George: For starters, let me say that I’ve been hunting with .270, .30-06 and 7mm loads from a test batch I got at least 10 years old. Some of the cartridges are 15 years old.They are still reliable and accurate, and I’ve killed dozens of bucks with them. Show If center-fire cartridges are stored in a dry place at moderate temperatures with low humidity—say on a shelf in a dry basement where you have a dehumidifier running—they can have an amazingly long shelf life. There are many reports of people shooting 50-plus year-old ammunition with no problems, and killing deer with such ancient rounds. But before shooting any old cartridges, check each one carefully. If the cases look clean and aren’t corroded, the ammo should work fine. But keep in mind the warning signs of unusable (and potentially unsafe) old ammunition: split case necks and/or corroded/rusty bullets, brass or primers. If ammo shows any of these signs, discard it properly and don’t shoot it. DISCLAIMER: If you have the slightest doubt that a round or bullet does not look right, discard it and don’t shoot it. Probably the best and smartest thing to do with shells left over from the last few seasons is to go the range this spring and shoot them up. Then go buy a couple new boxes of your favorite deer load before next season. The ammo companies will appreciate it, plus you’ll benefit from the shooting practice. You’ll know those shiny new rounds to be safe and effective. Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.Ammunition doesn’t “expire” per se, but the gunpowder looses potency over time. The largest risk to shooting old ammunition isn’t a failure to fire, it’s the risk that you will actually fire the shot and it doesn’t have enough momentum to make it out the barrel. If this happens, the bullet becomes lodged in the barrel and becomes an obstruction for the next shot. This is a sure-fire way to destroy your firearm and possibly injure yourself in the process. If your shot ever sounds funny, safely unload the firearm and run a rod down the barrel to make sure the bullet isn’t stuck in there. As a longtime firearms instructor and head of a gun rights group, people ask me all sorts of questions. All questions have merit, especially for people who are new to guns. Among these questions, folks will ask about the safety of shooting old ammunition. I tell them that in general, old factory-loaded ammunition should be perfectly safe to shoot.  The ammo gods showered me with old ammo recently. A old friend and fellow instructor cleaned out his garage and found several hundred rounds of old .22 Blazer ammo. Yeah, it looks a little rough. At the same time, I’ve shot plenty of old .22s and they usually function pretty well. I wouldn’t use them for a match or competition, but for plinking or skills-building? You bet. Another friend came upon a massive collection of old shotgun shells at a sale. It was more than he could use so he shared the wealth. In fact, he shared boxes and boxes of shotshells, about a hundred pounds worth. I cheerfully accepted the windfall, as I know old shotgun ammunition also does well, regardless of age. Unless shotgun shells are kept at the bottom of Lake Michigan after an unfortunate boating accident, shotgun ammo tends to forgive owners who store them in less-than-ideal conditions. If you have old shotgun shells that don’t fire reliably, consider giving them to a reloader to recycle the components. Or sell them to someone you don’t like. Lots of police departments will take unwanted ammunition for disposal, too. While most experienced shooters will merrily dispose of (that’s spelled s-h-o-o-t) your “old” factory-loaded ammo, I avoid other people’s reloads. You probably should too, unless you know the person who made them and trust them with your health, well-being and fingers. Shooting someone else’s reloads carries an increased risk of problems. People with attention deficit disorder sometimes don’t make good reloaders. I’ve “inherited” reloads on a number of occasions in my life. Today, I pass them on to other reloaders to recycle the components. Those folks will usually discard the powder (it makes great garden fertilizer) and sometimes the primers, and then reload the cases with fresh, known powder and the original bullet. Why don’t I like reloads? In short, squibs. Squibs happen when the person or machine fabricating the cartridge failed to include a powder charge in the round. The primer will push the bullet into the barrel, where it will remain remain. If the squib goes undetected and a shooter then fires the next round into a now-obstructed barrel, bad things will happen. It can result in serious injury to both the gun and shooter. I have shot over 200,000 rounds in my life and the only squibs I’ve experienced came while shooting the home-rolled stuff. Specifically, they all came from old folks who should have stopped reloading long before they finally did. In the last instance, the man failed to charge every third or fourth round with powder. I used a handful of them to make a malfunction video to show our students exactly what a squib load looks, feels and sounds like. And then I discarded the rest. Unfortunately, squibs can wreck your barrel and potentially your firearm as well. Barrel obstructions almost always destroy shotgun barrels, sometimes causing injuries, too. A barrel obstruction in a high-powered rifle can cause a sudden and catastrophic disassembly of the receiver and chamber and damage to all things nearby – including the shooter’s hands, arms and face. Conversely, if a reloader double-charged the powder in a shell, that can also cause an unwanted, rapid discombobulation of things in your gun. If you suspect you’ve inherited reloads, my advice remains to pass them on to a reloader for the components. How do you identify reloads? First off, rimfire ammunition is virtually always factory made. With American-made centerfire rifle and pistol rounds and shotgun shells, factory boxes usually serve as a good clue. At the same time, one must inspect the individual shells in each box. Do they all share the same headstamps and color (nickel vs. brass)? Are the primers of uniform color? Are they all the same gauge or caliber (see above). Do the headstamps match the box? For instance, do the headstamps say Winchester in the Winchester box? Or do you have Remington rounds in a CCI or Fiocchi box? If everything looks consistent and the case headstamps are uniform and match the brand on the box, the ammo is probably factory loaded. Furthermore, if the cartridges lack scratches, or other signs they have been loaded, fired or all of the above, that also suggests factory ammo. In shotgun shells, do the shells all share the same color and print on the sides? Is the brass base of the shells uniform in height? Do the shells all appear to be factory crimped? If so, that points to factory ammo. Watch for any shells that look like they’ve already been fired and then reloaded (and re-crimped) like the shell on the left above. Any rounds that show signs of tampering like the 12-gauge shell above, right should find their way into the trash. With all ammunition, all manner of shells can find their way into a box. Compare the shells for consistency – and gauge. If in doubt, pass on them. Or at the very least, organize them. Don’t feed 16-gauge shells into your 12-gauge shotgun. I mentioned American-made ammo above. Old foreign ammo will also shoot in modern firearms of the appropriate caliber. However, some old foreign ammo may prove corrosive to some degree. For those who clean their gun before the sun sets, no problem. For others, like me, you may find a light patina of rust on your barrel two weeks later. Lesson learned. Remember, if you encounter old ammunition, do not use it for self-defense unless you have no other ammo available. Don’t buy someone’s old ammo to protect yourself and your family. Even if you find some old .357 Magnum hollow-points. Storing your ammoWhen buying ammunition, American or otherwise, you should store it in air-tight containers. Military surplus ammo cans make great ammo storage containers for your ammo boxes. Regardless of container type, label the outside of the container, too. You’ll thank yourself later. For those who have more than a few rounds, ammunition cans make great organizers as well. Ideally, keep your ammo cans stored in a cool, dry place. If you have an impressive ammo fort, don’t stack it too tall and deep if there’s a conventional wood floor underneath. Excessive weight, like numerous cases of 7.62×51 NATO, 5.56×45 (.223), 9mm Luger, .45 ACP and .38 Special can cause floor joists to sag over time. Ask me how I know. In general, old factory-loaded ammo typically will retain its functionality for a long, long time. Yes, even if it doesn’t look pretty on the outside. One may encounter a few duds with really old or poorly-stored ammo, but by and large, it will go bang every time. To stay extra safe though, try to avoid reloaded ammo to reduce dangers from someone else’s home-made mistakes. ◀Previous Post Next Post▶
Previous articleNavy SEAL Who Says He Shot Osama bin Laden Banned by Delta Airlines for Not Wearing a Mask Next articleI Love .32 ACP Pistols, But Is That Enough Any More? John Boch RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHORenuf August 22, 2020 At 13:07 No, old ammo is never safe to shoot. How old? Well, how much do you have? What calibers? What loads? I’ll compare that to my own list of what’s on hand and let you know what to ship to me for Safety Inspection. Reply
Early in World War Two, US troops used ammunition left over from World War One. When I got back into shooting in 2015, I first used up the ammunition I had reloaded in the mid 1980s. Unless ammunition has gotten wet, especially with a solvent, it lasts for decades. Reply
Old ammo is just fine! Only last month I shot 1943 issued 30 carbine ammo in my 1943 issued M1 carbine! Reply
I’ve got ammo from WWII, and Vietnam. Reply
Unless obviously water damaged, I’d say yes. I have some 1940s 38 ammo that shoots fine. The exception would be 22 long rifle. Its hit or miss. I have shot really old 22 and had good results but a coup,e of years ago, I was firing some old Sam’s club Thunderbolt and at least 2/10 rounds was a “squibish”. They made it out the barrel on rifles but the report was noticeably lighter and you could sometime see the bullets as it traveled. These are now relegated to revolvers and not when teaching newbs to shoot. I also occasionally have a paper shell that is a had swollen and difficult to chamber. Shoot fine but can be a bitch to remove. It also looks like the author raided my shotshell stash. I have an ass-load of 1970s Winchester shotshells in 6, 7.5, and 8 shot. Shoot them every year. No problems. Reply
In my experience everything the author said is spot on. After researching the headstamp and satisfying myself it was non-corrosive I bought 900 +/- of M-2 in en bloc clips. It was perfect. Conversely a friend bought 1000 rds of 7.62 NATO. Middle East origin. Mixed headstamps. I advised against it. Told him some could be corrosive and to clean his rifle immediately after shooting. He didn’t listen. A few days after his first trip to the range with it his HK-91 had a pitted bore. Old ammo can be very safe and perform as well as the day it was manufactured. Just know what you’re looking at. Reply I had a problem in the late 80s shooting some 50s and 60s vintage paper-cartridge shotgun shells that were stored in a damp location, a garage. A bit swelled-looking. Even after drying them out thoroughly, they didn’t easily chamber. I cut them open and burned the powder, I just didn’t trust them. I currently have some match-grade Eley .22lr from the late 80s that was a bit ‘frosty’ appearing, but I just cleaned them with 0000 steel wool and put them back in the stockpile… Reply
35 Years ago I bought 5000 rounds of WWII vintage Kynoch 9mm ammo in 32 round boxes, I have one box left and will keep it unfired…this stuff was bought to compliment my STEN MkII…it worked well…I do not remember the dates on the brass but this stuff was old 35 years ago…proper storage is very important. Reply I saw a video where a box of depression era Remington rimfire ammo was shot with no failures. That is better than some modern Remington rimfire ammo. Reply I’ve picked up .22lr rounds that looked like they’d been sitting on the ground at the range through at least an entire winter and summer — the brass and lead both weathered black — cleaned the dirt off, and fired them just fine. (It’s not an established range, just a place in Southern Utah where the dirtheads go to play.) I’d say about 80% that I’ve picked up that way are still good to go, even after sitting outdoors for who knows how long. During the great ammo drought of 2013, our Schwan’s delivery guy took pity on us and delivered about 10 pounds of .22lr range leftovers (no idea how many rounds; they were in a one-gallon freezer bag) just because he liked talking guns with us. All of the ones-and-twosies he’d been sweeping into an ammo can after range trips for years and years, including just about every imaginable load from all sorts of manufacturers. I nursed that stash for a good 4 years. It was disconcerting sometimes to get a light subsonic round right after a hot varmint round (are we sure that actually left the barrel…?) but every one of them went bang as they should. No problems at all. Reply Recently shot up some hand loads from the late 1980’s,perfomed like I’d just reloaded it, of course it’s fine to shoot. Reply Reloads are perfectly fine, if you know the guy that did the work AND if he appears to be functioning 100%. OTH I would use a precise digital reloading scale to weigh and sort the rounds individually. If you find one with no or a double powder charge, it will be obvious. If the weights are all over the place, the reloader had no quality control and you should not shoot them, just disassemble for parts. This isn’t rocket science. It just requires your full attention. Reply
One reason “older” reloaders (me) switch to Trail Boss for plinking/ cowboy ammo is that it is physically impossible to double charge a case. That won’t stop a no-powder round, but at least it stops a double charge that is so much worse. Even when I was all here mentally and my fingers worked properly, I was VERY leery of using small charges of fast powder in calibers that were designed for much bigger charges of slow powder. Reply
I fired old 1940 three inch mortar rounds (Out of 81 mm with adapter) during training in the 1980’s. It went down range nicely. Reply
Still busting out WW2 30-06 Reply I shot 10 rounds of 7.62×51 ammo in my Century C308 last month, that I bought in two five round clips. I don’t know how old they were, but they were all clean. When I fired round #6, it was followed immediately by round #7, as in BUH-BANG! I suspect the primer in #7 may have been protruding just a bit. My friends said they didn’t know I could double tap that fast. I said that I didn’t. None of the remaining rounds would do the same. Darn it. Reply Good news! “Arrest Made In Viral Hate Crime Against 7-Year-Old With MAGA Hat” https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-biden-supporters-steal-7-year-old-boys-maga-hat-attack-his-mother Reply I still have a tin of unopened 7.62X54R Bulgarian yellow tip from 1954. I still have some left from another tin I opened years ago. It shoots fine but you have to inspect the casings for cracks or loose bullets. I’ve found two out of 600. Reply I have ammo from 10 years back but they are in the original boxes. I never have put them in ammo cases . Reply Where ammo is stored in heat, the issue of single vs. double base powder has some bearing on how well it will survive elevated temps. Reply
If there’s more rust on it than it’s components, no. If it’s been living in water for a decade or more, no. If it’s been outside over 100 degrees for years, again, no. Reply Only one time I have had a squib. It was the first cartridge out of a brand-new box of Sellier & Beloit .380 ammo. I heard the “poof” instead of the bang, took the pistol down and tried to get a probe through the barrel — no go. Took me near an hour to get the bullet out. I threw out the other 49 cartridges. Haven’t used S&B ammo since. Reply
I sure hope it’s safe to shoot because I’ve got a sink a boat of yellow box Norinco 7.62X39. Shot some old .44 reloads the other day, one was a hangfire and the other was a pffffttt, two out of a fifty aint bad. Had a box of 6.5 Carcano, dated 1954, got in a trade, so questionable care, all but one out of twenty went bang( carcanno’s suck, don’t know how what’s his name killed Kennedy with one) , it just came to me, Lee Harvey Oswald, for some reason I had Wiley Coyote stuck in my head? Reply
Ended Up with a rectangular tin box, sealed with a lead strip, of 7.62x54R. The date code was 1946. Still have the tin, the ammo though shot fine outta my Mosie, Still have a few boxes left. It was a total of 300 rounds complete with original stripper clips. So far not 1 failure. Got about 10 spam cans 440rds, they are all from the early 80’s. got those when they were $90 per can. Reply
I was popping off some Remington Mohawk .22LR yesterday that my grandpa bought in the late 60s. It functioned fine in my AR-7 and was plenty accurate at the 15 or so yards that we were shooting at. Reply I’ve a load of .308 surplus made in 1979 that not only works but has good consistent performance. The federal SMK is better but not for the price. Old shotgun shells might be a problem because the case isn’t sealed as well as a brass bullet. I use the rounds carried in the previous season for practice and buy a new set each year. This year that’s going to cost more and might take a bit of searching. Reply The real question is, is ammo safe to shoot after it’s been at the bottom of lake due to the frighteningly commonplace “boating accident” we POTG seem to encounter? Reply
My cutoff for ammo depends on a couple factors. 2. Where was it made? American commercial ammo/surplus and/or Warsaw pact is probably ok if it passes visual inspection (the physical damage of the case isn’t really the threat, its that damage, especially rust/oxidation, indicates poor storage conditions that may have compromised the primer or caused the powder to degrade). Iranian? Turkish? Ethiopian? Pakistani? Be careful, which brings us to 3. What are you shooting it in? Military bolt actions are probably fine even if the ammo is squirelly as long as you watch for hangfires, semi-auto rifles/handguns should proceed with caution, no aluminum frames on pistols until you have shot some of that specific lot number, and UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES LOAD IT INTO A MACHINE GUN. Turkish 8mm surplus is notorious for this exact reason. Somebody needs cheap blammo for their/their buddies belt fed MG and gets themselves hurt and/or damages or even destroys their very expensive toy. Reply Thanks for the tips! I recently inherited a 1905 Winchester 94 in .32-40. The rounds that came with it look about 40-50 years old, and I’m sure some people have experienced the hell of trying to find new rounds for sale. This at least gives me a little peace of mind of using these antique Remington Kleanbore’s Reply CAUTION !!!!!In 1980’s I purchased ww2 surplus 45 ammo for cheap plinking .Loaded 8 rounds in my colt commander .1st 2 or 3 o.k. then click . I hesitated about 5 seconds then BOOM 6 inches from my foot . Shot 2 more then click 2 second delay BOOM !! Threw the rest into a deep creek . Wait at least 30 seconds pointing muzzle at the ground eject and get away . Dispose of the rest . Reply Would anyone have any reservations about buying New Old Stock online from an FFL? It is .32 S&W Long, which can be hard to find even in the best of ammo times. How old can ammo be and still be safe?Although most manufacturers recommend not using ammo older than ten years, it's better to be safe than sorry. After a few years, use those older rounds at the first opportunity, maybe getting some practice in at the shooting range.
Does ammo ever expire?Ammunition doesn't “expire” per se, but the gunpowder looses potency over time. The largest risk to shooting old ammunition isn't a failure to fire, it's the risk that you will actually fire the shot and it doesn't have enough momentum to make it out the barrel.
Can you buy ammo at 20 years old?A: NO. You do not need to have a permit or license to buy ammunition. You must be 21 years of age to buy handgun ammo and at least 18 years of age to buy rifle and shotgun ammo (this may change in California in the near future if the Legislature has it's way!).
What is the lifespan of ammunition?Kept in a climate controlled, secure location, away from unauthorized personnel, these containers will preserve the ammunition indefinitely. The reason there is no expiration date on a box of currently manufactured ammunition is because, when stored properly, it is projected to have an unlimited life span.
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Is ammo good after 20 years?
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