Oldest Ammo You've Shot?

[Kimbertop253]

Anyone here ever shoot some really old ammo?
I've wondered about how long ammo would last since I was a kid, and have tested old stuff occasionally since then. Mostly when I find something really old, that isn't a full box or anything valuable. DoD says ammo will last over 100 years if stored in a cool, dry spot, and that matches with my experience. Really curious about what people here may have shot, how old it was, any problems, etc.
The only stuff I've come across that seems to have a problem has been paper-hulled shotgun shells, and occasionally .22 rimfire. A second strike on the rim somewhere else usually does the trick, but the paper-hulled shells seem to not keep moisture out over the long term.
The oldest I've shot was a handful of rounds of 30-06, that were about 90 years old at the time. What's yours?

 

[nagantguy]

Some 32 rimfire from I have no idea when- late 18 early 1900s but some 8mm Egyptian dates 1919. All of it went bang .

 

[candyx]

I'm still working on some 40 year old 5.56 and it fires fine.

 

[Sirshredalot]

Had some 7.62x54r that was about 100 years old...ran fine...cordite makes huge fireballs.

Shred

 

[OldSalty2]

I've shot 50yr old plus .357 mag and .30-06 my dad reloaded long ago.

But old shotgun shells always make me a bit weary.

Like you said, if its been kept dry, cool in lowish and even humidity should be g2g for at least 100yrs IMO.

 

[DIBBS]

But old shotgun shells always make me a bit weary.

@OldSalty2 since I have a number of older shotgun shells what are the issues I should be concerned about.

OP I have in the past shot some old military 30-06 AP and tracers, it went bank and shot fine. Don't remember what the date was, it was old 20 yrs ago. Growing up I shot some OLD shotgun shells, but my memory is bad as to whether or not there were any issues ....

 

[Cowpokey]

I have half a brick of 35+ year old .22lr Thunderbolts in one of my ammo cans, probably better than current production stuff. Figure I'll save it to barter with when the apocalypse happens.

 

[n2ishun]

I have quite a bit of milsurp 06 headstamped 1943 that's never given me an issue.
Still have quite a bit of random caliber stuff I personally reloaded when I first got my Dillon 550 press....when they first came out (what, 1985 or so?).

Nothing wrong with old ammo but it helps if it was stored correctly.

 

[OldSalty2]

@OldSalty2 since I have a number of older shotgun shells what are the issues I should be concerned about.

OP I have in the past shot some old military 30-06 AP and tracers, it went bank and shot fine. Don't remember what the date was, it was old 20 yrs ago. Growing up I shot some OLD shotgun shells, but my memory is bad as to whether or not there were any issues ....

Its probably just me and the way some of the old ones I have look. Sometimes things just dont pass the eyeball test. Old paper, discolored, etc...

Oldsih ones below, random pic, Id say if they look good then make the call...Worst that could happen?

 

[kenny1773]

I bought about a 700ish rounds of Hirtenberger 308 that was date coded from the 1970's
It shot amazing, I had some groups at 100 yards with it that rivaled so called 'match ammo'

 

[OldSalty2]

I have half a brick of 35+ year old .22lr Thunderbolts in one of my ammo cans, probably better than current production stuff. Figure I'll save it to barter with when the apocalypse happens.

Uncle is always bringing out random 30yo 22LR. Stores it in his basement. Gets dry, hot, humid and cold, lots of deviation. You can literally hear the differences in power between shots....lol.

 

[Cowpokey]

Uncle is always bringing out random 30yo 22LR. Stores it in his basement. Gets dry, hot, humid and cold, lots of deviation. You can literally hear the differences in power between shots....lol.

Will it still hit a squirrel or rabbit head at 25 yards? That's all that really matters.

 

[gunsnjeeps]

I think it was the late 90's when the WW2 .45 ACP was brought back from Denmark. WRA 43 headstamps, still have 30 to 50 left.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Cordite .303 rounds from WW1… they go “brrrrt” just fine in Vickers.

Sirhr

 

[Tempest 455]

WWII era M2 ball 30-06 for M1 Garand.

 

[Maggot]

Some WWII era 50 cal. Knowing what I know now I wouldn't have shot it.

 

[mtrmn]

Uncle is always bringing out random 30yo 22LR. Stores it in his basement. Gets dry, hot, humid and cold, lots of deviation. You can literally hear the differences in power between shots....lol.

I've shot a lot of 22 over the years, and finally realized the rounds that sounded noticeably different lacked a supersonic crack. So most likely the rounds I was shooting were all right on the borderline of the speed of sound and a few of them just didn't quite break the barrier. They all hit where they were supposed to, or within minute of soup can.

 

[Navy Gunner]

WW2 era stamped 50 caliber ammo we used during the Persian Gulf Tanker Wars. We would shoot anything that was floating in our path while pulling tanker escort duty. Had a few FTF from time to time but the majority went off without a hitch.

 

[Maser]

In my black powder days I normally made my own powder, but did shoot some really old and sketchy powder others had saved.

 

[Mudburner]

Robert M Bowman sells military surplus stuff on Gunbroker. He had some 7mm Mauser that was headstamped 1919 (earliest) all the way up to the 1970s.. One particular bunch of it with silver, not copper colored projectiles all fired just fine and were fairly accurate. Those are still pretty good. I dont remember the headstamp date. Other bunch with different projectiles, different headstamp, 1930s-1940s, etc... every one was a dud. Every one. Only good for pulling down & re-using the projectile. Primers were bad. Many still had good smelling loose powder, but the brass was compromised, with caked up powder, bullet corroded into the neck, etc. Some of them seemed to be pressurized and went "poof" when the bullet was slowly pushed into the brass to unseat it. Projectiles dont seem to go bad, only get a bit discolored. Brass was all over the spectrum integrity-wise. Most of the old stuff was tarnished, some of it was actually green & fuzzy. Very bad ju-ju. Primers were 100% duds. Only good for recycling the brass, pulling the bullets, dumping the powder.

The 8mm Mauser ammo was better, but had about 20% dud rate. Quite a few of this stuff had hang fires, and some of it, newer looking stuff, was Portugese 1970s mfg and absolutely AWESOME accuracy & went bang every time. I wish I could've bought a shit-ton of that stuff...

And finally, included in the 7mm stuff was American made 1940s mfg. I forget the headstamp, but WCA? comes to mind. If memory serves, ALL the European mfg stuff was Berdan primed. The US made stuff, I dont remember, but possibly also Berdan. Would've been handy if the brass were boxer primed & in good shape.

 

[BytorJr]

Its probably just me and the way some of the old ones I have look. Sometimes things just dont pass the eyeball test. Old paper, discolored, etc...

Oldsih ones below, random pic, Id say if they look good then make the call...Worst that could happen?

Ahhh. The paper Winchester 0.410. What a wonderful smell they had.

We thought nothing of shooting paper hulls in the 70s. Dad annd granddad Even hunted duck with old lead #6 over decoys. Wish I still had a few boxes. Serious cash value now.

in mid 80s we were short sided enough to blast some pre-war 45. Probably pre Great War. No duds. Again We thought nothing of collector value.

 

[Vodoun daVinci]

I inherited lots of .38 Special and .32 acp from my FIL. Still got a few boxes of old Remington. Winchester, and Federal .38 from back in the late 60's and early 70's. All of it has performed perfectly so far - some of the .32 acp went back to the 30's and 40's and it never missed a lick shot out of a Colt 1903 Pocket Hammerless built in 1918. In 2018 my Wife and I celebrated the Colt's 100th birthday by putting 100 rounds thru it - all of the ammunition was at least 60 - 70 years old and it all went bang, cycled the pistol perfectly and hit what we were shooting at.

It had been stored in an attic store room and not been babied in any way....huge temperature swings from Midwest weather. I think properly stored ammunition (cool dry place) might last many decades.

VooDoo

 

[RTH1800]

Silver colored bullets are cupro nickel instead of gilding metal or copper jackets. Tend to foul badly but otherwise ok.
Always assume corrosive priming on older ammo unless known to be otherwise. Follow proper cleaning procedure soon after shooting or pay the price of a new barrel.

 

[BullGear]

WWI British 303.

 

[Bantam1]

Same. I shot some WWI 303 British. I took a round apart to check it out. Cotton? wadding and I assume cordite sticks? It looked like clear fiber optic wire. Pretty interesting considering smokeless powder was around at that time.

 

[232593]

Some WWII era 50 cal. Knowing what I know now I wouldn't have shot it.

Really, what info is that? Just curious I have some .50 that is 18 years old now.

 

[slowagon]

I’ve shot 1945 .50 cal head stamps as recent as 2017 through guns at work. 2 years ago, in Africa, we had .50 API with 1970s head stamps. All ran relatively good.

 

[Maggot]

Really, what info is that? Just curious I have some .50 that is 18 years old now.

I’ve shot 1945 .50 cal head stamps as recent as 2017 through guns at work. 2 years ago, in Africa, we had .50 API with 1970s head stamps. All ran relatively good.

That ammo which hasnt been stored properly, and I know what I had wasnt, it can do weird things. The Barrett does have a strong action but never the less 50 cal isnt really something to fuck up with.

 

[Californio]

.22LR from the 1940's, shoot just fine.

 

[Jscb1b]

Its probably just me and the way some of the old ones I have look. Sometimes things just dont pass the eyeball test. Old paper, discolored, etc...

Oldsih ones below, random pic, Id say if they look good then make the call...Worst that could happen?

I was gifted 100 rounds that looked like your picture. After sorting out the 16 gauge I went shooting clay pigeons. No miss fires or other problems.

 

[RTH1800]

Lot of the old green Rem paper shotgun ammo has failed me. Old Winchester ammo has been much better. Might just be a storage issue.

 

[DangerStove]

5.56 from the 80s

 

[texastonk]

Ive shot a lot of WWII and Korean War 06 ammo. 44 i think was the oldest head stamp. Lots of paper 12 and 410 shells form the 50's and 60's. I think the oldest is either 270 win from the 30's or 38 special form lat3 20's to the 30's.
All of them have gone bang. no issues.

 

[Jabberjaw]

I've shot some milsurp Brit .303 that was 30s dated and quite a bit of WWII dated .303.

It all went bang.

 

[fpgt72]

You guys know I like the old and odd things, and that I do a bit in the surplus area as well. I have several "spam cans" of ammo that have sat for decades. Even when that stuff was "dirt cheap" I did not shoot it much. It is just not that great. I guess good enough for shooting Nazis, Commies Japs or GI's. But if you want holes in paper or ding steel, just not worth it to me. Also most of it is corrosive, and that stuff is a real pain, and double that pain if the rifle, or handgun is an automatic. I am just too lazy.

Long ago I found that "rolling your own" gives you the best results, and you are not going to walk into Walmart and get a box of 7.7 Jap.

 

[GIXXER2000]

I had some 30 Carbine stamped 1951 I got from from my Uncle who got from they Army Depot in Langdon ND in the 70's.

 

[mosin46]

1890s 45/70. but that was in the 1980s

 

[Tempest 455]

WII M1 Garand.

 

[lonegunman762x51]

Next time I am off, I have some original 1880's ammunition for an 1871 Mauser rifle that we are going to try out. It is minty looking and nearly 150 years old. I will not be surprised if it works fine. We shot some 45-70 ammunition from the 1890's a few years ago and it went bang.

 

[Ledzep]

1917 .303 British, only a couple rounds but it fired well
1940 s.S. Patrone 7.92x57- out of 15 rounds I had 2 hangfires with ~200fps ES (hang fires were slow, the others were fine)
1950's Yugo 8x57 had insensitive primers but otherwise was pretty decent for surplus FMJ
Lots of 1940's-1970's LC M2 ball and M2 AP, never a problem. The 1940's cases were brittle and would crack after fewer firings than the 60's/70's stuff
Greek 1970's HXP M2 ball was awesome all around.

I'd say if it was made right and stored right, I'd have no reservations on 60-70 years. Beyond that expect some duds, hang fires, etc. Primer/mouth sealant is a big deal IMO/IME, for lasting through the decades without moisture issues.

 

[rdinak]

I can remember knob creek in the old days-late 80’s-early 90’s. Guys were running 8mm through belt feds wholesale.