.243 Win and 30 year old powder/primers

[Canon in L]

Well I guess powder and primers when kept cool and dry still work. I haven't shot my .243 in some 20+ years and just loaded up some of my leftovers.
I've also hardly shot in the last 25 years either.
Sierra Matchking 70g,35g IMR 3031 and Remington primers.
Chabot Gunclub today.
I also figured out my failure to feed in my W.German .40 Sig 229 which after today only has ~70 rounds. The parkerizing on the magazine lip slowed the bullets just enough to cause it not to go into battery. Or it was the different ammo (Win white box with a taper crimp) used. I honed the lips of the mags and now they feel xtra smooth.

[Fjold]

My brother is hunting with a 25.06 using ammunition that was reloaded in the 1970s.

[M1NM]

They seem to get better with age like fine wine.

[milotrain]

My brother is hunting with a 25.06 using ammunition that was reloaded in the 1970s.

At all interested in data dumping your experiences with the 25-06? I'm very interested in the cartridge.

[MongooseV8]

Yay 243!

[gun toting monkeyboy]

Amateurs. If you keep them away from moisture and excessive heat, powders and primers are good for decades, if not centuries. I have seen people shooting black powder cartridges that were over 120 years old. I have shot rounds, without misfires or hangfires from WW1. It all depends on how it was stored during that time. During the last panic, the only primers I could find were at a local hole-in-the-wall shop, and they had been buried in their storeroom for decades, when they had been purchased from another store that went out of business in the 1970s. As near as I can tell, they were non-corrosive primers from the 1950s, based on the packaging. They have been working just fine thus far. Powder is the same way. it might lose some of its power, but not enough for most people to notice without a chronograph. I have used 100+ year old cordite to make light reloads, and it still went bang. The only reason I don't use it for more powerful loads is because nobody has any load data on it.

-Mb

[Canon in L]

^ I knew it could last but not that long Mb. Nice.

[6mmintl]

Bring that to the 200 meter silhouette rifle match next Sunday at Chabot gun club.

You should be able to clean up with that group.

[Wrangler John]

Old ammo may have one problem, the bullet may be welded to the neck, literally. This is caused by galvanic action between two dissimilar metals, the copper jacket and brass neck. It begins the minute the bullet is seated and continues until the bullet is fired or pulled. In military ammo loaded with bullet sealer that has become hardened there is also the problem of glued in bullets that can raise pressures and cause neck failures. A fellow sitting next to me was shooting a surplus Mauser with ancient ammo, every neck split. He was lucky that none separated.

When I broke down my competition handloads from the 1980's the bullets would just pull out of the collet without budging. No matter how tight the collet, the bullets wouldn't pull. So, I decided to seat the bullets deeper until the weld broke. Run into the seating die each bullet would make a loud "clink" sound as the weld gave away. Back in the bullet puller they came out easily, as if they had been loaded last week.

Now imagine if that ammo was fired, until pressure rose enough to break the welds, the bullet would remain captured raising pressure and providing somewhat erratic performance. So, now I routinely treat ammo that has been in storage for a more than two years by seating the bullets a few thousandths deeper to free the bond before shooting. Just something to keep in mind.

[drdarrin@sbcglobal.net]

Old ammo may have one problem, the bullet may be welded to the neck, literally. This is caused by galvanic action between two dissimilar metals, the copper jacket and brass neck. It begins the minute the bullet is seated and continues until the bullet is fired or pulled. In military ammo loaded with bullet sealer that has become hardened there is also the problem of glued in bullets that can raise pressures and cause neck failures. A fellow sitting next to me was shooting a surplus Mauser with ancient ammo, every neck split. He was lucky that none separated.

When I broke down my competition handloads from the 1980's the bullets would just pull out of the collet without budging. No matter how tight the collet, the bullets wouldn't pull. So, I decided to seat the bullets deeper until the weld broke. Run into the seating die each bullet would make a loud "clink" sound as the weld gave away. Back in the bullet puller they came out easily, as if they had been loaded last week.

Now imagine if that ammo was fired, until pressure rose enough to break the welds, the bullet would remain captured raising pressure and providing somewhat erratic performance. So, now I routinely treat ammo that has been in storage for a more than two years by seating the bullets a few thousandths deeper to free the bond before shooting. Just something to keep in mind.

Normal cartridge brass is 70% copper, 30% zinc. Most bullet jackets are also either pure copper or a similar copper alloy. Assuming you're using these types of components, there should be no galvanic action between bullet and casing. That said...

We see a lot of surplus ammo out there that has steel cores, steel jackets or the casings are not cartridge brass. These are typically coated with some type of insulation to keep the dissimilar metals from touching. Lacquer or varnish being the most typical. If that coating is compromised for some reason, corrosion can and will occur. It will be exacerbated by poor storage conditions.

[Fjold]

At all interested in data dumping your experiences with the 25-06? I'm very interested in the cartridge.

I wish I could help but I don't reload for it, my brother does.

[toby]

At all interested in data dumping your experiences with the 25-06? I'm very interested in the cartridge.

Heavy dose of H4350 and 100 grain bullets.

[Canon in L]

Bring that to the 200 meter silhouette rifle match next Sunday at Chabot gun club.

You should be able to clean up with that group.

I need to do a lot of 100yd work before I do anything like that.

This was not old ammo, just old components made up into new rounds.

[Sabot]

I had been away from shooting for over 20 years, and then I got back into it, started reloading again with 25+ year old powder and primers, and everything shot fine.

[Canon in L]

then you discovered that there are no more powders, primers and bullets available anymore.