How old is too Old....

[AfricanHunter]

for surplus ammo? I am looking at getting some 308 and found some surplus from early 80's.

How long typically will mil grade ammo stay good for? I know variables come into play like moisture, temp, etc but if you were going to buy a bunch of surplus 308, at what point would you think age becomes a legitimate factor in ammo reliability?

PS- roughly what time frame were the South African battle packs you see for sale being turned out as I rarely see a date associated with them.

Thanks.

[Mssr. Eleganté]

for surplus ammo? I am looking at getting some 308 and found some surplus from early 80's.

How long typically will mil grade ammo stay good for? I know variables come into play like moisture, temp, etc but if you were going to buy a bunch of surplus 308, at what point would you think age becomes a legitimate factor in ammo reliability?

PS- roughly what time frame were the South African battle packs you see for sale being turned out as I rarely see a date associated with them.

Thanks.

I would stay away from anything over 100 years old. My milsurp ammo from the 1930's is some of my best shooting, most accurate ammo. The South African 7.62x51 I have in 140 round battle packs is from 1979 and 1980. I stay away from surplus ammo that is too new. If a military surplused ammo so early there is a good chance the ammo has problems. If they surplus ammo just because it is old then it is probably still good ammo.

[dominic]

I'll shoot anything that was stored properly (no external patina, corrosion, or flaking) I have some WWII 30-06 thats some of my best ammo.

[gn3hz3ku1*]

from the 80s? still a baby!

[elrcastor]

I've got some 30-06 from the 60's it's working great.

[Timberwolf]

I have shot plenty of military ball ammo from the 30's and WWII and lots of military match ammo from the 50's and 60's. The biggest problem with the older ammo is that it has corrosive primers requiring immediate attention at the end of the day.

[AfricanHunter]

Thanks guys, thats what I thought;

Which is the better ammo, 147gr Radway Green or South African 146 grain? If price was pretty close to the same which would you choose for all around range/practice ammo out to about 3-400 yards?

[QuarterBoreGunner]

Radway Green, no question. Their 7.62 NATO is outstanding, my FAL and M1As eat it up.
I've *heard* that their 5.56 NATO is not the greatest though.

[copenhagen269]

I thought this thread was going to be about something else

[QuarterBoreGunner]

^someone's been hanging out in 4chan...

[tujungatoes]

I've fired black powder milsurp cartridges from the 1880's. You'll be fine with ammo from the 1980's

[CSACANNONEER]

I would stay away from anything over 100 years old.

This is my rule of thumb. I figure that any ammo over 100 years old is usually worth more as a collectible than comparable, newer ammo.

[jpnosworthy]

^someone's been hanging out in 4chan...

If that were the case then the topic would have been "How young is too young"

[YoungGun2]

for surplus ammo? I am looking at getting some 308 and found some surplus from early 80's.

How long typically will mil grade ammo stay good for? I know variables come into play like moisture, temp, etc but if you were going to buy a bunch of surplus 308, at what point would you think age becomes a legitimate factor in ammo reliability?

PS- roughly what time frame were the South African battle packs you see for sale being turned out as I rarely see a date associated with them.

Thanks.

http://www.thegunzone.com/m1akb.html

[Gator Monroe]

This is for you So-Cal guys (I have some boxes of 30 ought Six springfield in my ammo collection including one green box of Remmington "High Speed" with a Zody's price tag on it for $4.37)