How old is too old?

[JOLLYKART]

My father just gave me some of his gun collection and related ammo today.

According to him most, of the ammo is 15 years old, he kept it in his gun safe, if that makes a difference.

The brass all looks good, boxes in great shape, what do you think?

 

[eldirector]

Shoot it!

A lot of surplus stuff is twice as old, and runs fine. I finally finished off the .38 reloads my uncle had from the 1980's. They were all in a baggie in the gun case. No issues.

 

[6birds]

I used some 338 Win from the late 60's for an elk hunt, no problem. If the ammo hasn't been wet or showing corrosion, shoot it.

 

[misconfig]

I have NAZI ammo from 1936 and it shoots GREAT!

 

[Sylvain]

I have NAZI ammo from 1936 and it shoots GREAT!

Does it feel different to shoot old histoircal ammo?
Im not sure I would shoot ammo from 1936 just because its an historical piece.If you have a bunch of them you may want to keep a few.

 

[sparky241]

i had 8mm from the 30's all but one round fired. no sign of problems, shoot it

 

[misconfig]

Does it feel different to shoot old histoircal ammo?
Im not sure I would shoot ammo from 1936 just because its an historical piece.If you have a bunch of them you may want to keep a few.

I have 450 rounds of this waffen-stamped Nazi ammo, I shot a few and yes there is a difference in recoil if you ask me.

The round is 8x56R I bought it along with 2 Steyr M95's.

 

[indykid]

15 ammo years is closer to 2 human years. I have been shooting 1952 Spanish 9mm through my Uzi with no issues at all. In fact I don't think any of my 30-06 is newer than 25 years old!

 

[CarmelHP]

If it's younger than you are, most likely it's still in it's prime. I trust the longevity of older ammo more than I do the new lead free primed ammo.

 

[dross]

Absolutely DO NOT SHOOT it. It's no good.

Send it to me, and I'll dispose of it properly.

 

[PhilB]

I recently shot some handloads that I made in the 70's and 80's and it functioned fine.

 

[Hoosier49er]

Unless you see signs of corrosion or something else wrong, blast away...

 

[JOLLYKART]

Thanks for the input

Thank you all!

Off to the range I go.

 

[Colt556]

As long as it's clean and not showing any signs of corrosion it should be fine. I've shot plenty of .45, 30-06 and 30 Carbine from WWII.

 

[Mak]

Good to hear. I got about 2000 rounds of .22lr from family and its old. Some were stored in military ammo boxes, I guess I'll shoot the rounds that weren't first.

 

[6birds]

I have a few old ones from 1865, need to find a rifle in 50-60 Joslyn to fire them in.

 

[Ash]

Storage is key for ammunition. Just look at or fire some of the very poorly stored surplus .303 British from POF (Pakistani Ord. Factory) for example. The word is that the vast majority of that stuff was stored very poorly. Huge temperature fluctuations, moisture issues, etc. I think the problem is primer related on those though.

 

[GetA2J]

Absolutely DO NOT SHOOT it. It's no good.

Send it to me, and I'll dispose of it properly.

Beat me to it.

 

[gcoop]

Try it out. If it works and looks safe,blast away!

 

[ngroark]

haha i had some +p .38 special from the 60's that shot just fine... i would say take a few out and give'm a try, if you get a couple hang fires or duds i would stop though... just for the sake of saftey...

HAPPY SHOOTING!!