Shelf life and accuracy of handloads and reloads

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I was discussing with a friend about loading up a bunch of rounds that I found to be very accurate to use at my leisure. He advised against it as he told me they would not stay accurate if allowed to sit for a while and if accuracy is what i am after i should just load before i shoot.

All searches for info did not satisfy my questions. How can factory ammo sit for long periods of time and be any different from hanloads or reloads.
 
I have 223 remington 77 grain nosler loaded with Varget that's at least 10 years old.
My scores are still on spot with my averages.
I figure if you have a load you like and don't intend to load test much go ahead load up a year or 5 worth. I did this with my 223 plinking ammo with the hornady 55 fmj back in early 2008 I shot the last of those last summer with no signs of issues.
I just loaded up another 2500 rounds on the lee pro 1000 I bought just for that purpose.
With my lack of range time be another 8-10 years before I use that batch up.

If your shooting cast loads I know lead can change over time. Gets softer/harder ?
 
First I've heard of this....

Like you need something else to do
http://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=9547
Will it affect accuracy? Will your bullet lube soften and find it's way into the powder?
Oh and for the record.
When I thought I was going to get into CMP service pistol I bought 5000 rounds of 45cap ball.
Oldest sealed can was dated 1919
With the newest being 1952 it all went bang and when I was shooting well found the black bull.
I think unless your skills are into the 95%+ range you might find some accuracy loss with OLD ammo.

For the most part smokeless powder is some pretty stable stuff.
Aliant powder company was reported testing a lot of red dot produced 100 years ago. From what I remember the last round of testing they reported only a minor loss of consistent ignition and burn efficiency. Then stopped the program.

So ammo loaded correctly and stored in a stable environment with out water intrusion should be fine for a very very long time.
Now if I was needing 1/4 moa I might make fresh ammo more often BUT just the change in powder form lot to lot can be enough to make your last great load not so great...

This is the advice I heard the most and has rang true so far.
Spend more time shooting and practicing your fundamentals before working your self silly on ammo accuracy.
Point being. I know a 86 year old man who will plunk down with his JCG match legal M1 and surplus M2 ammo and out shoot many on the line with "match loads".
 
I was discussing with a friend about loading up a bunch of rounds that I found to be very accurate to use at my leisure. He advised against it as he told me they would not stay accurate if allowed to sit for a while and if accuracy is what i am after i should just load before i shoot.

All searches for info did not satisfy my questions. How can factory ammo sit for long periods of time and be any different from hanloads or reloads.

You can't fix stupid ! But you can ignore it !!!!

regards... roger
 
I am Dr. Remulak, Dr. Remulak, Dr. Remulak, Dr. Remulak, Dr. Remulak, Dr. Remulak.
 
I suppose if you're loading VLD bullets for rifle and you're setting them to touch the lands then you probably wouldn't want to load 1000 at a time. Not because they "go bad," but because the rifle throat will erode over time and you'd have to adjust seating depth to compensate.
 
I suppose if you're loading VLD bullets for rifle and you're setting them to touch the lands then you probably wouldn't want to load 1000 at a time. Not because they "go bad," but because the rifle throat will erode over time and you'd have to adjust seating depth to compensate.
Excellent answer.

The only other thing I can think of is if you don't have air conditioning and reload on one of those super humid New England evenings, the extra moisture with the powder may do something after several years that a bench rest shooter might notice.
 
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