Ammo shelf life

[Wizzum]

Lots of factors play a role - I've got some 40 year old stuff [rimfire, shotgun and centerfire] that I have no problem shooting. Then there was this that I came across - I had no control over how they had been stored nor how long they had been stored:

Visible Condition:
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Seemed better than these [from the same batch]:
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I pulled the bullets from them all just to see; the various components were interesting to say the least:
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Powder was identifiable as such - but lots of it was literally wet. Most was clumpy and stuck together.

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Primers were definitely compromised even though from the outside, they had appeared just fine while sitting in the brass; and some were. Many fired when I dented them with a set&hammer.

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Various pulled projectiles.

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Various cases post bullet extraction; I used pliers as I did not have a puller handy. Some cases held up - others didn't [to put it mildly].

Here is a summary of my observations from this experiment:

• Powder/case was not corroding on the interior and, in fact, most all of these appeared viable with loose powder. Interestingly enough, many of these had internal air pressure released as soon as the bullet was pulled - so much so that loose powder was expressed from the cartridge in a 'whoosh' of air [I have no idea why that would be].
• Some of the cases split at the neck when pulling the bullets. Understandable.
• Some of the cases shredded or tore at the shoulder-to-neck or shoulder-to-body; obviously compromised by corrosion.
• All of the primers fired regardless of how bad they appeared externally [I only dimpled about 6 - they are much louder than I would have thought].
• Several primers were corroded to the case and separated when driven out.
• Most all of the bullets had some degree of corrosion at their bases regardless of visible case corrosion.
• Many cases had powder that was literally wet in the case; it was still loose but was in a droplets of moisture.
• In a few instances the powder had solidified into a block at the area of the worst corrosion; it was still in a discernible cylinder powder grain shape but was a solid block.

A small amount of coloration may be okay on a case but if the powder doesn't seem loose or if there is any moisture or actual corrosion exhibited - shite can them; not worth the risk. If you want, pull a few apart and take a look.

This is the type of content I come here for.

 

[sky657]

Small crusty spots on old .308 brass are usually just surface tarnish or mild oxidation from age storage super common with surplus or older ammo.
If it wipes rubs off easily like with a cloth or light steel wool and there's no pitting, green blue crust turning pink underneath, or deep rough spots that expose coppery metal, it's almost always fine to shoot. No big deal, many folks run stuff like that for years without issues.
But if the crust is stubborn, pitted, or shows pinkish reddish under it means dezincification eating the brass, toss those rounds case could split or rupture under pressure.

 

[RockAndSage]

Small crusty spots on old .308 brass are usually just surface tarnish or mild oxidation from age storage super common with surplus or older ammo.
If it wipes rubs off easily like with a cloth or light steel wool and there's no pitting, green blue crust turning pink underneath, or deep rough spots that expose coppery metal, it's almost always fine to shoot. No big deal, many folks run stuff like that for years without issues.
But if the crust is stubborn, pitted, or shows pinkish reddish under it means dezincification eating the brass, toss those rounds case could split or rupture under pressure.

That's one of the better first posts I've seen on here. Welcome to Rokslide.

 

[The Harbor Master]

I have found a few lengths of belted .50 out here in the desert. Some of them were in remarkably great shape, with date stamps from 40-50 years ago. Others were in horrible shape. I pulled the bullets on a few, and a lot of them had perfectly dry powder. I polished a few cases and turned them into bottle openers, and let the kids light some nice piles of powder on the driveway last Independence Day

 

[Oldffemt]

I just finished shooting up 2500rnds of 9mm from the 1940’s that I inherited. Worst thing about it was maybe 1/100 wouldn’t fire on the first time I dropped the hammer. Reset the trigger and 99% went off. They were all fmj’s so it was just practice ammo and the randomness made for good tap/rack drills. I also inherited a couple hundred reloaded 243 rounds from my wife’s grandfather. I shot exactly 3 of those. A blown primer and gas belching out of the relief holes in the action on the 3rd shot was enough to convince me to throw them in a bucket of water!

 

[E.Shell]

I'm shooting shotgun shells I loaded in 1985 (I'm a major binge loader of shotshells). It's not the age, it's the condition.