How long is ammunition good?

Question

I would like to know how long ammunition can be stored for? Is it good forever? Is there an estimated number of years before its considered dead? Does it depend on the caliber or manufacturer? Also, does it depend on whether or not its stored in a cool or warm area etc? And what can be done to see if ammunition is still good? Any information on this topic would be greatly appreciated. I will be checking back to choose a best answer, thank you in advance.

Answer 1

How long you can store ammo really depends on the storage conditions. As long as you store it in a dry location and avoid excessive heat or cold it should last for a very long time. How long? Hard to say, but the figure is in the decades range. I've got .22 amo that was probably made in the 70s (and some it probably earlier) that is still in working order that was simply stored in a drawer. I've fired .38 Special ammunition before that dated from the same era that was stored the same way. Also worth considering is that during the 20s, 30s, and into WWII the US government had warehouses of surplus WWI vintage ammo they were still using. I'm quite sure they simple boxed it in crates, put it in a warehouse, and simply checked it for corrosion or extensive discoloration before firing.

Answer 2

I am a ballistics technician and have ammo from WWI that fires perfectly fine.  I have ammo from a few years ago that will blow up your pistol.

Ammo degrades in several ways - how it is treated depends on if it is safe or not.  As a general rule - ammo with no known history should never be used unless it is spot disassembled by an armorer or ballistics technician and exaimed for use.

Gunpowder is made of nitro celleulose - called 'smokeless' and 'slow buring' powder.  When stored in a hot humid enviroment it will beakdown and will begin to burn faster - causing increased pressure.

Gunpowder is formed into balls, cylinders or flakes.  If the ammo is treated rough - like put into a tumnbled to 'clean it up' or kept in a vehicle for a long time - the shaped particles can become broken and turn into gunpowder dust.  Instead of buring - it now detonates.

Most modern bullets are copper and the cartridge case brass.  If the ammo is subjected to a moist or corrosive enviroment like salt water mist these two dis-similar metals will bond.  When the round is fired this bond delays the bullet from leaving the case - causes in creased pressure - the gun can blow up if the bond is too strong.

Most military organizations have a publish 'Ordnance Manual' that details proper storage - temp and humidity. And can be downloaded online if you want to get really deep into this subject.

If you want to spot test ammo - start with a kinetic bullet puller.  Pull several bullets from known 'similar' bullets and note how much force is needed to separate the bullets.  (military bullets are MFFP - mositure, fungus, fungi proof sealed and you must compair mil spec bullets to mil spec bullets and civilian bullets against civilian bullets).  You want the bullets to separate about equally - lighter is fine, harder is suspect.  

Next - examine the powder under a magnifying glass - look for broken balls, cylinders and flakes or for the powder to be uneven in size.  If you find dust - it is definitly bad.  If the powder has adhered to itself into clumps - this is very bad.  If you find other strange material or colors - flakes of white - this is the nitrates leaching out of the powder due to both heat and humidity - this is bad beyond belief, but, common to see in ammo from one of the big wars.  Flakes of green mean the powder has reacted to the shell case - excess moisture and heat.

If you have a ton of ammo that passed all the above visual examinations - the last step is test firing.  Use a Shooting Chrony or other chronomiter and check the bullet speed - it should be right on the money for expected velocity, and, you should not see any excessive deviation.  I am not putting a number at this deviation because it can change between guns and chronomiters...... just test fire a string of known good ammo in your gun and comapir the spread with the ammo under test.

Hope this helps

Kevin      

Answer 3

50+ years.  Keep it dry, room temperatrure or just below, air-seal it if you can.

Does depend on manufacturer a bit, but mostly on the way ammo is packaged.  For all of the grief foreign ammo receives, sealed tin container (Russian or Bulgarian usually) tend to keep the ammo in a servicable condition for 30+ years.  I wouldn't really trust loose or belted ammo older than 20-30 years.  

The best way to check if the ammo is functional is to shoot it.  Take a sample pic from the bunch and try it out.  

Answer 4

Its good for as long as it still works. lol. In reality it should last forever as long as you keep it dry and corrosion free.

Answer 5

Ammo has a long, long storage life.  If stored in a dry place where the temperature is pretty constant year-round it can last 20 to 30 years.  After that who knows!

H

Answer 6

Cool DRY place, it'll last a lifetime. Moisture is the enemy.  

Answer 7

If stored inside pvc pipe with caps on both ends, Forever.*

Answer 8

I have fired surplus ammo from WWII. Some care must be taken to watch for duds or under powered rounds but I have yet to get one. I store all my ammo in surplus ammo cans. Keeps them dry.

Answer 9

Forever, if stored properly.  I have some pre-WWII n**i ammo (8 x 56R) that goes bang quite well.

All the components in ammo are stable.  If protected from moisture and extreme temperatures, there's no reason it wouldn't fire in a thousand years.

Answer 10

If stored in a cool dry place, it will keep indefinitely.

And if you are talking about old blackpowder cartridges, they will last even longer and still go boom.  My friend Paco Kelly killed a black bear with Miltary surplus .45 Colt ammo that was over 80 years old.

Doc

Answer 11

Keep it clean cool and dry. I have shot ammo from my grandfather that was over 40 years old and it fired just fine. You would have never known that it was that old.

Answer 12

Under the right conditions ammunition can last a very long time as long as you keep it indoors in a cool dry environment.

Answer 13

Decades, even centuries if properly stored. There is no estimated years before it's "dead". Some idiots will tell you one to ten years but ammo can last much, much longer. Primers are not corrosive to the metals. Surplus is corrosive once fired and can destroy a bore overnight though. If someone can fire a case of ammo in 2008 that was made in 1896 (7.62x54R)which has happened without one failing then I can say ammo can last a century. Caliber doesn't matter. Steel cased may not last as long but again with proper storage could last just as long as copper or brass cased. It has to be stored in a preferabbly cool, dry place, but temp. isn't so much a factor as repeated drastic temperature changes. That's what causes the powder to accumulate moisture. Indoors if possible is the best. And the best way to check if ammo is good is to shoot it.

Answer 14

Start worrying about smokeless ammo after about 50 years.

Probably still good, but you can begin to doubt it.

Answer 15

Nobody has done a full scale research project to see how long all the brands of cartridges and the various sizes they are manufactured in..... A friend of mine earlier this summer gave me some 1970's Remington Sureshot 12 gauge ammo.... It worked perfectly... I fired 2 boxes or 25 and they all fired fine......  

If ammunition is stored in a house at room temperature, away from an exterior wall and away from direct heat and cooling from ventilation ducts this stuff should last decades...

Answer 16

it depends on the storage conditions, but a couple of years would be the longest I would keep ammo. you can check the brass condition and see it is corroded or not. but if you are unsure, then better safe than sorry. I shoot a lot and sometimes buy ammunition by the crate . but I will easily go through a hundred rounds or more a day, so it doesn't last long.

Answer 17

if it is kept in a cool, dry place, it can last for decades.