Storage life of lubed boolits

[mto7464]

How long can you store lubed boolits under ideal conditions?

[bhp9]

I have stored them for many years with no problems. As long as you keep them in an air tight container they should be okay.

Plastic containers are good ways to store them. Keep them in a cool and dry place. In other words an attic would be the worst place because of the heat. The basement is ok if you have a de-humidifier running in the summer and you store your bullets in a sealed container like an old plastic bullet box.

One of my buddies even uses milk jugs but the bullets are too hard to get back out for me to use them.

I have also used metal tea cans that had tight lids to store bullets both lubed and unlubed.

[Will]

I have part of a box of 38spl that I bought from a fellow when I first started reloading in 1958. They are still in good shape. They look good and the lube is still on them. The guy told me he made them from wheel weights and used waterpump grease for the lube. They look like a 358429HP. I shot most but saved a few for no reason. I've kept them in the same cardboard box all these years. I've tried to find some of that grease but could never locate any.

[Dale53]

A couple of years ago I got back in to revolver shooting (handguns in general). I had several thousand bullets that had been cast twenty years ago. They were sized and lubed with NRA Alox 50/50 and had been stored in cigar boxes on a shelf in my attached, but unheated and uncooled garage. It can get to 100 degrees around here on occasion in the summer but the garage is normally a few degrees cooler as it is attached to the air conditioned house (two sides are house). The lube was still viable and the bullets looked fine. They are shooting VERY well.

Of course, it all depends on what lube and the specific storage conditons. This is only MY experience. I am presently using Lar45's Red Carnauba and it is much less sticky when dry (than Alox 50/50) and has a somewhat higher melting temperature. I would suspect that Red Carnauba would be even better for long term storage.

My Emmert's home mix does NOT keep well. It seems to "spoil" (go rancid). So, I will even change my Schuetzen lube to Red Carnauba.

Dale53

Dale53

[FISH4BUGS]

I have a box of 100 44 240 gr swc cast bullets in the same slip top cardboard box (with a price of $2.00 still on it) for over 35 years. I don't know why I have never used them up, but there they are. They look fine.
I think as long as you keep them in a fairly steady environment (no huge humidity or temperature swings) I see no reason why they can't keep for many years. Airtight storage would be even better.

[JIMinPHX]

If I leave boolits with Lyman Moly lube out in the open on my bench for a few days here in the desert, the lube dries out & shrinks up. I think that the answer to your question is highly dependent on what lube you use & how you store the boolits.

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive got many thousands of bullets that i know have been on the shelf for over 10 years. My pole barn swings from well below zero in the winter to over a 100F in the summer. What it has showed me is theres a big differnce in lubes in storage. Ive pulled boxes of bullets off the shelf lubed with things like 5050 alox that all the lube melted off the bullets and ive also pulled bullets of the shelf lubed with hard lubes that have dried up and fell off the bullets. I store many many thousands of bullets in that barn and my lube recipes over the years have been optamized not only for accuarcy and prevent leading but for storage in those conditions. IF you want a good lube that easy to do that holds up well just take some javalina or other 5050 alox lube and mix in about 1/3 magma blue or red rooter to firm it up a little. My recipes are alot more complicated then that one but that one will work.

[OBXPilgrim]

Just until the Bullet ID bill passes into law in your state