.556 Round Tarnish

[Typhoonblade101]

hey guys, i bought this Winchester Q3131 556 ammo 2 years ago, and i took them out today and saw that 4 of them had turned a different color on the primer. Is this bad? Is it safe to shoot?

thanks

[highpower790]

Its not tarnished.Just overflow of primer sealant.

[Typhoonblade101]

Its not tarnished.Just overflow of primer sealant.

is that bad?

[Peter.Steele]

Yes. Potentially fatal, in fact.

Better send it to me. I'll dispose of it for you, free of charge. All you pay is the shipping to send me your ammo.

[highpower790]

Shoot it without worry!

[slamfire1]

What exact brass is used, how it is coated, things can oxidize at different rates. I don't see anything to get alarmed about.

What you don't want to see is evidence of gunpowder deterioration. Gunpowder breaks down with age. A rule of thumb is 20 years for double based, 45 years for single based. Heat deteriorates gunpowder at an exponential rate: the hotter it gets, the faster it deteriorates. Ammunition stored in hot, like above 100 F will go bad in a year, or less. Stored in 150 F degrees, months maybe.

When gunpowder deteriorates it outgasses nitric acid gas. Then what you see is corrosion and the effects of corrosion. Cases will crack at the case neck, you will see pin hole corrosion through the case. Ammunition pressures spike on combustion. Old ammunition will blow up your gun. This is 1960 Norma ammunition, stored in a house. Notice the red dust. Red dust in gunpowder means it is time to throw it away.

[Styles]

It's just sealent worry not. Those rounds are just more waterproof now :-)

[Steve_In_29]

Looks like primer sealant to me.

[Bansh88]

I've shot (and store) WWII era .45 and tons of 70s & 80s era rifle ammo. No issues. I've wiped green gunk off pistol ammo and shot it.
Except for actual corrosion, like shown above, I wouldn't think twice.

[Oceanbob]

I've shot (and store) WWII era .45 and tons of 70s & 80s era rifle ammo. No issues. I've wiped green gunk off pistol ammo and shot it.
Except for actual corrosion, like shown above, I wouldn't think twice.

This^^^^

Shot lots of Korean chinese stuff. Never a problem. Still have a bunch of 30.06 in 'clips' for my M1 Garand. Runs perfect. From 1945....

Once I found a box of corroded green 9. I dumped it in my Dillon vibrating tub and it came out clean. Fired it just fine.

[slamfire1]

I've shot (and store) WWII era .45 and tons of 70s & 80s era rifle ammo. No issues. I've wiped green gunk off pistol ammo and shot it.
Except for actual corrosion, like shown above, I wouldn't think twice.

Shot lots of Korean chinese stuff. Never a problem. Still have a bunch of 30.06 in 'clips' for my M1 Garand. Runs perfect. From 1945....

Once I found a box of corroded green 9. I dumped it in my Dillon vibrating tub and it came out clean. Fired it just fine.

I don't want to turn this thread into a long education on the shelf life of ammunition, but I have written extensively about this on other forums. I know the shooting community wants its ammunition to last forever, and people do have stories of shooting old ammunition without problems. Heck, George Burns smoked cigars and drank booze every day and lived to 100. So does that prove that everyone who smokes lives to 100? Smokers would say so. I have collected a number of posts where old factory ammunition blew up firearms and posted pressure data.

The basic problem is that gunpowder deteriorates at different rates. Like humans, just when it dies is rather unpredictable, but die it will. At the end of its lifetime, gunpowder develops burn rate instability, and that will blow up your firearm. If the old ammunition you are shooting shows excessive pressures, like hard bolt lift, pierced primers, stop shooting the stuff. The best you can do with old high pressure ammunition is to pull the bullets, dump the powder, and reassemble with new powder if the cases are not corroded.

Better safe than sorry.

This thread on Castboolits had a good discussion about old surplus

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?230264-When-milsurp-ammo-goes-bad&

1. When milsurp ammo goes bad........

[Bansh88]

That thread describes ammo, calibers and weapons I wouldn't trust period.
Not saying you arent correct. But I'd imagine QC, manufacturing and materials in 100 year old Turkish vs 50 year old American, Euro or even Russian aren't even in the same ballfield.

Time will tell.....

[slamfire1]

That thread describes ammo, calibers and weapons I wouldn't trust period.
Not saying you arent correct. But I'd imagine QC, manufacturing and materials in 100 year old Turkish vs 50 year old American, Euro or even Russian aren't even in the same ballfield.

Time will tell.....

Federal is being ultra conservative, what they are not telling us, is that old ammunition will blow up guns!. First there will be function issues, then burn rate instability, then Kaboom!


Federal Ammunition :

http://www.federalpremium.com/company/faq.aspx

What is the shelf life of ammo and storage?

Store reloading components and ammunition in a cool, dry place, protected from direct exposure to sunlight. If stored properly there is a 10-year shelf life on loaded ammunition.

Take a look at the pictures of Vihtavuori:

Has anyone else had Vihtavuori N140 corrode in loaded ammo?

http://www.falfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3745264

I noticed a number of threads where 1990's Vihtavuori is going bad. Twenty years seems to be just about when the first issues with old powder start surfacing.

Powder lifetime is very unpredictable. Depends a lot on how it was made, then it depends how it was stored. Varies a lot. Industry is not educating us, because our ignorance is their strength. They want us to buy whatever is on the counter and not be picky. However, that surplus ammunition on the market, some trained ammo technician went through it, and based on his written procedures, that lot was removed out of military inventory, because it was getting either too dangerous to shoot, or too dangerous to store.

Then American shooters get it and think, Wow!, cheap ammo, just as good as new!. Well, surplus maybe be cheap, but it is not as good as new.