Connecticut Preparedness Community Forums

How long do you keep ammo before you deem it "to old to safely fire"? I normally don't have ammo on my shelf to long since I try to get to the range every other weekend however I have a couple of my guns which are not in the rotation so the ammo sits. I have a box of .22 short that is from 2008. Is this still safe to fire? I remember in the old days my father saying three years is the cut off. I store my ammo in my safe in my basement which stays pretty moderate temp and humidity wise. Any input would be appreciated! Thanks!

I shoot ammo head stamped 1945 and have shot older, as long as it's clean, I'll probably shoot it.

As long as it is stored correctly, it will last almost forever. Anything that I don't shoot much I keep in 50cal cans with some desiccant packs. I have ammo that my wife's grandfather loaded in the 60's that still fires.

Like JohnFH, I have shot ammo dating back to the 40's and 30's and it functioned just fine. If you are unsure, you can always donate your unused ammo to me.

As long as it not WWII from the Middle East I would shoot it LOL

I just finished off a brick of 22s that were from the early 80s. And I have another 3 cases of it. DCM white box Winchester that I used to get for free by the case. No issue at all.

.45 ACP from WWI (1914-17) fired okay, but a few didn't light off. I wouldn't use them for carry ammo, but if intact and void of severe corrosion, fire away. Just be mindful that much of the pre-52 arsenal ammo (.45ACP and 30-06 primarily) were corrosively-primed.
I have a 7x57 from 1895ish, but I'm saving that as a collectible; same with some exquisite 8x57R with a hollow copper-tip.

Mike_Diako wrote:As long as it is stored correctly, it will last almost forever. Anything that I don't shoot much I keep in 50cal cans with some desiccant packs. I have ammo that my wife's grandfather loaded in the 60's that still fires.

Like JohnFH, I have shot ammo dating back to the 40's and 30's and it functioned just fine. If you are unsure, you can always donate your unused ammo to me.

This is great to know! I have desiccant packs in my safes, I will throw some in my ammo cans!

Some 6.5 Carcano (what was that, 1950's?) I had passed on to "newguy" was about 10% useful, but the unfired rounds I saw had extremely light firing pin imprints. It may have been more firearm related than ammo. Another Carcano had similar results with newer SMI ammo earlier that week. Not a scientific test by any means.
I know where there's a stash of clean 1935 Czech 8x50R (looks like new production), if you have any need of that! (I wouldn't hesitate shooting it...)

CTSixshot wrote:Just be mindful that much of the pre-52 arsenal ammo (.45ACP and 30-06 primarily) were corrosively-primed.

I read somewhere that the corrosive Berdan primers are exactly the reason this old ammo stores well for such long periods. Is that correct?

I am not aware of that, but that could be the key. Sometimes the "old" recipes are better, I guess.
All I do know is that many of the older surplus ammo have severely oxidized bullet bases, but that may have no relationship to primer composition.