How long will the bullets last?

Skydive

If I buy a box of 500 .22 Winchesters, how long will they last before some sort of corrosion or they become less reliable?

Is there a better way to store them, airtight?

Every so often, I like to stick my head out the window, look up, and smile for a satellite picture.

Nighthawk

I store large amounts of ammo in a 50 cal ammo can and have kept some for years without any problem.Another thing I do is save the little silicone packets that come with shoes etc.Ill toss a couple of those in to help prevent moisture.

Best!!!

Rugster


Toujours Pret

mark christian

For me, at least, a brick of 500 rounds of .22lr will last about one Saturday shooting session...very little chance of corrosion setting in. Seriously Skydive, if stored in a cool DRY place, ammunition will last for several years without any problems. I still shoot German made 7.62X51 ammo that I purcahsed in the late seventies and it was head stamped 1969. Thirty years and it still wotks great. Plenty of folks shoot surplus .30-06 that is at least 50 years old. Long term storage involves air tight containers and coating the rounds with some form of laquer to keep the moisture out. You'll find lots of surplus military ammo packed into steel "spam cans" that need a key or chisel to open! Thats packed for the long haul! Just leaving the ammo sitting in a plain cardboard box in the garage will shorten its shelf life, but it will still last for a decade at least..often much longer. Heat and moisture are your number one enemies here so keep your ammo cache cool and dry and it will serve you well.

Mark T. Christian

Edited by - mark christian on 09/28/2002 20:29:13

Iconoclast

Sky,

(A) Forgive me for being pedantic, but this a pet peeve. "Bullets" are what come out the muzzle . . . you mean "cartridges." Peter Jennings & Sarah Brady say "bullets" . . . people who have a clue say "cartridges."

(B) If you but them in a cool (especially), dry place, a lot longer than it will take you to shoot them off! Normal room temp is fine. Don't store in the attic in Florida or in the unheated garage in Minnesota. Heat is worse than cold. Moisture is much less an issue than it is with CF ammo. I have a bunch of loose .22 which lost the boxes in a flood. They were mfg circa 1950, have been stored in normal temps and & I shoot them w/o mishap every time I take a .22 to the range. And a huge % of the BP rimfires mfg for the Civil War will still shoot just fine.

nmyers

If kept cool and dry, I'd try to use them within 100 years.

Neal

king999

In 1964, that's 20 years after the battle, I found two clips of 7.7 Jap on the beach at Iwo Jima. Thes rounds had been covered and uncovered with the tides twice a day for 20 years. There was considerable green on them, the clips were worthless, but after brushing with a wire brush, all 10 rounds fired! Currently I have some 1942 USGI 30/06 that I fire in my 1917 Enfield. It works perfectly.

Have fun, be careful!
Morty