Ammo Shelf Life?

[airedale]

I read a question asked one time in one of the gun rags about how long ammunition in storage could be expected to perform at optimum performance. The gun writer's reply was he did not know what the shelf life of modern ammo loaded with smokeless powder could be as that question was still up in the air.. He said the very earliest modern ammo that had been stored  in optimum dry conditions without huge temperature swings had shown to work and fire perfectly fine, pretty much the same as when it was manufactured.

So a while back I got out of mothballs a couple of my old timers a Ruger 77 Varmint 220 Swift and a Ruger Number 1 222 mag along with some handloads I made up back in the seventies. I fired a few fouling shots and then shot for groups interested in seeing if the old gals and that old ammo still had what it takes. Surprisingly in all that time that has past both rifles and ammo still shoot pretty much the same as in their heyday when they were smoking woodchucks and crows. So it is true that ammo stored properly lasts a good long time.

Al

[Buckmaster7600]

When my brother first started hunting 5 years ago I gave him one of my 270's to use I sighted it in with a box of core lokts I had given to my by my grandfather when he was moving south. The gun shot them great so that's the box I gave him to use hunting. A couple months later on a 10degree morning he goes to shoot his first buck and click, he puts another she'll in and click. The buck runs off when I get up to him he's pissed and thinks I was messing with him by giving him duds we got home and 5 out of the remaining 13 shells fired.

Those shells were stored in my grandpas bedroom closet from the day they were purchased until I got them and they were stored in my ammo cabinet in the basement.

It could have been a bad batch of ammo or a fluke but I now date all my ammo when I purchase or reload it. Anything older than 5 years is for range work only.


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[Core]

I have heard that properly stored ammo will essentially last until you die, even if you buy it when you're young.  I keep mine in the basement, and it is dehumidified. I don't go so far as desiccant packs, etc. as I think it's overkill.

I did buy one can of 5.56 that was nitro packed in a can. It wasn't that expensive but I expect it would still shoot well a century from now.

[Five Seasons]

I had an old box of litefields from my grandpas barn. No temp control. Had a hangfire on a doe. Not substantial, but enough that after my flinch it was off.

Never again. Everything is in temp control now


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