I was issued some .45 ACP FMJ ammunition that was head-stamped in the early 80s. Storage was in military ammo cans, but definitely not in "cool dry" conditions - some of the brass and bullets had significant corrosion on it. All of it went "bang" when I pulled the trigger, without issue.
Our issued 9mm duty ammo was similarly from the early 90s, and the brass is sometimes pretty gnarly, but I've never had one fail to fire.
So, I'm of the opinion that as long as the primer isn't exposed to solvents/oils, ammo is as close to immortal as you're likely to encounter.
That does NOT mean that it's safe to shoot any/all ammunition - recently had to help a fellow out who had a "malfunctioning" pistol who was shooting "gun show reloads" - luckily FTF/Fire were all he encountered.
Have you seen any breachface erosion with them yet?Originally Posted by JCN
Good question. It’s a thing with Winchester Winclean. I’ve also heard of this being an issue when using small rifle primers in pistol loads since the primer does not flatten out and provide as good a seal to the case.
I was on active duty before the M-9 was issued. For foreign-weapon familiarization (MP-40, STEN, Swedish K, BHP, etc.) we were issued big wooden crates full of loose WWII-vintage British 9mm ammo with mixed headstamps.
I would assume that it had been stored improperly for much of its life. It all worked fine.
Okie John
“The reliability of the 30-06 on most of the world’s non-dangerous game is so well established as to be beyond intelligent dispute.” Finn Aagaard
"Don't fuck with it" seems to prevent the vast majority of reported issues." BehindBlueI's
I have not noticed anything on the MPX bolt face (>10k rounds of Syntech) or on my CO guns.
We shot a lot of 100+ year old ammo when doing ballistic testing of historic loads--it all went bang....
Facts matter...Feelings Can Lie
ok, so it sounds like in the gym lockers in their cardboard containers they are fine...
first round is on me...thanks for the background and personal experiences using OLDE' ammo...
I've got a partial box of Winchester Silvertip .357 ammo that I bought somewhere between '79 and '88. Still works with no problem. Just stored in the original box at home.
In my early days of milsurp collecting when surplus ammo was still cheap, I fired 7.62x54R and .303 British and 8mm Mauser that was all 60-100+ years old.
There was one batch of 8mm Mauser milsurp from Iran or Egypt that had significant corrosion issues and those had occasional duds. There was also a shipment of Egyptian 9mm that was clearly meant for SMG's like a Port Said because it was way too hot for pistols, thankfully we found out about that from the first few shots and stopped shooting it in pistols.
I still have a small quantity of it because it runs in the transferable UZI just oh so sweet. It's also brass with berdan primers so I'll run a mag or two of that stuff from the UZI anytime a brass golem acts a little too pushy or weird about picking up my brass without asking. Never a hiccup in the UZI even though the ammo seems to be 60+ years old.
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