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Posted: 5/10/2002 1:23:57 PM EDT
[#1]
I think .45 ammo from WWII still shows up once in awhile for sale. I shot some early 80's Nato 9mm last weekend and it was fine. I have seen recommendations from guys who teach those pistol shooting classes and stuff that you oughta shoot it up after a year-I doubt that that's really necessary, but you oughta shoot your carry ammo once in awhile.
The 200 grain +p cor bons are bit more exciting to shoot than the standard 230 fmj stuff. I had a bunch of it that had been around so long that the bullets had tarnished and it shot just fine. |
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Posted: 5/10/2002 1:30:01 PM EDT
[#2]
one of the gunrag writers recently did an article about getting his hands on a 1911 (note the lack of -A1) that had been sitting in a widow's drawer since ninteen-something-teen. Said writer supposedly took it directly to the range and fired all 7 rounds successfully. This is the story as I heard it though... can anyone confirm?
Anyhoo, Various factors, such as the heat of a car interior, or bullet setback caused by numerous rechamberings, make it worthwile to freshen up your carry ammo more often than once every 80 years. [:E] |
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Posted: 5/10/2002 1:35:52 PM EDT
[#3]
greg -- ammo becomes explosively dangerous after about 10 months, so you better send it to me for safe disposal
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Posted: 5/10/2002 1:39:25 PM EDT
[#4]
I wore my HK t-shirt to pickup my daughter when she was in grade school, and another dad was picking his child there also; he was a deputy sheriff for Los Angeles Sheriff's Dept. He said that by dept policy they must change their ammo once every 6 months. He gave 150 rounds of 9mm hdrashocks.
I buddy of mine has a WWII K98 8mm Mauser. He bought some old WWII ammo at yard sale, 90% shot just fine, 10% had miss-fires. I took the ammo home and pulled the bullets, emptied the power into tin and threw away the case. I lit the powder, and it burned fairly vigously. I suspect that the primer went dead sometime during storage. |
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Posted: 5/10/2002 1:47:41 PM EDT
[#5]
Hey how good is that WW2 stuff? I've seen it for about $80 for 750rnds, I don't think i've ever shot any ammo over 20 yrs old much less some almost 60. If it's sealed up and stored correctly would it be worth foolin with?
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Posted: 5/10/2002 1:54:55 PM EDT
[#6]
I have fired 1890 vintage 45-70 just fine ... 100% reliable. I have also fired 600 rnds of 1950 8mm throught a 98k without any misfires and exceptable accuracy at 600 to 700 yards. (ie. 12" to 15" groups)
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Posted: 5/10/2002 1:58:12 PM EDT
[#7]
1937 Kynoch 7mm Mauser. Fired about 60 of 200 rounds with no problems.
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Posted: 5/10/2002 2:03:22 PM EDT
[#8]
Quoted: Hey how good is that WW2 stuff? I've seen it for about $80 for 750rnds, I don't think i've ever shot any ammo over 20 yrs old much less some almost 60. If it's sealed up and stored correctly would it be worth foolin with? |
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Posted: 5/10/2002 2:07:02 PM EDT
[#9]
the main problem as i see it is this. If this is blasting ammo. go for it. If it is ammo you depend your life on refresh every year.
One other thing to consider. If the ammo has been chambered and unchambered frequently the bullet can be pushed back into the case. Causing higher than normal pressures in the cartridge. I generally do not unload my pistol unless i have to. If you do this rotate the rounds in the mag to keep one round from taking all the abuse. |
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Posted: 5/10/2002 2:15:24 PM EDT
[#10]
I have some boxed in 1944 that I shot last fall. It did just fine, however, I cleaned the crap out the gun afterwards.
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Posted: 5/10/2002 2:38:40 PM EDT
[#11]
Depends on how fast you pull the trigger, I have had some WW2 and it was fine, some Remington 185 JHP in .45 that were 25 years old and somewhat weak. But most of the time it is conditions of storage that determines the length of time.
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Posted: 5/10/2002 2:40:52 PM EDT
[#12]
Not handgun ammo, but I have some 30-06 ammo from WII that still works.
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Posted: 5/10/2002 3:39:42 PM EDT
[#13]
Quoted: I wore my HK t-shirt to pickup my daughter when she was in grade school, and another dad was picking his child there also; he was a deputy sheriff for Los Angeles Sheriff's Dept. He said that by dept policy they must change their ammo once every 6 months. He gave 150 rounds of 9mm hdrashocks. I buddy of mine has a WWII K98 8mm Mauser. He bought some old WWII ammo at yard sale, 90% shot just fine, 10% had miss-fires. I took the ammo home and pulled the bullets, emptied the power into tin and threw away the case. I lit the powder, and it burned fairly vigously. I suspect that the primer went dead sometime during storage. You are brave. |
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Posted: 5/10/2002 3:44:01 PM EDT
[#14]
Quoted: Quoted: I wore my HK t-shirt to pickup my daughter when she was in grade school, and another dad was picking his child there also; he was a deputy sheriff for Los Angeles Sheriff's Dept. He said that by dept policy they must change their ammo once every 6 months. He gave 150 rounds of 9mm hdrashocks. I buddy of mine has a WWII K98 8mm Mauser. He bought some old WWII ammo at yard sale, 90% shot just fine, 10% had miss-fires. I took the ammo home and pulled the bullets, emptied the power into tin and threw away the case. I lit the powder, and it burned fairly vigously. I suspect that the primer went dead sometime during storage. You are brave. Why do you say -er-type that? For shooting the old ammo? Lighting powder that is not contained is not dangerous.[?] |
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Posted: 5/10/2002 3:52:24 PM EDT
[#15]
I've got some Remington .45 ACP from 1944 that still goes bang every time.
But, for carry ammo, you do want to reduce if not eliminate the possibility of ammunition related problems. That means roating your ammo every 6-12 months. You can bet that 1944 ammo would be loaded into my carry gun only as a last resort. |
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Posted: 5/10/2002 4:42:13 PM EDT
[#16]
Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I wore my HK t-shirt to pickup my daughter when she was in grade school, and another dad was picking his child there also; he was a deputy sheriff for Los Angeles Sheriff's Dept. He said that by dept policy they must change their ammo once every 6 months. He gave 150 rounds of 9mm hdrashocks. I buddy of mine has a WWII K98 8mm Mauser. He bought some old WWII ammo at yard sale, 90% shot just fine, 10% had miss-fires. I took the ammo home and pulled the bullets, emptied the power into tin and threw away the case. I lit the powder, and it burned fairly vigously. I suspect that the primer went dead sometime during storage. You are brave. Why do you say -er-type that? For shooting the old ammo? Lighting powder that is not contained is not dangerous.[?] Yep, it wasn't explosive, it just kinda burn fast. I don't remember exactly the number, but it was something like 15-20 cartridges. I had small mound about 3 or 4" high. It took about 2-3 minutes to completely burn-out. I put it in the middle of my which all grass so there was no chance of the fire spreading. It burned with a bright blue flame. It left teeny-bit of ash behind. |
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Posted: 5/10/2002 6:32:00 PM EDT
[#17]
I have some .357 magnum loads that I reloaded in 1984. My first year of reloading. Shot 100 of them last week and they all worked fine. Also shot some 1945 .45 ACP Factory ammo last year and all worked in a 1942 Ithaca 1911A1 just perfectly. If stored properly them will last 100 years without problems. I have some 30'06 dated 1914 ammo that I am saving to shoot in 2014!
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Posted: 5/10/2002 6:45:57 PM EDT
[#18]
The oldest batch of ammo I have is 1938 through 1943 Turkish milsurp 7.92x57 (8mill Mauser) which performs just fine, haven't had a misfire yet (after a few hundred rounds) and it's quite accurate, too. The oldest handgun ammo I shoot is Czech 1954 7.62x25 (CZ 52 handgun), nice, hot, accurate, fireball of a muzzleflash, no problems with this ammo either.
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Posted: 5/10/2002 6:50:27 PM EDT
[#19]
I put 1887-vintage .38-40 through one of my old revolvers a few years ago with no misfires at all.
It's how the ammo is stored. The packaging even need not be airtight if the ammunition is stored in a cool very dry place. Generally speaking, if it's visually corroded (rust for steel case, dark green for brass) the stuff could be dangerous. If not, it's fine. The crap about only storing ammo for a year is a good way to keep the ammo makers in business. |
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Posted: 5/10/2002 6:53:18 PM EDT
[#20]
Quoted: Yep, it wasn't explosive, it just kinda burn fast. I don't remember exactly the number, but it was something like 15-20 cartridges. I had small mound about 3 or 4" high. It took about 2-3 minutes to completely burn-out. I put it in the middle of my which all grass so there was no chance of the fire spreading. It burned with a bright blue flame. It left teeny-bit of ash behind. I heard somewhere that inproperly stored powder (and cartridges) can break down into almost pure nitro glycerin. Probably not true, but since nitro is a component of powder, I'd still be wary of burning it. |
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Posted: 5/10/2002 7:03:39 PM EDT
[#21]
Quoted: Quoted: Yep, it wasn't explosive, it just kinda burn fast. I don't remember exactly the number, but it was something like 15-20 cartridges. I had small mound about 3 or 4" high. It took about 2-3 minutes to completely burn-out. I put it in the middle of my which all grass so there was no chance of the fire spreading. It burned with a bright blue flame. It left teeny-bit of ash behind. I heard somewhere that inproperly stored powder (and cartridges) can break down into almost pure nitro glycerin. Probably not true, but since nitro is a component of powder, I'd still be wary of burning it. I think excessive heat will have a detrimental effect on smokeless powder. If I remember correctly, there was no odor to the powder at all. There is a green phamphlet published by the SAAMI(?), I don't remember who, but it is in the middle of reloading data phamphet from Alliant Powder, and they recommend that if you smell an odd odor that the powder has broken down and they recommend burning it in small piles!; just like gasoline, when you store it too long, you can smell the lacquer. Anyways, this powder just smell ordinary, actually there was very little or no odor if I remember correctly. |
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Posted: 5/10/2002 10:00:24 PM EDT
[#22]
I was interested in it for plinkin purposes an given all the positive input I think i'll try some out. It's offered by Centerfire Systems Inc. and supposed to be Winchester or Remington .45 ACP.
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Posted: 5/11/2002 4:40:55 AM EDT
[#23]
yep, for plinkin' I still have some WWII Canadian 9mm left. Stuff works great.
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Posted: 5/11/2002 5:53:37 AM EDT
[#24]
OT: I have heard and I don't personally know this for fact, but that the European 9mm Para ammo is loaded a bit hotter than its American American version, so therefore the European 9 pistols are a bit stronger, and the American pistols could suffer a more wear.
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Posted: 5/12/2002 9:45:30 AM EDT
[#25]
I'm surprised that nobody has made the smart-ass comment yet: "Until you shoot it, of course!"
The primers tend to be what decay over time, leading to misfires/hangfires. Stored properly, ammo will have a very long storage life. |
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Posted: 5/12/2002 6:14:03 PM EDT
[#26]
Not long around me! [:D]
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Posted: 5/14/2002 2:53:09 PM EDT
[#27]
Improperly stored nitro powder will not breakdown into pure Nitrolycerin. Improperly stored or very old dynamite will.
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Posted: 5/14/2002 4:39:15 PM EDT
[#28]
[size=4]Storage is the key![/size=4]
Why do police departments change their ammo out frequently? Because the ammo is exposed to the elements, sits in cars during the summer (very high heat), and is generally abused by routine handling. All this has VERY different effects than ammo that's sat on a cool, dry shelf for 20 years. I'd recommend changing your carry ammo at least once a year, and your "trunk gun" ammo twice a year (just before and just after summer). -Troy |
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