shelf life of ammunition

[FoBoT]

if i buy
5000 or 10,000 rounds of .22 LR and
500 or 1000 rounds of .30-30 and
100 or 200 12 gauge shells


how long can i store them? what condition? can i just stick them on a shelf in my basement? how about inside a gun safe in my basement?

what type of rotation schedule would be good? 10% per year ? or can ammo be stored for many years ?

thanks

 

[SonnyDaze]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
if i buy
5000 or 10,000 rounds of .22 LR and
500 or 1000 rounds of .30-30 and
100 or 200 12 gauge shells


how long can i store them? what condition? can i just stick them on a shelf in my basement? how about inside a gun safe in my basement?

what type of rotation schedule would be good? 10% per year ? or can ammo be stored for many years ?

thanks

I'm sure the military doesn't use special powder for storage purposes but they keep it for many many many years in bunkers. As long as its cool and dry, you should be good. Not sure on the rotation part. Don't think the powder would settle to a point where it might become compacted or anything. If that makes any fvcking sense???

 

[dirtylimey]

I've shot 80s era argentinian ammo with no problems. My friend has shot 50s surplus also. It last fine as long as it is kept out of moisture as good as possible

 

[alexeikgb]

You'll be fine... I have 60's and 70's military ammo (8mm, 7.62x54R, 7.62x39) all shoots fine.
I'm sure if it's really-really humid that might cause a problem... but overall ammo can't really go bad.

I currently have it in ammo boxes in a closet. Just put it on a shelf it will be fine.
Putting it in a gun safe is overkill, unless u have a) alot of space in the safe or b) are conserned that someone might steal/play around with your ammo

 

[FoBoT]

thanks, sounds like i can just buy some and store it away and not worry about it (unless i need to use it :evil: )

i'll let my kids figure it out when they clean out the house when i kick the bucket

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Keep it cool, dry and easily accessible during an outbreak of Solanum.

- M4H

 

[dirtylimey]

Me shooting 80s .308 Argie ammo

Me shooting older .303 ammo

 

[musha shugyo]

Originally posted by: dirtylimey
I've shot 80s era argentinian ammo with no problems. My friend has shot 50s surplus also. It last fine as long as it is kept out of moisture as good as possible

I've shot .30-'06 AP rounds from WWII that were kept in the stock of the gun. The rounds should be safe to shoot for quite a long time, and able to shoot for some time past that previous time.

 

[Unheard]

I shoot 30 year old ammo in my Mosin all the time without issue.

 

[jemcam]

When I was in the Field Artillery in the Army, all of the ammo we fired on our 8" howitzers was dated from the early to mid-60's. We never had any problems whatsoever.

Yes, there are similarities. There's still a primer which looks like a blank .45 round, powder bags, the HE round itself, and the fuze on the tip of the projectile.

The ammo bunkers this stuff is stored in is just like a basement. The only difference between a basement and the ammo bunkers are they ran dehumidifiers in them. Of course, lots of people have dehumidifiers as well.

Just keep the ammo as dry as possible in a cool place and it should last you for long as you'll need it, probably even longer than you'll live.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Remember though, it will depend on the quality. If you purchase surplus ammo produced in the late 70's from Bulgaria or something, I would not plan on all the rounds firing even now.

 

[K1052]

Properly stored, ammo is good for decades. The Army is even now shooting up .50 BMG rounds that rolled off the lines when we were still fighting WWII. The were in sealed cases and are as good now as the day they were made.

.30 and .50 caliber ammo cans are handy for ammo storage. Throw in some dessicant packs and you're good.

 

[jemcam]

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
Remember though, it will depend on the quality. If you purchase surplus ammo produced in the late 70's from Bulgaria or something, I would not plan on all the rounds firing even now.

I wouldn't fire that sh!t in any of my guns anyway. There's lots of substandard ammo out there that use corrosive powders and primers. I suppose you'd be okay if you cleaned the gun immediately after firing (which you should do anyway) but it's not worth ruining a good gun barrel by using cheapo substandard ammo.

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: jemcam

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
Remember though, it will depend on the quality. If you purchase surplus ammo produced in the late 70's from Bulgaria or something, I would not plan on all the rounds firing even now.

I wouldn't fire that sh!t in any of my guns anyway. There's lots of substandard ammo out there that use corrosive powders and primers. I suppose you'd be okay if you cleaned the gun immediately after firing (which you should do anyway) but it's not worth ruining a good gun barrel by using cheapo substandard ammo.

For those of us who are big 7.62x54R shooters ther isn't a ton of choice as most of the surplus ammo coming out of Russia and the former Eastern Bloc nations is corrosive to one degree or another. You just have to spend a bit more time cleaning properly.

Wolf makes new non-corrosive 7.62x54R but it is a lot more exepnsive than the surplus and not always easy to find.


My last big ammo buy was a load of the Turkish 8mm Mauser ammo that had been around for a while but dried up. All of it is very corrosive but at $2 per 60 rounds I couldn't pass it up and it shoots fine (if a little hot). The UPS man did not like me that day.

 

[jemcam]

Originally posted by: K1052

Originally posted by: jemcam

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
Remember though, it will depend on the quality. If you purchase surplus ammo produced in the late 70's from Bulgaria or something, I would not plan on all the rounds firing even now.

I wouldn't fire that sh!t in any of my guns anyway. There's lots of substandard ammo out there that use corrosive powders and primers. I suppose you'd be okay if you cleaned the gun immediately after firing (which you should do anyway) but it's not worth ruining a good gun barrel by using cheapo substandard ammo.

For those of us who are big 7.62x54R shooters ther isn't a ton of choice as most of the surplus ammo coming out of Russia and the former Eastern Bloc nations is corrosive to one degree or another. You just have to spend a bit more time cleaning properly.

Wolf makes new non-corrosive 7.62x54R but it is a lot more exepnsive than the surplus and not always easy to find.


My last big ammo buy was a load of the Turkish 8mm Mauser ammo that had been around for a while but dried up. All of it is very corrosive but at $2 per 60 rounds I couldn't pass it up and it shoots fine (if a little hot). The UPS man did not like me that day.

A friend of mine owns an M1 Garand and he got some pretty nasty marks inside his barrel after shooting some of that stuff. He said he cleaned it really good, but I have my doubts. I'm not really sure what he used to clean it with.

I'm a diehard CLP fanatic myself. I know there are supposedly better products out there, but I've seen first hand amazing results with CLP being able to clean up the howitzer tubes, breach blocks, etc after firing for a couple of days. Carbon just gets baked on hard as a rock in cannons and the CLP cuts right through it. Of course it also did a great job on M16's, M60's, M1911's, the new 9mm, etc.

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: jemcam

Originally posted by: K1052

Originally posted by: jemcam

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
Remember though, it will depend on the quality. If you purchase surplus ammo produced in the late 70's from Bulgaria or something, I would not plan on all the rounds firing even now.

I wouldn't fire that sh!t in any of my guns anyway. There's lots of substandard ammo out there that use corrosive powders and primers. I suppose you'd be okay if you cleaned the gun immediately after firing (which you should do anyway) but it's not worth ruining a good gun barrel by using cheapo substandard ammo.

For those of us who are big 7.62x54R shooters ther isn't a ton of choice as most of the surplus ammo coming out of Russia and the former Eastern Bloc nations is corrosive to one degree or another. You just have to spend a bit more time cleaning properly.

Wolf makes new non-corrosive 7.62x54R but it is a lot more exepnsive than the surplus and not always easy to find.


My last big ammo buy was a load of the Turkish 8mm Mauser ammo that had been around for a while but dried up. All of it is very corrosive but at $2 per 60 rounds I couldn't pass it up and it shoots fine (if a little hot). The UPS man did not like me that day.

A friend of mine owns an M1 Garand and he got some pretty nasty marks inside his barrel after shooting some of that stuff. He said he cleaned it really good, but I have my doubts. I'm not really sure what he used to clean it with.

I'm a diehard CLP fanatic myself. I know there are supposedly better products out there, but I've seen first hand amazing results with CLP being able to clean up the howitzer tubes, breach blocks, etc after firing for a couple of days. Carbon just gets baked on hard as a rock in cannons and the CLP cuts right through it. Of course it also did a great job on M16's, M60's, M1911's, the new 9mm, etc.

I typically stay away from the older/more suspect stuff in my semis unless I hear good reports and since I have a crapload of bolt guns to burn up the ammo in anyway There was some semi-dodgy Korean 30-06 running around a while back and you hade to watch what lots you were buying if you wanted to use it in your semi-autos.

CLP does a good job on my semi-autos. I typically used hot water, Hoppes #9, then dry and oiled patches to clean after shooting corrosive in the bolt guns.