I was wondering how many years Wolf ammo will last if left in a closet. I have a stash of 3000 rounds and I don't know if I want to vacuum seal it in food storage bags or just leave it in an ammo can.

Just put it in airtight ammo cans with some sort of moisture absorber and it should last indefinitely.

FPNI

Actually the closet is about as good as it gets, assuming its in a heated/cooled bldg. Under those conditions, probably over 50 years. The only thing better is to vacuum-pack it in 200 rd packs. If you put it in a sealed container other than a vacuum pack, you have to use desiccant with it and replace it every six months.

In a temp controlled closet in air tight cans? Probably 100 years or more. I have some x54r dated 46 and I'm sure it was not kept in doors with climate controls. It shoots ok too.

I'm not really worried about it all mine is kept in a closet and the temps of the house don't change a whole lot. I rotate my ammo with the newest shit going on the bottom of the stack.

Last couple times out shooting I've been using a .30cal can full of loose Wolf soft point ammo I bought way back in 2003. The can was in a garage cabinet the whole time. The copper jackets are still shiny like new and all the rounds have gone bang so far without any issues.

I shoot Mil-surp 30-06 from the 1940's.  The ammo will last longer then you will.

Corrosive primed ammo will easily last 100+ years, non corrosive ammo not as long but at least in your life time. What's the old non corrosive that's been fired ? I have just shot 250 rds. of Rem. .22's from the late 80's early 90's and all have gone bang.

A couple of weeks ago, I fired 6 rounds of WW1 ( that's World War ONE ) 1918 .45 ACP in a revolver.  100%, not even a hangfire, and this stuff had been in a drawer somewhere.  Not exactly conclusive proof and antecdotal, but I would worry too much.

Great! I'm going to seal it in vacuum bags and then put them all in ammo cans and put them in the closet. They should last at least 50 years, then.

87 or thereaboutz

You're over thinking it.










 

I still have Chinese 7.62x39 surplus from the 60's that works as intended.

Turk 8mm surplus from 1940 will still smash my shoulder.

Lots of the com-bloc ammo is lacquer sealed, too, so it's not going to go bad.

Back in the 80's my Dad & I went to the San Antonio gun show and bought 2 Mexican rifles. One Was a German made Mexican Mauser and the other was a Mexican marked Remington rolling block carbine. The guy sold us a big yellow box of 7mm mauser which both rifles were chambered in. The shells were made in the 30's and were loaded with a cupronickle bullet. Anyway they all fired and were very accurate. I've also shot lots of 9mm largo made in the 30's as late as the mid 90's. When I was real young my dad bought an old 1873 trapdoor Springfield and the guy gave my dad a paper bag of old shells, they were all different but some had copper primers and were loaded with black powder, as when he fired it there was a loud boom and a huge cloud of stinky smoke, pretty impressive stuff to a little kid like myself, my dad let me shoot a cull watermelon with one. Those were good times, anyway ammo lasts a long time unless it gets wet. I've shot literally tens of thousands of rounds of surplus .30 carbine and .45 acp from WW2, 30-06 too, lots and lots of 8mm mauser and 54r from the 40's to the 80's. The old stuff pre- 60's weren't packed in air tight tins and much of it looked like it was stored in a cave, but al of it went bang. Every once in a while you would get a batch that hung fired, I bought a bunch of .303 like that, it was so old it was loaded with cordite and cupronickle bullets who knows how old that stuff was, but hell it was cheap.

I think the OP is referring to the newer non-corrosive primed ammo. We all know the corrosive stuff will last forever, but will the non corrosive primers last as long ?

I don't discriminate, I even shoot old non-corrosive, lol. I've shot lots of non-corrosive .303, .30-06, .30 carbine, 5.56, .22, 12ga ect.... from at least the 60's maybe older. I just shot up a bunch of 5.56 that had been stored in a wet humid barn for years. If you are keeping it indoors it will last forever. they have non-corrosive priming down and have for many years. Don't yall remember all the Vietnam era LC 5.56, .30 carbine and 7.62 that were sold by the pallet up until the 90's? It was all 60's and 70's, non-corrosive and never heard a single report of even a hang fire.

I have a few thousand rounds of 1950s Yugo 8mm that sat underwater in my basement for about a day during the May 2010 Nashville floods.  Finally took all the boxes out of the tins and laid em all out a few days later after higher priorities were handled.    Fans blowing on em a few days and rotated all the boxes till dry.   It pretty much all still goes bang.  There was the occasional hangfire before they got wet and there is the occasional hangfire since.  

No change in performance or reliability as far as I can tell.  Primers are sealed but the necks are not.

I had some pistol primers stored in an attic that I ran across after 25 yrs or so. loaded some up they all worked. I think loaded ammo stored properly will out last you.

I've seen a guy have problems with Wolf stored for only 10 years or so but it was just in original boxes in the garage so I cant say what conditions were exactly.
May have been exposed to ammonia (cleaning fluids).

Any steel, unsealed ammo is going to be a little touchy to long term improper storage compared to mil-surp or coated and sealed.
Not surprising since Ive never been able to make GT fail outside of beating it with a hammer. Dont think even ammonia can get into those rounds.

I still have some 100+ year old .32 special that came with the rifle when it was bought new for my great great uncle. Probably 100 rounds left, or so. Some has been in the basement of two houses, some in a gargage, some in the rifle case. It all shoots. I hunted with it. leather and canvas rifle case is disintegrating but the ammo is fine.