Longetivity of ammo

[tommyg]

Rotate your ammo stock and get in some practice

Get a woman stocking cut off a piece about 8 inches long
tie one end off
get some Chrystal cat litter the kind with the blue crystals
pour the cat litter into the stocking and tie the other end off
get a surplus ammo can
put your ammo in the can along with the cat litter in the stocking
your ammo will keep for a decade or more

[Pawpaw]

The biggest enemy of ammo storage is corrosion. If it looks OK its probably OK. But another issue is setback, if you store the ammo in the magazine (clip?) the inertia of the jostling around can cause the bullet to move within the brass. If the brass compresses against the powder there could be an over pressure condition.

I think it's a good idea to run the old ammo through once in a while anyway. First reason is to not give ammo time enough for setback issues, the other is ensure that the defense ammo is still cycling well through your handgun.

This is the first time I've ever heard of ammo that is just sitting in a mag suffering setback. Where did you hear this?

I rechecked and a quick search seems to show I misspoke. But set back is an issue for repeatedly chambered rounds. My faulty memory confused some issues I read about with some rifles, and probably poorly crimped ammo.

OK, thanks. I thought I was losing it.

[twomillenium]

Rotate your ammo stock and get in some practice

Get a woman stocking cut off a piece about 8 inches long
tie one end off
get some Chrystal cat litter the kind with the blue crystals
pour the cat litter into the stocking and tie the other end off
get a surplus ammo can
put your ammo in the can along with the cat litter in the stocking
your ammo will keep for a decade or more

HUH?? I have shot ammo older than me, without problems and they didn't have anything like that in the cans and we are talking 60+ year old ammo.

[WildBill]

I have shot very old ammo [e.g. WWII] without issues.
One thing that you have to remember is that this was MIL-SPEC ammo so it was probably made to higher standards than COTS product.

[Abraham]

I recently shot 16 rounds of ten year Speer Gold Dot 124 gr. +P JHP's without a single hiccup.

I've also shot quite a number of different calibers much older (some were reloads) without a single failure.

[carlson1]

Rotate your ammo stock and get in some practice

Get a woman stocking cut off a piece about 8 inches long
tie one end off
get some Chrystal cat litter the kind with the blue crystals
pour the cat litter into the stocking and tie the other end off
get a surplus ammo can
put your ammo in the can along with the cat litter in the stocking
your ammo will keep for a decade or more

This is not a bad ideal. I have some little bags that are supposed to take out moisture in the air in both of my gun safes. I wonder if a small one of those would work just fine in the ammo cans?

[Weg]

I'm still shooting South African 55 grain ball that has a 1980 headstamp, never an issue, has sat in my garage in an ammo box for decades. Back in the 90's I was shooting Den 42 surplus ball in my Garands with no issues at all either, that would have made it 50 years old. Wish I had some left around to test it out, 70 years would be a real test. I can say I have had a problem with rimfire ammo similarly stored though, I guess the rimfire priming method is more prone to aging, not sure.

[MaduroBU]

I agree on .357 Sig (or any necked case, but not sure how many .40 Super/.400 CorBon or 7.62 Tokarev carriers there are) suffering setback issues. Whether factory or handloaded, the bullet selection and crimp are both vital. 124 grain 9mm FMJ bullets with a graceful ogive cannot be made to magazine OAL with a failsafe crimp. You can dial in the OAL so that they cycle and crimp the heck out of them, but the bullets will eventually unseat given enough pressure or enough cycles through the chamber.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the boxy, near SW style bullets (mimicing the old 158 and 180 gr .357 bullets developed for the then new .357 Mag) which have a sharp distinction between the ogive and bearing surface like HDY XTPs, can be made reliable with a good strong crimp. For factory ammo, nearly every manufacturer sorted this out a decade ago, but I have seen factory loads that I could push into the case with my thumb. Improperly done handloads with the wrong bullets or a weak crimp can and will suffer setback and either spike pressures or allow burning powder past the bullet, leaving it lodged in your bore (ask me how I know).

I would echo the advise that I have heard many times, which is that necked calibers in duty/carry arms should have the round in the chamber replaced with one from the magazine and placed in the bottom of the magazine when the weapon is cleared, which avoids waste of ammo and prevents setback. If I ever elected to carry a .357 Sig, I would probably use factory ammo due to the neck crimping issue.