Old powder/primers?? STALE/MOLDY??

[RustyRick]

My brother hoarded hard to get ammo for past years. He now has a bunch of factory ammo that's probably 20 yrs. old.

Is product deterioration probable and how significant might it be? He is not a long range guy. But hunts every year and may go through a box a year now.

I'm sure that bullet engineering is better now but will the cartridges become erratic?

 

[TJAY]

Not if stored properly. Cool and dry.

 

[westcliffe01]

Every one of the 1955 Yugoslavian 8mm Mauser ammo I got goes bang 56 years later. Quality of the components is very poor, one can imagine what a mess the place was a mere 10 years after WW2 with the cold war ramping up. It is about 6MOA ammo out a decent rifle. But that ammo was sweated into a tin box and that inside a wooden crate, so it was well protected against moisture. I can't speak for what the environmental conditions were. If it was in a bunker, great, but if it was in a metal building/warehouse then the temperature cycles must have been terrible summer/winter.

 

[Kennibear]

Moisture and heat kill ammo. Moisture destroys primers and heat breaks down powder very fast. Ammo should not be frozen but pretty cold doesn't hurt. Lacquer sealed primers and bullets helps with moisture but heat and large temperature swings is destructive. There really isn't a life limit on properly stored ammo. Smokeless ammo has only been here for about a century and properly stored 100 year old ammo goes bang. Hercules Powder had the original Laflin & Rand Unique stored under water. It still goes bang! But Unique is water proof because it is double based and the Nitroglycerin plasticizes the Nitrocellulose and makes it water proof. At 35% Unique has the highest Nitroglycerin content out there. It is the number one choice of mine for long term pistol ammo.

If your brother is storing the ammo right- no problem! Some of mine is 40 years old. Only the cast bullet loads have problems from the bullet lube killing the primers. Good lube migrates down the neck. Jacketed loads are still good.

KB