Old .22 Ammo

[jfuller429]

Hey all, My dad gave me a bunch of .22 ammo - about 1500 rds. They problem is I dont see a date on it but they say sears in like some 1978 style logo. My question is are these safe to fire? Should i expect a few duds? The casings look good, but the bullet has like an oxidation on the lead. My gut feeling is .22 is so cheap no sense firing with doubt huh ? Thanks for the input.

[CSACANNONEER]

'78 is not really old for ammo. I expect a few "duds from ANY rimfire ammo. Usually, the failure to fires are due to how well the priming compound was distributed in the rim. Twisting the round in the chamber normally is all it takes to make it go boom. Well, twisting the round, closing the action and pulling the trigger, that is.

[BKTJ]

Had some from the 50s and it fired fine. It depends how it was stored. If it was in a garage with high heat and humidity, that might give you trouble. The oxidation is another story. If it is heavy it might foul the chamber as it slides thru. I fired mine in a 22 bolt gun and that was ok. When I tried it in my 1022 it had trouble functioning. About 1/2 the time the bolt would not fully seat the round.
I had 10,000 rds of it and it took me 2 years to use it all thru a bolt gun. I'm too cheap to throw away ammo that still goes bang.


TJ

[Mssr. Eleganté]

I recently fired off some .22 LR and .22 WMR that a client gave me. He had found it while cleaning out the home of a deceased family member. Most of the ammo looked to be from the 1960's and 1970's and not stored under the best conditions. All of it fired fine.

I have fewer duds with 1970's USGI surplus .22LR than I do with brand new .22LR. Maybe the better quality control back then makes up for the age.

[22popnsplat]

I am sure its safe to fire if it was resonably stored , in other words in a dry place . the other fact is it could be collector ammo ,suprisingly there are people that collect old 22 boxes I have some 22s from the 70s that sells for $10-15 a box of 50 . I dont know how much difference it makes if the box is full or not

[jfuller429]

Thanks for the responses, I can post some pictures of it and you guys can tell me what you think... the boxes are Sears, Peters, and Remington from JCPenney... lol. If anyone wants to buy it where should i list it at?

[VegasND]

...I have fewer duds with 1970's USGI surplus .22LR than I do with brand new .22LR. Maybe the better quality control back then makes up for the age.

I agree. I have some Montgomery Ward .22 I bought in the 70s and forgot about until a couple of years ago. Even though I remember paying $5 a brick for this, so it is their cheapest ammo, it seems more dependable and consisitent than the least expensive ammo available today.

[rg_1111@yahoo.com]

I have some .22 from 1960 it still shoots fine. I have shot 200 to 300 and not one dud. Was shot out of a Remington Target Master bought in 1934 for $4.

[Santa Cruz Armory]

PM sent

[moulton]

I have shot a brick of federal lighting my grandfather gave me that he found in his basement.... he bought back in 1950. I have also shot ~300 rounds of .22 lr from the 70's that was given to me after being found in the charred soak remains of a barn fire, I had a few misfires but most shot off.

[Mssr. Eleganté]

Another interesting thing about the old .22 ammo...

Some of the boxes I got are from discount stores that either went out of business or had stopped selling ammunition by the early 1980's. So the ammo can't be from later than that. But the boxes still have the price tags on them, and the prices are the same or higher than .22 ammo prices in 2003.

The drop in metal prices and increased automation must have held ammo prices down for 20 years.

[BKTJ]

The ammo posted in those photos looks good. I wouldn't hesitate to shoot any of that. I think I have several of those plastic boxes of Remington ammo, somewhere. The stuff in plastic boxes tends to keep better, as the paper boxes will wick & hold moisture.