Usefulness of Old Ammo

[Titan]

How does a person determine when old ammo is too old to shoot?

Is it just by trying some of it?

Is there a traditional age that is thought to be no longer useful?

Are there physical symptoms that are clues?

Example, I have some 15 yr old 22LR ammo that I'm unsure of. Some of the bullets rotate a bit within the casing. Does this mean the bullets are too old to shoot? If I rotate the bullet within the casing, they 'snug up' again. Does that mean they're then safe to fire?

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[terraformer]

New 22 ammo sometimes spins in the casing, so that isn't an identifying feature of old ammo.

 

[vellnueve]

Shoot it. I wouldn't hesitate to use World War I surplus.

 

[Tim94gt]

Shoot it. I wouldn't hesitate to use World War I surplus.

Me too! I found some .22's in my basement that my father bought before I was born(I'm 25) I went straight to the range, fired off about 240-250 round without any issues.

 

[ryan81986]

I got a few boxes of ammo (.38,.380, .22lr, 30-30winchester etc...) that belonged to my grandfather, it was being stored for the at least the past 8 years (more than likely alot longer than that) in a metal box inside the attic which easily gets to 100F in the summertime. It was perfectly fine

 

[Patriot]

How does a person determine when old ammo is too old to shoot?

Is it just by trying some of it?

Is there a traditional age that is thought to be no longer useful?

Are there physical symptoms that are clues?

Example, I have some 15 yr old 22LR ammo that I'm unsure of. Some of the bullets rotate a bit within the casing. Does this mean the bullets are too old to shoot? If I rotate the bullet within the casing, they 'snug up' again. Does that mean they're then safe to fire?

.

If you see any signs of case deterioration, dump it.

 

[Titan]

Thanks for all the helpful replies!

I'm going to shoot it off.

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[mac1911]

I have a older 22 bolt action that I run older ammo through. If it looks good it tends to work