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48 Year Old Ammo

4K views 24 replies 21 participants last post by  unclesarge58 
#1 ·
Out to the range today with some surplus ammo from 1966. Shoots like it was made yesterday. In fact it was East German 7.62x39. Each and every one went bang. It was originally sealed in a can, but that can has been open since 1995. Made no difference. Think it was about .06/ round when I bought it. Wish I'd bought a lot more.

Thought I'd post this for the thread that pops up now and again asking "How old is too old for ammo?" I don't know. I've never found any that was too old.
 
#3 ·
I've fired some vintage .38 S&W Cartridges that had to be pre-1950s with no problem. I recall firing one .38 S&W Cartridge that was Black Powder loaded, I'm guessing it might have been 1920s or 1930s era?, not sure when Black Powder loaded cartridges became uncommon? I had a bunch of surplus .303" that was made by FN in 1950 that every cartridge fired with out a hitch. Also fired a handfull of British made .303" from 1945 that fired, but some were hang fires.
Mark
 
#7 ·
I had some military surplus 8mm Mauser ammo given to me.Very old.It did not fire.I looked and it had a deep indentation from the pin.I tried them again .After a few times they would fire.I decided that I did not want to play with live ammo ,because it is not worth getting injured over.So,I got some new stuff that works just fine.
 
#10 ·
I said East German because the printing and ID info was in German. I have no idea where it was made, but thanks for the input.
 
#12 ·
I have 3 FA 19 30'06 cartriges I'll fire on 11 November 2018 if I'm still alive - that will be in an Eddystone Enfield in honor of my grandfather, mustard-gassed and lifelong disabled in June 1918. He was a combat engineer, and carried a P17 Enfield (it's in the photo). The last of this I fired a few years ago went bang just fine, but I cleaned up the rifle with hot, soapy water as it is corrosive-primed.

 
#13 ·
Being known as a gun fanatic can have its advantages, and one of them is that people give me ammo they found in the attic, an old trunk, or a box of junk. Depending on condition, I will often fire it, just to see how close it comes to the original quoted ballistics (which were often rather optimistic, to put it mildly). Most of it goes bang on the first try, though some take a good whack or three before they ignite.

One officer I worked with asked if I had a 45, and when I nodded he handed me an unopened box of 45ACP ammo, 1942 production, but the headstamp escapes me, it might have been EC, as in Evansville Chrysler, one of many plants converted to ammo production during the harried days of WWII. It was fired in a standard 1911, and while five or six of them had to be hit more than once, they all went off with the usual noise and recoil. They were steel-cased.

I gave this one to a friend with the warning that it was corrosive........he said it fired just fine. The headstamp indicates it was made in December of 1913 at Frankford Arsenal........the OLD one!

 
#14 ·
I fired, a few years ago some pifire ammo in an old revolver, and the also all made the good sound. In principle a well made cartridge lasts a very long time. I guess even if there were crtridges from the civil war in 45-70, they would still work. Anybody know if it has been tried, with the result?
 
#17 ·
I've been shooting up some of my .44 Mag handloads from the late 70's for the past year or so. Needing the brass to use during this shortage,I was curious how they were. They shot the same as ever,filled the Spring Turkey tag 2013 with a .44 load that shot just fine. I think how the ammo is stored affects its shelf life. A lot of surplus ammo was stored in armories and warehouses with large temperature variations,so it may be degraded.
I've shot .30-06 and 8mm Mauser from the 40's and 50's that worked just fine. Hot water and Hoppe's #9 cleans up corrosive primer residue.

Rob
 
#18 ·
You have brought up something I've been wondering about for a while, rob42049. We worry about temperature & weather while storing & shooting our ammo, but the military is storing & using ammo in every kind of environment around the world. I mean the stuff could sit in a hot armored vehicle in a desert for weeks, if not months or more, or in the frozen northernmost outpost of the arctic.
 
#19 ·
My dad gave me some of his 22 Hornet that he bought in the 60's, mil surp. Every one of those still go bang. I probably have almost 1,000 of those rounds still packed in their 50 round paper boxes.
 
#20 ·
someone forgot to tell me that ammo made in the '60's is old, I have been shooting it in my Garand for a long time
 
#21 ·
Yeah, I thought the thread was about "old" ammo.:biggrin: Ammo made in the 60s, barely has any gray hair.

Any one bets that "it may not fire" had better not bet more than about a nickel, cause they will lose. Unless it was stored under water or some such.
 
#23 ·
I shot some WW2 Surplus 8 mm x 56R Hungarian and they all fired . I think dated 43 with the Nazi eagle stamp.
 
#24 ·
Every time I see a post about old ammo I think about the old paper shot gun shells that we had when I was a youngin. Back then we had no A/C here in Florida with a block house that would sweat like a person at times. I can remember paper shot gun shells that I don't think were all that old swollen from moisture.
 
#25 · (Edited)
My Dad Still uses .30-30 Federal Blue Box Ammo that He's had since the 70's.
Still Shoots Under 1in. in his 1958 336 Marlin.
Gave Him a couple of boxes of HandLoads Last Year & He told me that he Has More than Enough .30-30 to Last the Rest of His Life.
As Long as I can Remember, Only Takes Him One Shot w/ That Rifle to Drop a Deer Every Year.
And at That Rate He Said that a Box of 20rds Lasts Him 20yrs.
UncleSarge58
 
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