Does Ammunition Expire? 

There are two enemies of ammo - weather and politicians

Had an old timer give me a box of .45 semi wadcutter since he sold his .45, didn't need it anymore. The box appeared to be from the 1960s. All 50 went bang.

Three weeks ago I fired 200 rounds of 9mm that have been stored for 30 years in magazines and had no misfires.I have also fired hundreds of 45ACP WW2 surplus without any issues.

I have some 1918 .45 acp milsurp that has fired flawlessly over the years...

I still have some sealed and climate controlled ammo that I bought or hand loaded in the eighties. I haven't had a misfire yet. Only thing that has deterred me from shooting it lately is the cost of replacing it.

4:23 It's been awhile since the shelves looked like that.

When I used to buy ammo I would always write the date on the box. Hopefully I will continue soon.

Here in Belgium I literally dug up 9.72 Mauser clips from the 40's that after some cleaning still fired perfectly well. That after being in the ground for 70+ years. You do want the copper lacquered ones... The late war steel caings will have rusted up..

I store my boxed ammo in $18 Igloo coolers that are designed hold 78 cans of soda

This guy is spot on and a very good spokesman.

I don’t know about it expiring but it sure can disappear.

Obviously an old video-ammo shelves are full. Very informative!

Drying out used silica dry packs by oven or microwave is pretty cool tip.

I have 8mm Mauser from the 50s, no duds yet.

Great video. Very informative!

Best info about the subject I've ever heard.

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Iv shot .22 LR from the late 50's, and it all shot fine.. Was even stored in my grandfather's shed for years, absolutely not optimal storage conditions.. 100 F in summer, down to 0 F in winter.

I bought some Remington shotgun ammo from a gun store going out of business in the mid-70's. It was dirt cheap, but oddball stuff like "BB" shot or #6 shot, which I don't use much. Sat around on open shelf for decades in garage, later shop, etc, still is.....and still fires.

Very informative! Thanks!

Have some surplus ww2 3006 ammo goes bang every time

Great information!!

I have viewed some unusual presentations about cap 'n ball percussion cartridges about 150 years old being found and fired in vintage arms. Also during the 18th Century the combatants were using gunpowder accumulated for about 40 to 50 years prior to hostilities. If they could properly store the black powder for that long as it was being stockpiled 200 or 300 years ago, surely we have learned some improvements by the 21st Century.

My experience has been that expiration occurs at the instant the primer is struck in most cases no pun intended.

Awesome video ✌️

Great video. Only 5 minutes, and thorough.

Great presentation! Thanks

My dad stored his surplus by capping one end of a 16 inch thick walled PVC pipe, then turning it open side up and after filling it and adding dessicant would leave a hose from a nitrogen welding tank in the bottom, on, for a few days with a slightly loose cap. Then pull the hose and glue the cap. Good till the end of time.

Lol...wrong cal. In the box. I had that happen, bought 2 boxes of federal 45 acp and there was 40 cal in the box...turned out the whole case was that way. They did exchange it.

I buy mil surplus every chance I can. Anything else gets stored in a safe with a dehumidifier. So many variables, quality of ammo etc etc. I found an old box of Remington 12 ga from the 60s in my Dads cellar from when we used to duck hunt together. So far half the box has fired just fine

Thanks for information

I can tell you from personal experience that those plastic ammo cans are useless. Having survived a major flood we lost every bit of ammo stored in those plastic cans. Every bit stored in GI ammo cans survived 6 days submerged.

I have been shooting 8mm surplus ammo with 1938 stamped on it. It shoots fine

The amount of things I learned in a 5 minute video is astounding

Cheap plastic copies of ammo boxes will let it oxidize. REAL military ammo cans are hermetically sealed and worth the extra bucks. Besides dessicant bags, there are one-use oxygen absorber packets. Toss them in the storage can, throw them out after one use. They'll prevent any oxidation.

just a note: keep the non-essential music out, so I can better hear what you are saying.

I shot some blackpowder 32 rounds in a s&w model 2 revolver. Gun was at least 125 years old. Lead was oxidized. No clue on age of bullets but at least 50+ years old. 3 of the 5 went bang. Had a box of 380 that was over 50 years old and every one went bang. All stored in a shoebox in a closet for decades

Back in the 1970s I bought an 8mm mouser... and old military ammo... I fired several rounds and most of them hang fired 2 to 5 seconds... as you can imagine I stopped shooting it... went home from vacation and never shot the weapon again...it was stolen a couple months later...

expire? maybe....sometimes. I have used lots of old ww2 surplus ammo with zero problems but I have some older 30cal US (30-40) that have lots of split necks so I guess it has "expired"

Some of my ammo is in ammo cans in the garage. The garage has an AC/Heater unit in it. I will be testing some of my 40+ year old ammo this summer.

Turk 8mm w/1943 headstamp stored under unknown conditions. Hot AF and surefire. Lot of split necks on ejection. If I wasn't shooting it through a German Mauser I would not continue to shoot this stuff. Not much left from a 1400 rd case I bought at a gun show in 2004 for $85.00. I know...

Great informative video

I purchased some Russian 7.62x54r from the early 30’s that was still in the sealed spam cans when I opened it looked Brand new and fired perfectly

thanks for the video

I will expire before my ammo so tis a moot point to me.

Great job

I have shot ammo from as far back as the Spanish-American War! There were some failure to fire, but for the most part it worked fine. I've shot ammo from every era since then,99%of it has worked fine! Even the stuff that was tarnished! If you do get a round that doesn't fire,be sure to check the bore before you attempt to fire the next round!!!!!

I have the 40 gram silica gel desiccant packed in the small aluminum canisters in my ammo cans. Got them from eBay.

Some primer and powder chemistries are more stable in storage than others. All with usual trade offs though, the more storage-reliable chemistry may be more corrosive to your gun or more prone to other problems.

I vacuum seal mine with a commercial sealer. Works good.

Found couple of boxes of steel cased ammo in a barn...about 50 rounds and had rust. Sanded the rust off...bang bang no fails.

I put a light coating of rubber weather strip conditioner around the gasket before I close them up. Stored in basement at around 70 deg and 40% humidity.

Steal wool works great to clean brass.

In 2013, a specific shooting school in the Army was using 5.56 with a lot number dating back to the Vietnam War era.... Several hundred thousand rounds, so not just a few...

I had some 30-06 dug up from a flower bed. Two layers were duds and cook offs. After that. It was sweet.

The silica packs is great advice. I have them laying around in all my gear and storage. Tuck them in pockets. Drop in bottom of ammo can. Nothin to it

The stock photos of ammo on shelves is humorous like that is a real thing anymore.

I use some 50 mm ammo boxes that I bought from a Army Surplus store. It will keep your ammo air and waterproof. I reload and I always have the information of my reload a piece of paper. When it was reloaded, what powder and how much was used, what brand of primer I used and what brand and weight of the bullet I used. And also, I will have a little comment on what I think of this load.

The 50 cal ammo on the lady b good B24 found in the libyan desert was inspected by Olin and was found to be in Spec. It went through about 18 years of freezing nights and super hot days.

Metal ammo cans are much better than plastic, yes they are heavier but they are much more heavy duty and will not crack when they get really cold and if they get dropped they will not shatter, and they are much more likely to keep water out if the basement floods are they getting dropped in a deep puddle.

Recently I shot 40 year old Federal 22LR that I kept in my hot humid attic for over 25 yrs and It was okay without any issues!

I have some german WWII 8mm mauser ammo that still shoots just fine

Thank you for the fotos as well as comments I inherited my grandmother's F&W revolver and about 20 rounds of ammo. The gun is about 130 years old. The ammo is 50 to 60 years old. She lived alone on the farm and my dad was worried if someone with a flat tire or something came to the door she would shoot him. So every year dad took the firing pin out. She did not drive and the neighboring small town grocery delivered, but every year she had a new firing pin in the gun. This went on for 10 years or more until she died. The gun and ammo was in a shoe box which I inherited but never found the extra firing pins. My dad did shoot a few racoons, & squirrels wit it but that was 35-40 years ago. His long guns all went to the boys. With the way things are as an old lady who lives alone I'm thinking of taking a refresher safety course and getting a handgun. My old gun safety card says 1963 on it. The boys each have 3 to 8 riffles and shotguns but rarely hunt. They would be happy to let my have my pick except the twenty two, and the elk hunting gun with fancy scope which is quite valuable. Trouble is I am right handed and left eyed so the only one of dad 's guns i can use safely is the 22, the brother who has it will lone it to me if I have a varment by my chicken coop area, the coop is safe but I worry about my dogs. I enjoy your channel since it is about products and how to use them and not how great you are with a gus.

I've had 30-06 given to me, 2nd ww issue almost 1 century old brought them to the range and still spelled B-A-N-G.... luv WW2 ammos.

I’ve shot 30-06 and German steel cased 9mm all from 1942. All kept in ammo boxes.

I wish that Sportsmans warehouse would get primers back on the shelves

Thank you

I keep mine in a sealed ammo box in controlled environment... I have 41 big ammo cans that are full so I keep them in the house

I have British 303 headstamped 42 still fires fine.

Before this starts (for me), i just received some 30 carbine rounds my father had that he got from his father in a zip lock bag with 1 desiccant packet in them maybe 70 or so, not bad condition a little green on them... my guess 60 or more years old... all fired, all worked the action all dented my AR500 targets at 50 yards... was not thinking about that :(

I noticed in the video an issue I've been having where the projectile drops into the case during the seating process does anyone now how to correct that issue?

Tactical Jon Cryer is spot on with this information

No one ever talks about vacuum sealing ammo. For a hundred bucks you can get a foodsaver vacuum sealer that will keep your ammo FOREVER...Its what I've been doing since the 90s while storing my ammo in a shed.

In the mid 70s I shot a lot of 1942 and 1943 Nazi marked 9mm ammo and never had a failure. I wish I had kept some.

I just bought that big ammo crate today.

Haven’t seen a shelf that full in a while

If it is stored properly and it was in good condition it does not, within reason, expire. I have reloaded some once fired shotgun hauls and some of them started rusting around the primer. the part that obviously started rusting was steel that was covered in chrome but if it were new I'm sure there would not have been an issue with any of them. If you take the proper precautions and you're reloading brass ammunition there's no reason why it couldn't last a century stored properly. With new factory ammo if it is stored properly could last few hundred years easily. If you're intending to reload ammo or store factory ammo and intend on handing it down to your ancestors through the generations, I would load it or pack it in the middle of the winter when the air is crisp and dry, I would add a packet of oxygen absorber I would add some moisture absorber both in a perforated medicine bottle so that the ingredients do not come close to touching the actual ammo, I would then flood the soon to be sealed metal container with nitrogen gas and then I would seal it spam can't style. Packed in that fashion the ammo should last until the outer can rusts away centuries later. If that were the case I would include an all metal gun like a 1911 in that caliber of that ammo. I would partially disassemble the gun so that any spring would not be compressed and instructions on how to reassemble the gun. Then I would take all the parts without appropriate number of potential spare parts the gun may need in the future, and put them in a vacuum sealed bag liberally coated with gun oil on every surface.

This is a low key ad for Double Tap ammo.

Hey, when are you guys going to reopen a store in western PA? I really miss the one that closed here years ago.

Can you store ammo with cosmoline?

What if ammo was in a can with silica packets but spent like a week in an attic where it got to around 120-130 fahrenheit during the day? The rest of the time it stayed in a room temperature environment.

Is it likely for a bullet to explode ?! If I drop it ? Or if it exposed to low heat ? Like oven or campfire ?! I have one , an old friend gave it to me before 15 years . And I always thinking to wear it as a necklace.

Yep... Ammo last forever if you just keep it dry and away from drastic temp differences. In 1989 or 90, I bought 55k rounds of surplus .45 ball. Been shooting it since I bought it, and still have about 3k round of it left. In all that ammo, I've probably had less than 8 issues... Which I would bet has more to do with it's percentage of failure rate, than it's age.

back in the 70's I shot up tons of WWII US German Italian and Japanese ammunition. It was cheap and fun.

I have some 12 gauge black powder shotgun shells and over time the primers hardened and half of them won't go off.

I remember like 10 years ago I had a box of 410 Ga shotgun shells and every single round in that box was a dud not sure if it my gun just didnt like that ammo or if the primers where bad

Heat biggest enemy to ammunition.

I heard if the ammunition is non corrosive, made in the 1960s or later, and stored in a cool dry place that it will likely last up to 100 years. This ammo may even last longer than that, but I will not be around to test it.

I can't even find the Jhp I use.

Apparently the U.S militaries way of storing ammo and firearms should not be a good point of reference as some of it is appearing on the streets in the hands of criminals. That's not a cool dry place. Thank you for your expertise good man.

what about rimfire? I stocked up on dozens of boxes of high quality cci after the parkland shooting

I was always told not to store ammo in ammo cans still in the cardboard boxes because they draw moisture. Any truth to that?

Good thing I Open Carry so that way I don't have to worry about my carry ammo.😁

The answer is no.

Great video, would anyone happen to know if the cobalt and/or calcium chloride in the indicating color silica gel desiccants could interact or oxidize ammunition? I believe these chemicals are mainly present in the blue to pink and not so much in the orange to dark green variety.

Man! Some of that ammo? I would NEVER shoot!

I knew that gun range looked familiar 😀

friend gifted me ammo his dad had, all original boxed 30 cal carbine ammo dated late 1940's....I have 250 rounds left of the 500, also gave me some loose GI 30.6 ammo for my garand....not only were they cherries outta the box.... I dropped a couple dozen wild hogs using that both the 30 carbine and the 30.6ammo...So far the only threat to old ammo is politicians

Take it OUT THE CARDBOARD BOXES, it also retains moisture

Fired countless rounds of WWII dated ammo. Never had a failure to fire so I know it lasts at least 80 years.