Ammunition Age

[Terry]

Hello,

Still very new to this great Forum, looking for a little advice.

I have a 7 or 8 hundred rounds of old 9mm JHPs, 7-10 years old, and was wondering what people's opinions are on the reliability of it.

Should I use it for target practice, keep in on hand for Sh*t hit the fan, or just not worry about it?

It's been stored in reasonable conditions, but I'm not sure if I trust it enough to use for EDC.

Thanks,

Terry

[jeep45238]

If you don't trust it for every day reliability, shoot it at paper.

[DocGKR]

As look as it has not experienced temperature or humidity extremes, it should be fine. You can always carefully visually inspect the rounds, as well as test fire some...

[Totem Polar]

I've never seen properly stored, name brand ammo go bad. As an example, I have a stash of both Federal and Remington's version of .357 magnum 125gr SJHP that is literally *decades* old. As revolvers come, and revolvers go in my life, on occasion a new .357 comes in, and I'll dig up a box to try "some full power .357" in the new gun. It's always worked (and muzzle flashed) just like I remember it from the late 80s/early 90s.

If you have a gun your interested in EDCing with your stash, shoot a couple hundred rounds through it and see for yourself.

The only caveat being: there may be better ammo available now, but 7-8 years isn't very old. It's not like it's 90s era silvertip or the original 147gr JHP loading, yes?

ETA: I see that the doc posted just before I did. I'd be more concerned with your ammo being on his vetted list than being old.

[RJ]

Timely thread.

I have a quantity of 9mm stored in new .50 cal and .30 cal ammo cans. I've left it for over a year with a few of those desiccant packs. Good to know it should be gtg.


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[DocGKR]

We have done a fair amount of historical testing on ammo from the early 20th century. All of the ammo, including original .30-06 ball from 1912, went bang without problems...

[Flintsky]

I found a case of .45acp military ball from 1964 in an old barn a few years ago. The box it was in was covered in mold, and it had been subjected to many summers, winters, and high humidity. The brass was pretty tarnished, but none of that blue/green corrosion that you get when it has started the galvanic corrosion process. I shot it all up over a period of about a year. It wasn't as accurate as most factory brass cased loads, and I had around a dozen failures to fire. Not a bad track record though considering what it had been through.

[Malamute]

The past few years I started shooting up some of my reserve ammo I loaded in the early or mid 80s. Its all been fine, including some that has lived in vehicles for several years, 365 days/year, hot and cold. Its all been fine, though I don't use some of it for carry as a first choice. I mainly worry about lead bullet pistol ammo, if the lube may have melted and run into the powder. If stored bullet end down, as in boxes, its probably OK. Some may have been in plastic bags, speed loaders, and cartridge belts, so no telling how it was oriented. So far never had any problems with 30-some year old handloads though.

[fatdog]

About 2 decades ago a friend found 2 and 2/3 boxes of 1918 produced cupro nickle jacket 45 ACP from Frankford Arsenal....WWI GI ammo. He decided on the partial box that he had to satisfy his curiosity. We fired 12 rounds, all perfect, shot over my chrono at the time about 725-750 fps in a 5" government model. No idea how it has been stored. Something stored properly for 25 years would be of no concern at all to me.

[Terry]

Thanks everyone for the good advice..., sounds like at minimum it's at least still good to keep on hand for sh$t hit the fan, maybe take a box or two and try them out.

[fishing]

As look as it has not experienced temperature or humidity extremes, it should be fine. You can always carefully visually inspect the rounds, as well as test fire some...

how fortunate we are to enjoy the happy coincidence that the materials typically used for bullet jackets and cases will show a marked change if exposed for any meaningful time to potentially damaging levels of humidity/moisture.

Does anyone know when HST or 9MM GD hit the consumer market? I'd be more concerned about lack of test data or effectiveness on older projos but that is case by case depending on what you have.

[Totem Polar]

Does anyone know when HST or 9MM GD hit the consumer market? I'd be more concerned about lack of test data or effectiveness on older projos but that is case by case depending on what you have.

For reference, the guy you quoted is the first guy any of us should ask about any of that.

[fishing]

For reference, the guy you quoted is the first guy any of us should ask about any of that.


yes am aware. thx

[Hambo]

We have done a fair amount of historical testing on ammo from the early 20th century. All of the ammo, including original .30-06 ball from 1912, went bang without problems...

I haven't gone that far, but I've hunted with ammo I loaded 20+ years ago and I've got 1950 Belgian .30-06 military ammo that works just fine.

[KyNate]

Caught a local gun shop in my area selling 50 round boxes of Federal Hydrashok that were at least 25 years old. Several people in this thread have stated that older ammunition should be fine but at the time I was too nervous to trust it. It was a pretty good deal at 15 dollars a box.

[Gadfly]

I have shot stuff my dad handloaded in the 1970s. Every round worked. I did not chrono it, so don't know how consistent it was.

Commercial ammo from the 60s and 70s all functioned perfectly. Some of this stuff was stored, in the hall closet for decades, some sat in the garage baking and freezing for decades. All of it worked.

[GuanoLoco]

There's an awful lot of 7.x2x54R blammo (Mosin food) that's older than dirt, stored in metal tins and waxed paper wrapping, and it's all gone bang for me.

Same with the M1 ball ammo (30-06) for Garands.

Store it intelligently and don't worry about it. If you are concerned about reliability use it for target practice.

[Tabasco]

I have some circa 1919 .303 in stripper clips that wen't bang every time.

[abu fitna]

As far as pistol ammunition, I have shot up old nyclad tucked away in the 90s and forgotten. I have also finished out legacy Black Talon that a colleague had kept against a rainy day before seeing the light on modern duty loads from the same era. No issues at all.

I have also run much older overseas in both pistol and rifle, including Middle Eastern manufactured material dating to the 60s, Malaysian surplus ball from the 50s, and German post war leftovers. And given the uncertain storage conditions of much of this stuff, there were surprisingly fewer problems than there ought have been. Puts the all too frequent Tula failure rates into quite unhappy perspective, but we knew this...

[Malamute]

...And given the uncertain storage conditions of much of this stuff, there were surprisingly fewer problems than there ought have been. Puts the all too frequent Tula failure rates into quite unhappy perspective, but we knew this...

Just reminded me,...someone in Syria said they had mostly Chinese ammo, with lots of duds. I recall numerous instances in vids from there of people clearing Aks and belt feds from f-t-fire rounds (for whatever reason).

[psalms144.1]

My current issued "training" ammunition for .45 ACP is TZZ-head stamped 230 gr FMJ that was loaded in 1986 - before I was commissioned (and before a bunch of folks on this board were likely born!). It's nasty looking, and I have to check each round before loading them because some cases are corroded to the point where I'm worried they'll fail on firing, BUT, every round I've put in a magazine has fed, fired, extracted and ejected without issue.

This ammo has been in ammo cans, which are somewhat air tight, but the cans have been stored in non-climate-controlled ammo bunkers around the world for over 30 years, with minimal issue. Our issued 9mm JHP was loaded in '96 - and still works fine. I sure wouldn't worry about ammo that was under a decade old.

[deputyG23]

I recently finished off my minimal stash of Winchester 125 grain +P .38 service ammo that was bought in the early '80s and stored for decades in either a bunker or my detached shop. No climate control for either place. Went bang every time and no issues.