all in 50cal ammo cans so its all dry and safe and in a cool place too.

Now the surplus indian 308 ball ammo is loaded all over the place. Some go with a loud BANG while the rest can be very quiet of a bang. The first batch of this ammo was very cheap and it should be taken apart and reset the powder charge so its correct. The bulgarian 7,62x25 tokarev is said to be loaded hot like machine pistol ammo and it shouldn't be used in the tokarev pistols.

Thats all the ammo info i have at this time.