Older SD Ammo: Should I trust it?

[Disposable Heart]

If you cannot personally vouch for the storage conditions of that ammo, then do not trust it for SD. Sure, we have milsurp ammo from god only knows when still being shot fine, but consider this: that ammo has been in a storehouse (out of sun and rain), moderately warm (considering) and usually stored in an airtight ammo can. Heck, just the lack of moisture and sun shining on it is enough to make it last for a while.

Ammo that has been stored in extremes (cold, heat, wet, etc...) such as ammo carried in magazines for a year, then I shoot it at the end of the year, buy new and move on.

 

[strokin7.3]

Ammo that has been stored in extremes (cold, heat, wet, etc...) such as ammo carried in magazines for a year, then I shoot it at the end of the year, buy new and move on.

Has there ever been a scientific study done on this? I'm curious because my carry gun and ammo have been repeatably subject to very large temperature swings all winter long from working outside for hours on the coldest days we've had so far this year and then riding in the nice warm truck. Should I be more concerned about my ammo not going bang, or is all this talk hearsay?

 

[Purdue1000]

I sure hope you can trust it. As others said unless it was stored wrong and exposed to a lot of moisture you will be good to go.

 

[Cygnus]

Well I have stored it right. Although I did buy it out of the trunk of an old Buick or something. But it was in ammo cans. Have not test fired it yet. The Starfire looks mean.

 

[chemteach]

Well I have stored it right. Although I did buy it out of the trunk of an old Buick or something. But it was in ammo cans. Have not test fired it yet. The Starfire looks mean.

Are they reloads? If so, you may want to check OAL on a few and pull a few to check powder charge amounts for consistency. If they're factory rounds, I'd take them to the range, have fun and listen carefully for squibs.

 

[gungirl65]

Why shoot it and be done with it.
probably good. But you are staking your life on it.
If you have to ask, then is it worth it?
Is ammo that expensive?

Are you drinking? Heck yeah ammo is expensive. If you have a special place to get ammo cheap then let the rest of us know please.

Personally if the older ammo concerns you, use it as practice ammo. I buy vintage ammo for my son to shoot in his vintage guns. We've never had any issues with any of it.

 

[actaeon277]

Are you drinking? Heck yeah ammo is expensive. If you have a special place to get ammo cheap then let the rest of us know please.

Personally if the older ammo concerns you, use it as practice ammo. I buy vintage ammo for my son to shoot in his vintage guns. We've never had any issues with any of it.

Good to see you around gungirl. Ammo is expensive. Not nearly as expensive as my life.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

If it were ME: I'd shoot the PMC Starfire as "range" ammo.

My ONE experience with it, .38 Special (can't remember if +p or not) JHP stuff... I couldn't hit a paper plate at SD ranges with it. Was able to make good hits with 2-3 other kinds of ammo - but NOT that PMC.

Perhaps my particular gun didn't like it for whatever reason - but that soured me on PMC.

-J-

 

[LarryC]

Unless you have cycled it through your gun several times and caused "setback" of the bullets (overall cartridge length will be quite a bit shorter), or stored it in water or oil, I would use it in a heartbeat and trust it as well as any brand new off the shelf ammo.

The Ammo in my EDC is in the 15 year old range. I have Federal Hydra-shok, Winchester Black Talon and Remington Gold Saber, all in that age range. I do shoot a few rounds every year, due to the "setback" issue and have NEVER had any issue.

My son and I also shoot a LOT of Mil surplus, some I am sure was stored for over 50~75 years. I am quite sure a lot of it was stored in places that had huge temperature swings and have found a few corroded rounds that obviously were exposed to moisture (I do throw out heavily corroded rounds) - but the rest of those lots fired without hiccup. I have only found one batch (of hundreds) that had any misfire issues - That was bulk 7.62 X 25 handgun ammo that really didn't look too good as received (but it was cheap plinking rounds). I have shoot several batches of 75+ year old rifle / handgun ammo and verified the velocity via chronograph, actually all fell in the original spec's.

 

[Disposable Heart]

Has there ever been a scientific study done on this? I'm curious because my carry gun and ammo have been repeatably subject to very large temperature swings all winter long from working outside for hours on the coldest days we've had so far this year and then riding in the nice warm truck. Should I be more concerned about my ammo not going bang, or is all this talk hearsay?

While not scientific, I've had carry ammo that went bad before in under a year, lots of Failures to fire, so I invest in the concept of ammo going bad when it's subjected to adverse conditions and should be changed regularly.

Secondly, there is a reason that police use their carry ammo during qualification, then are issued new ammo same day...

 

[Godbybe]

I have 10year old bulk Gold Dot. I shoot a clip about every year or so to test it out.

 

[aescsar]

I have used SD ammo I got from my dad, it was probably 30 years old and all fired just fine. On the other hand I don't really think it's worth saving a few bucks for something I am potentially depending on for my life.