ammo shelf life

[pokeyman]

what is the shelf life of an ammo? I have been told ammo last forever as long as you keep it dry.

[robcoe]

The date on the Korean surplus M2 ball ammo I use in my Garand is 1974, and I have shot a can of 7.62x54r dated 1955 with no issue, so I'm thinking a very long time.

[golfish]

I have 22 ammo from the 70s....shoots just fine.

[Vanguard]

Most of the ammo I've fired from my Garand has been older than me...and I'm 42.

[Eljay]

You should also avoid temperature extremes, but yeah, the stuff's pretty stable.

[09rubicon]

Kept clean, dry, and cool it can last a century or more.

[glassparman]

I regularly shoot Milsurp .303 British ammo from the 1930s through the 1950s. I only have problems with Pakistani from time to time (POF headstamp) and others only if it was exposed to water or something else.

Gunpowder will usually recover from getting wet as long as it is allowed to dry. Primers will corrode if the moisture remains. I have pulled down Milsurp .30-06 from WWII and everything looked good except the primers, they were corroded inside the casing and would not come out.

Whenever I get a batch of Milsurp, I usually pull down 1% of it just to examine for signs of moisture. Otherwise, I shoot it and be happy.

As for commercial ammo, same rules apply. Longer shelf life than you as long as it is protected from the elements. One exception, black powder . . . seems to corrode the case from the inside over a long period of time.

Michael

[Thunder]

what is the shelf life of an ammo? I have been told ammo last forever as long as you keep it dry.

In my house 1 month is typical....2 month max.

[RonnieP]

what is the shelf life of an ammo? I have been told ammo last forever as long as you keep it dry.

Send your ammo to me and I'll test them out for you.

[350skylark]

[Merc1138]

Didn't we just have a thread on this?

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=747554

[bussda]

While replies are saying it lasts for a long time, those are lead styphnate primers. The military is transistoning to lead free primers (KDNP), and I have not seen shelf life info on those types of primers.

[trigger945]

In my house 1 month is typical....2 month max.

LOL, good one.

[MrExel17]

its like wine it gets better with age..well thats what a little birdie told me, can be wrong.....

[Steve_In_29]

I had some 1950s FN 30.06. It all went boom but not all had the oomph they used to have. I noticed this when I was shooting my Garand in a 1000yd match for fun and would get a hit and then several misses and then a hit and so on. My buddy got his spotting scope on it and told me he could watch my vapor trails impacting on the 200yd firing line.