How good is 65+-year-old .22 rimfire ammunition

[livingston]

Shelf Life of .22 Rimfire Ammunition: Test of 65+ Year Old Ammo

How long does .22 rimfire last before it starts to degrade? There has not been much systematic long-term storage testing of .22 rimfire.

www.ammoland.com

AmmoLand.com)- How long can ammunition be stored before it degrades? Much depends on the storage conditions. With reasonable care, ammunition has a shelf life of many decades, as verified by tests done with military centerfire cartridges.


But how long does .22 rimfire last before it starts to degrade? There has not been much systematic long-term storage testing of .22 rimfire. It tends to be used as an expendable item. Some people have found an old box or two of ammunition and checked it for viability.


his correspondent was able to obtain a large cache of 65+-year-old .22 rimfire ammunition with a good pedigree. The bulk of the ammunition was Remington Standard Velocity .22 Long Rifle ammunition made before 1956.

I met the owner at the University of Wisconsin in 1970. We started a friendship that lasted 48 years, to his death in 2018. The friend was Don Cowling from Middleton, Wisconsin. He is the world record rat hunter who this correspondent wrote about in 2016, when I became aware of the provenance and extent of the ammunition cache.



Don was a star handgun competitor at the University of Wisconsin. A top handgun competitor can easily run through 50,000 to 100,000 rounds a year. Don told me the ammunition was put in the quart jars before or during 1956. Don was on the University of Wisconsin Varsity ROTC pistol team when they won the regional championships in 1955. Don always paid for things in cash, or in trade or barter. I suspect the ammo was obtained in a special deal.

Placing the ammunition in quart jars sealed it from the atmosphere. It likely helped keep the bullet lubrication from oxidizing.

Ammunition obtained later was so noted in his records. His records showed the pre-1956 ammunition to be Remington Standard Velocity. His records match the ammunition headstamps.

Shelf Life of .22 Rimfire Ammunition: Test of 65+ Year Old Ammo

How long does .22 rimfire last before it starts to degrade? There has not been much systematic long-term storage testing of .22 rimfire.

www.ammoland.com

 

[livingston]

Folks I had two cans of this ammo

325 Round Sealed Fresh Fire Can .22LR Federal Champion 36 Grain Hollow Point 1260 fps 745FF​

I have several thousands of unsealed rounds on the shelf ... Girlfriend opened one can of the above up a few years ago .. Was saving it for my SHTF stash

 

[Mk44]

A long time ago, I found some .22lr laying on a shelf in the garage after I purchased my house. I put them in a pill bottle and they sat around (forgot about them) for 30 years more before I shot them. Didn't have any issues. The bullets had a thin white coating, but no rust or green patina.
I try to keep my ammo in sealed surplus cans. But as of late, buy it if you could find it- everything (ammo) I buy gets stacked on a shelf.

 

[meketrefe]

It depends on the primer, powder and specially how it is stored.

 

[Paperpunch]

 

[Dunedain Ranger]

There were quite a few misfires in the above video, from that old ammo. Although what do you expect from ammo over 88 years old. I like how he would spin and re shoot most of the misfired rounds.

 

[Carlos Hathcock]

Shoot it. If the target looks like hell you can always blame the ammo.

 

[CaseHardened]

Well, several Civil War Relic Collectors have died from shells over 150 years old exploding.

And WWII munitions are frequently dangerous, even when they have been buried or submerged for decades.

Now, the fact that some ancient explosives can explode by no means that many can or would.

 

[WillyK]

I bought a box of gun cleaning stuff at a yard sale about 35 years ago. In it was a pill bottle with a dozen .22's that had a bit of patina, probably at least 10 years old at the time. I was packing stuff to move in July and decided to shoot em, they worked just fine.

 

[spat]

For target practice, old stuff is fine.

For self defense, you probably want something without that .1% higher chance of a misfire