How long do cartridges last, generally?

[GAJAY]

I've got some that are at least 16 years old. This is for a .32 pistol (I guess it would be classified as a Saturday night special) that I usually carry in my car for the unlikely event I'd ever need it for protection. I also have some .22 long rifle ones that are of similar age. They all still look good. I recall watching an episode of Adam 12 where one of the cops said he hadn't changed his cartridges in 6 months and it was time to change....

[Alpo]

Ammo lasts for years, unless you seriously abuse it in its storage. People are shooting surplus WW1 and WW2 Russian ammo, all the time. I've got stuff I loaded 20 years ago, and it still shoots. I'm still shooting 22 ammo I bought in 1981.

[Alpo]

Oh, and there's no sucha thing as a "Saturday Night Special". That's a stupidity anti-gunners made up to scare people.

[OcelotZ3]

I've personall shot ammo my dad had that was 50-60 years old. Works fine if stored dry.

[Gabob]

Should be OK indefinately if not sujected to high temperature . I loaded some in early 60's for my uncle. After his death 20 years later the lead was oxidized and discolored but they shot just fine

[medalguy]

I regularly shoot WW II vintage ammo with no problems at all. As long as it is stored in reasonable conditions, out of the sun and high heat, it is good almost indefinitely. There might be some degredation of accuracy due to slight changes in pressure after many years if you are a precision bench-rest shooter, but for most of us you can't tell the difference. I consider 20 year ammo "fresh"!

[old semperfi]

well so far everybody is right,except for those that are wrong.ammo that is kept in a firearm in a place(such as inside your car) should be used with some regularity.what i mean is if the temp and humidity varies everytime you turn on heat or air in vehicle ammo could degrade after a while.now,how long a while i dont know,i refresh my truck gun ammo every couple of months.i take gun out fire ammo that was in it then clean and reoil all parts.i then reload and am ready again.i know this maybe anal to some but if i need to pull a gun from my vehicle i hope to GOD it goes off when i need it.the choice is yours old semperfi

[jack404]

Most of my .303 hard ball is 1917 manufacture

i've shot maybe 3000 rnd's of it and have plenty more to go it was stored in a tin shed for over 70 years till i bought it , i've shot 1902 man dated stuff too without issues ( but not a lot i admit, just some stuff i was given in a trade) and shot ( or tryed too) stuff not stored well and had green corrosion on it then cleaned up dated 1945

its how its stored

rimfire i have some 1958 stuff that shoots fine if a tad "hot" for my liking but still good ammo for hunting and plinking but seeing i used bolt actions it's no real issue but would not try it in semi auto /blowback actions

cheers

jack

[Popgunner]

Ammo is usually shootable many years after it was made. Milsurp ammo with corrossive primers from the 30's is mostly dead because the primers will eat themselves. Corrossive primed ammo from the 40's & newer still seems to shoot. Ammo that has non-corrossive primers & "modern" powders should be shootable as long as the brass case holds up. Usually the first thing to go on the cases is that the neck will crack. The US military starts surplusing ammo as it reaches 5 years of age because the case necks may be more prone to splitting but lately military ammo is shot up about as fast as it can be produced. Even ammo with cracked necks is shootable for plinking. The turk 8mm surplus shows up with cracked necks but still shoots.
Handloaded ammo that has low temp grease lube on cast bullets can go inert if the gun/ammo is left in the car in hot temps. The grease can melt & run back & destroy the primer. I've had that happen.

[Popeye]

In 1991 I purchased 50,000 rounds of .303 British surplus ammunition. It is all headstamped 1909. I'm still shooting it with no serious problems. Maybe four in one hundred rounds exhibit a click ... bang.

[Jim K]

There is no good answer because fixed ammunition has not been around long enough. A few years ago, I fired some .45-70 from the 1880s and it fired OK.

The old corrosive primers were very stable, but the early non-corrosive primers were not as good. That is the reason the Army chose to keep corrosive primers through WWII. The GIs had to clean their rifles, but that was a lot better than having the ammuntion fail in combat.

After non-corrosive primers had improved, and proven themselves in carbine ammunition, the Army transitioned to non-corrosive primers starting in 1950.

Jim

[LurpyGeek]

Originally Posted by GAJAY

How long do cartridges last, generally?

Not sure, I've never kept them around long enough to find out.

jk

My father and I recently shot some 7mm Mauser that he hand loaded in the '60s. Worked great. Brass was a little brittle.

[Gabob]

One exception is US issue 30-06 loaded at Frankford Arsenal in 1933. The brass is subject to "season Checks" or" season Cracks " I had a sack full of this given to me in the 1960s. Bright shiny ammo. I was shooting a 1903A3 from high kneeling position at 200 yards when one blew out. Knocked me flat of my back and rifle took off like a rocket and stuck up in the sandy soil about ten feet in front of me. Blew out magazine plate anda small splinter from stock. I had powder blown into my forehead and thumb. Was semi concious for a few seconds. The brass had a 1/16 " wide split from primer pocket to about an inch up the side. I inspected rest of the ammo and found five more with hairline splits in the same area. Read later in the Rifleman about the brass from 1933 being defective and spliting with age

[jondar]

Once mid 1990's a friend and I were using metal detectors in a section of the city I worked in which had been condemned.Underthe front steps of an ancient house I found a .38 S&W revolver cartridge. IIRC the head stamp was UMC. Brought it home wiped it off with a rag. Case seemed OK. I had a 3rd Model Iver Johnson in that caliber, chambered it, thought no way this is going to fire, POW! little cloud of white amoke. Sure enough, black powder loading. Treat them all like they're live.

[Jim K]

Hi, Gabob,

Yep, and the M1903 doesn't handle gas very well.

Jim

[Jim K]

It is sort of interesting to find ammo made in the 1950's, 1960's and even 1970's described as "old." Hey, folks, that is stuff I bought new and consider it new ammo. Old is .44 Henry or Martin primed .50-70.
Jim

[wpage]

Lots of the old DCM 06 ammo is left over from Korea Nam and some WWII.
Shot and been around Tens of thousands of rounds. Never a dud. Still shooting it to this day without fail.

[Marlin]

The last time I hunted with Alaflyguy and my SiL in Alabama, we used some Winchester .30-30 ammo that was purchased just prior to Pearl Harbour. That would calculate to be sixty-two years. Alaflyguy killed a small spike and my SiL killed a large 4-point.

Ergo, there was nothing wrong with the ammo ......

[chuckusaret]

What is old? I have ammo that my father bought in the 30's thru the 50's, shoots like new. I also have some paper shotgun shells from the 40's that still appear to be useable.

[gdlindy]

I have fired ammo (mil spec issue) that was made for WWII.

Keeping your "spare/extra" ammo in a sealable can (that is why everyone buys military ammo cans) and put in one of those little packets that say "do not eat" desicant I think?

Should last a while.

Also; it's best to store ammo in a cardboard box and use bullet case/holders (plastc or styrofoam). Never throw that stuff away, especially if you or a friend reloads.

If you are keeping ammo in the weapon; i.e. in your car, on your person, that ammo should be shot first when you go to the range.

Also, get a few extra mags and rotate them monthly. Remember to clean them when you clean your firearm.

Sounds like alot of work? OK!
Hey it's your life we're talking about here. You are only worth how much time and energy one puts into their own survival.

Good Luck and go plinking!

[Old Grump]

Shooting 1950 marked M2 ball ammo in my brothers M1 Garand. Not the most accurate ammo in the world but it always goes bang and shoots about 6" or 7" at 200 yards.

Last summer my brother and I cleaned up our loose piles of 22 ammo and bunched it in zip lock bags, they ranged from 10 to 40 years easy and they were not stored in pristine conditions. Trunks of a car, shelf in the garage, on the work bench in a coffee can full of junk. Most of them worked and most of them shot adequately, (minute of tin can at 60 yards or less). It has been my experience that ammunition ages better than we do.

[Texxut]

My ammo lasts until the moment the hammer falls.

Just couldn't resist.

[Trouble 45-70]

The only ammo which has failed is some 8 mm Old Yougo. Running 1 misfire about every 8 shots. Looks good. Can get about 20% of failures to fire on second try. Deep firing pin impression.

Shot some .22 shorts that belonged to my dad from sometime in the early 30s. No misfires.

On Saturday night specials, heard the expression often while growing up in the 40s. Seemed to be interchangeable with $2 pistol. As in, "Hotter than a $2 pistol" .Cheep so you could still buy a bottle of booze after you bought one. They were often made with pot metal frames. If it went off when you pulled the trigger it was likely as dangerous to the shooter as the shootee. Mostly for show, "Don't mess with me Bub, I got a gun." Made mostly in .22, .25 and .32. .380s were usually too hot for the materials. These went out of style in the 60s with the rise of the Tort lawyers. A manufacturer could be sued if the gun went off or if it didn't go off. Used to see these for sale at hardware stores, gas stations, some corner groceries used to have them, truck stops and in magazines for mail order. To bad mail order has gone by the board. Miss that. Mail order became illegal about the time I had a good enough job to start buying guns. Thanks Sen. Dodd. No not this one, the old one.

There are still inexpensive Zamack framed simiautos that are on the market and a few under $100 that will usually go off when you pull the trigger and not injure the shooter.

Was doing an inventory for a City audit and the Police dept. had 5 gal. buckets of these things and that was for a small town.

You don't have to spend a whole lot more to get a much better gun.

There are plenty of small caliber pistols on the marked that are well made and reliable but you won't get it for $100 let alone $2 unless it is stolen. Fun to shoot but if you can't stick your pinky finger in the bbl. you aren't using enough gun. But what do I know, most of the handguns I shoot are .44 cal. and up.