How long can you keep ammunition?

[Doog]

I found a box of .357 Blazer flat nose bullets in one of my filing cabinets in a bag with the receipt from 1979. They are the ones with the steel colored cases. (gray not brass).

They have been in a heated stored room since 79. Are they any good? Are they safe to fire?

 

[ted s]

no

 

[ZeeOSix]

If they show no signs of corrosion, they should be fine IMO. I'd like to hear why not.

 

[Spazdog]

Blazer is usually the cheapest at the store.

Just out of curiousity, what was the price in 1979?

 

[SuperDave456]

WWII ammo works just fine.

A bunch of the 8mm and 30-06 that I own work just peachy.

It should be just fine.

 

[Doog]

They are the non reloadable alloy cases. Box of 50 from Kmart was $10.97. They are lead hollow points. The lead has a grey whitish tint which looks like a little oxidation but the cases look fine.

 

[901Memphis]

I wouldn't mind using them if they were stored properly.

 

[Robenstein]

Non corrosive ammo is usually dumped by military forces when they reach the 25 to 30 year old mark. It is at that point where they are worried about higher than average rates of ammo failure(hang fire or no fire). For the average plinker you will rarely notice though.

Older corrosive ammo can be good for over a century.

As mentioned if the ammo was made properly and stored well...you should just fine with late 70's ammo.

 

[OneEyeJack]

It's absolutely no good. Send it to me for proper disposal. I will take it to the range and I will dispose of it one round at a time just to make sure it's all properly disposed of.

Of course, you can do the same.

 

[Revving2Redline]

should be okay. as long as its the correct cartridge it will be fine. if you are worried then send it to me lol.

 

[Lapham3]

Yes-I've fired some WW2 era 30.06/.30 carbine with no issues. Also, a WW2 .45 found in the late 70's with WW1 (1917) ammo loaded in the clip=all was fine and similar in the 90's with a mid 1920's Colt .380 and same vintage ammo.

 

[eddy21]

I just used a box of 100 count .22 with a Kmart price tag of$3.78. 1 misfire.

 

[Oil Changer]

Stored properly, ammunition will last darn near forever. Your find fits in that category. Shoot it up.

 

[demarpaint]

I'm still firing ammo from WW-II in my M1 Garands, no problems to report. I'd buy it again w/o hesitation. As already mentioned as long as it was stored properly there should be no problems.

 

[JDW]

I still have bags of ammo .223 from 1973 that still works well

 

[BISCUT]

Originally Posted By: Oil Changer
Stored properly, ammunition will last darn near forever. Your find fits in that category. Shoot it up.


This!

 

[3800Series]

Might test fire a few rounds to test it.

Was going to say I keep all ammo indefinite, but I don't think I have any ammo thats 35 years old.

 

[btanchors]

OK, I think the consensus is, it's OK to shoot. Sorry to hijack this thread, but suppose the ammo in question is to be used for daily carry purposes, for self-defense - i.e., not for target shooting. Does that change the answer at all?

 

[Bud]

I have plenty of very old ammo that I use at the range. Would I use this same ammo in my daily carry weapon? No.

 

[Robenstein]

Originally Posted By: btanchors
OK, I think the consensus is, it's OK to shoot. Sorry to hijack this thread, but suppose the ammo in question is to be used for daily carry purposes, for self-defense - i.e., not for target shooting. Does that change the answer at all?


I swap out carry ammo every year. Carrying ammo in a CCW gun is far from ideal environmental conditions for it.

Go buy new ammo for that instead of trusting ammo made when we had a peanut farmer president.