Old ammo

s. ward

,,,,,have been given three hundred antique cartridges (black powder/smokeless),,,,,most have a hole in the case (screwed to a display board),,,,majority are primed and powder will trickle out,,,,how can I make these inert/safe,,,,,they range from a .600 Nitro to the smallest .22,,,,,,,

s. ward

Is there a way of checking if loose ammo(308) which has been exposed to hot and freezing temps is safe to use.
Thanks

s. ward

I came across some old rifle ammo & would like to know something about it. Some has headstamp NC 17 with a 218.6gr round nose bullet over 34.2gr of some kind of stick powder. The other headstamp is RA 17 with a r in the middle of the primer. Bullet is 150.2gr pointed over 42.5gr of stick powder. Was able to pull the bullets out of the cases by hand so not in the best of shape.
Thanks for any information
Walt

s. ward

Yes,i bought some old ammo today at a garage sale,It is tarnished and some has some mold trying to start on a few piece's,Now my question is can you clean it up in a tumbler,If not how can i clean it.

Thank's For Any Information

s. ward

Hello,just thought I would toss this out and see if anyone could tell me what this is.
I had a customer come in with a stripper clip full of some old military ammo.
Problem is He's not really sure what caliber is is,and after looking at the rounds I'm not either.
OK,the case is marked with the # 19 on the left of the primer,and #38 to the right of the primer.On top of the primer is in Roman numerals VIII.The case is brass,but it is not "necked down" like a 8mm,it is almost shaped like a rocket,He has the rifle for these and was wanting some more.I told him to bring in the rifle and let me take a look at it,but until then I wanted to see if any of my Gunbroker Pals could figure this one out.Thanks,John

J&F

s. ward

I was given 3 boxes of Remington .308 150gr soft points that are about 35 years old. Should I expect it to shoot the same as current production of same weight, style? The gun I bought was sighted in with these rounds originally, and I would stick with the same type, but I don't want to go from an old box to a new box and have them shoot different.

I get old shotgun shells often, but I don't expect much diffenerce in shotguns as compared to centerfire rifle ammo.

s. ward

What gun fired .45 gov.? I have a .45 round marked on the base bottom.......... peters above,,,,,,,on the left side 45,,,,,,,,on the right side C,,,,,,,,,, on the bottom GOVT. This is a rimed round and the brass stands only about 1 inch; bullet is lead cone shaped and flat nosed.

s. ward

I bought some old reloading stuff yesterday, and in with the equipment and stuff was some old ammo. A partial box of Ajax 20ga heavies, A box of Eley cb caps, and a box of Peters 32 long shot cartridges. Are these shells worth anything anymore?

s. ward

Looking at buying some old 300 H & H ammo. They are all silver-tip, so I want to use them sparingly for hunting. Would it be a good idea to pull the bullets and put fresh powder in, or assume they all would be good and use them as is?

s. ward

anyone know the address or phone # to old western scrounger? or home page add? thanks joe

s. ward

Does anyone know about BALL FRANGIBLE AMMO CAL.30 T44 lot F.A.32? I got a letter out to an ammo collecter. Haven,t heard back, any info would be great. thanks[:)]

s. ward

I went to a gun range a while back and took along a couple boxes of 22 ammo I found when cleaning out deceased in-laws house. About one fourth of bullets would not fire. Can anyone tell me how long ammo can should last and still be dependable?

MIKE WISKEY

storage conditions will determine this, properly stored ammo will last 100 years (or more).

Bert H.

Ditto to what Mike said. Proper storage is the key to longevity.

babun

I have CF ammo dated 1926 and it goes bang 100% of the time. It seems that .22 rimfire IS the worst of the miss fire problem. I think the primer compound has a better chance of "falling" out of the recess in the rimfires. Almost all of the old stuff that FTF, that I took apart had the primer "clay" mixed in with the powder when I opened them. Bob

s. ward

That makes sense. Thanks. Yes, the 22 ammo was only cal to misfire. I had other old ammo too and it was ok in other calibers.

nmyers

By storage conditions, we mean "cool & dry".

If ammo is kept in a hot attic or inside a car, it can go bad in a few months.

Neal

11b6r

cool, dry and away from oil.

beantownshootah

Depends on the type of ammo (mostly primer type), and storage conditions.

Extreme heat and wide temperature fluctuations can damage primers and cause misfires. Note that by itself, cold doesn't hurt ammo. . .it just "refrigerates" it! But wide swings in temp from hot to cold can cause expansion and contraction of primer compounds, leading to problems. Exposure to humidity and oxygen can degrade powder and primers over time.

But properly stored (which is to say, not too hot, dry, and airtight) ammo can literally last for decades, especially the ones with corrosive primers which are highly stable.

I've heard of people firing WWI vintage .45ACP ammo and it functioning just fine. People routinely shoot surplus centerfire ammo dating back to the 1950s and it works fine.