The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: odyssey1 on December 03, 2009, 10:06:15 AM
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From time to time we see posts asking if it's safe to shoot older ammo. My uncle found a box of remington .38 in his wife's closet. She passed away a few years ago and he's finally gotten around to cleaning up her closet. I doubt he'll get rid of anything but I think it's the first time he's even opened up her closet since she passed.
Anyway, he gave them to me. They looked fine. It was a new box in a brown paper bag with the original hand written reciept that dated 6/27/72 from an old gun store that had closed many years ago.
I went to the range a few days ago and shot them through my Ruger Security Six ( too scared to shoot them in the Python, just in case). They shot just fine. A little smokey but I think it's because they were lead bullets.
I'm sure others out there have probably shot older ammo than this but I wanted to share in case you were ever leary about a box of ammo you may have uncovered. Had there been any signs of deterioration of the brass or primer, I never would have shot them.
What's the oldest ammo you've shot?
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Good to know. Thanks for the post.
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1932 7.62X54 One of the cases split, but no other harm came from firing the stuff. I guess mercury or something else they used in the primers and powders back then turns into acid with enough time. I've got all kinds of stuff that shoots good from the 40's. Mosin Nagant's, Mausers, 'n such. ;)
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Late 70's while shooting for my Pistol "E" Qual, we used some loaded back in the late 40's and early 50's for practice before using some normal storebought stuff. Military .45 ACP ball, some of it didn't shoot so good....kinda went "phoooof"...bullet landed about 10 yards downrange, thankfully enough pressure to not cause a squib...
Just a month or so back, I shot up some leftover .22 LR from the early 80's... no problems...
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As long as it's stored in a cool dry place time should not effect ammo.
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As long as it's stored in a cool dry place time should not effect ammo.
I recently turned down some that were about that old..... and it was mainly because of the fact that it was not stored in a dry environment..... There was some rusting and discoloration and it just looked too iffy for me.
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I shot some european 11.25 (45 acp) ammo that was apparently military issue. It shot just fine, but was a llittle hot.
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I recently turned down some that were about that old..... and it was mainly because of the fact that it was not stored in a dry environment..... There was some rusting and discoloration and it just looked too iffy for me.
Had these bullets looked like that, I wouldn't have shot it either.
In all honesty, I was kind of scared when that first round went off. I wasn't sure what was going to happen.
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there has been muskets that were loaded atleast 150 years with black powder still going bang.
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I shot some steel cased .45 ammo from WW2 a while back with no misfires or other problems.
Richard
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My oldest is several boxes of Remington 7x57 from 1908. They shoot just fine in my Rolling Block. I paid $2 a box for them 40 years ago.
I still have .45 Match ammo dated between 1958 and 1963. They still shoot just fine. I have used quite a bit of 9mm ammo dated 1943. I still have the last two boxes, but until now they shoot well. I think they are Canadian SMG ammo.
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The oldest ammo I ever shot was some Winchester .22s in a blue and yellow box. I had a case head split and blow the extractor out of my 10/22. It still ejected most of the time anyway.
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I have plenty of Mauser Milsurp non-berdan primed 7.65mm ammo manufactured in 1981. Never an issue at all.
Stored in ammo cans and rotate my dessicant packs, as well as keep the Damp-Rid hanging bags in the ammo locker. S. Florida requires any and all extra steps to fight humidity.
Shot some really old 38 Specials from the 1950's in my Ruger Police Service Six, (wish I had that one back),....no problems.
Did, however, have some problems with some 22lr's that were stored in a closet. They were about 30 years old, looked fine but no bang...
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Shot lots of stuff from the 40's, all went well, but corrosive so clean appropriately, now I have powder that are in cans that people would probably pay me for because of the collectability, but I still load it, look for corrosion on the cases, and in the powder tins, the powder should smell a little acidy, but look for rust under the lids.
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About 15 years ago a class 3 dealer friend of mine was shooting German WW1 dated ammo in a German made machine gun. I think it was 8mm. He said he had no problems with it.