Keeping Ammo Fresh

[JohnH]

How often do you guys change out the ammo in your carry gun?

[fatnhappy]

next to never. My garand is my home defense rifle and it wears a bandolier of 44 year old LC ammo. My commander is stuffed with black talons so that should tell you how old the ammo is. Age alone isn't a reliability indicator IMHO. It's your life you're defending so let your conscience be your guide. As always, YMMV.

[BruceB]

My handgun carry ammo gets changed about every six months. Rifle ammo is rotated frequently, usually much more often than six months. Rifle rounds are handloaded, handgun rounds are factory loads.

I'm not as concerned with its "freshness" as I am with the wear it takes from "administrative" functions, meaning the chambering, ejecting, extracting, loading/unloading of magazines, etc.

Changing the ammo periodically absolutely REMOVES any such possible wear. and firing it at that time proves whether or not my routine is working. So far, it's 100% functional.

I have no real idea what changes come over my ammunition in storage, but I can assure everyone that it is NOT getting better! It is indeed my life, and the lives of others, and I would never depend on 44-year-old ammo for such uses. That's far too great a risk for me to tolerate, and my mileage will definitely be very different.

The cost of new factory ammo for use in possibly the most important events of our (continuing) lives, is just peanuts.

So, here you have two polar opposites. I bet that's a big help...

[JohnH]

Perhaps I'd have been better to ask directly about my situation. But what I hear is let my conscience be my guide. If I've concerns about what heat does to ammo in a gun in a glove box during working hours, act appropriately to those concerns.

[JIMinPHX]

I sometimes still carry ammo that I bought at Bob Smith Sporting Goods when I lived in Boston. I moved out of that state at least 15 or 20 years ago. I also sometimes carry my cast loads, depending on where I am going & what I expect I may run into.

[spqrzilla]

Ammo stays pretty fresh for me in the "crisper" section of the refrigerator.

[Beagler]

Except for what I keep in my zombie killer 870. I store all my ammo in a airtight steel rocket box or ammo can and if I really want to be anal I fire up the food saver and vacuum seal'em. They can;t tarnish or draw moisture if the oxygen or water can't get in

[Maine1]

I shoot my carry mags up every once in a while, usually after i have loaded a fresh batch of a few hundred.

the ammo will always go bang, its just that it gets a little crusty after being carried a while. Then there is the feeling of carrying a freshly cleaned weapon with freshly loaded, newly cleaned mags...aaahh bliss!

as far as storage, a good clean ammo can with some desiccant will go a long way toward keeping ammo viable for a long time. ammo is pretty robust, all things considered.

[44fanatic]

If you have good quality ammo the important thing is downloading your ammo and cleaning your mags, cylinders, weapon on a regular basis. Get rid of the pocket crud, dust, what ever builds up in them. If you carry a semi auto, this gets the rounds moved around a bit so that those top 2 rounds are not the only ones being cycled.

Heck the 21 rounds that I carry may be good for years but I will prefer to shoot it at least every 6 months.

[Blammer]

about monthly

[sundog]

For my CCW it's a couple or three times a year, maybe more. The gun gets cleaned and another mag put through it to insure function. Yeah, I carry a dirty piece, but I know it works.

[KCSO]

We fire our carry ammo every 6 months and replace with fresh. Like Bruce B said it's to make sure there are no extractor burrs or bullets pushed down from feeding. If you don't do loading and unloading every day you might not need to change ammo near as often. AS far as how the AMMO itself wil last, when I got into this business I got a ammo can of 1944 45 acps' from my dad with loaded magazines and i fired off the last loaded mag in 1980 something and they had been loaded since WWII. I still have some of the ammo and the last time (6-8 years ago) I fired some it still worked perfect.

[David2011]

I've loaded with powder and over 5000 primers which were 25 years old and stored in uncontrolled conditions on a workshop shelf on the Gulf Coast. It proved 100% reliable, used in matches and practice sessions. Granted, that's not life threatening but it was also components stored in their most vulnerable condition and proved fully reliable. Assembled ammunition would be much more climate resistant. I've never had old ammo fail to work.

David

[Harter66]

About 97' I shot up125 rounds of LC 42 30-06' ,122 went bang 3 did not . Not bad for 45 year old ammo that showed some signs of having been wet and stored who knows how for at least the 10 years before I came to have them. I also have a box of FC 58 38 Special ,I shot the other half a box in 03' it all went bang too . With that said , I don't put anything in a place where I HAVE to rely on it , hunting loads or defensive that is over 5 years old,factory or not , and my home/travel defense loads get rotated out every 6-9 monthes . That number riases from the use of the gun more than any other factor, the 9mm gets a fresh clip filled in January and July because its shot cleaned and lubed every 6 weeks often more often and Kroil and Hoppes creep. The same goes for the 357 and Colts. My 38 only comes out in September, October and November so I shoot what I put in last Thanksgiving the first week in September and load up some rabbit loads in the fresh clean gun . It gets a touchup and a thorough wipe down and fresh ammo and back to its cubby. I will qualify all of the above by adding a clause for road, camping,hunting trips and the foul weather got it wet cooked it in the truck etc rough handling ,for early replacement.

[wiljen]

I live in a bad neighborhood, ammo rotates itself ;)

in all seriousness, about every 6 months I shoot a box of my carry ammo up for practice then reload with new of the same make/model.

[lwknight]

All things in nature return to equilibrium eventually.
The colder the conditions the slower the process.
Ammo kept cold should be 99 percent good for a few hundred years.
Out in the glove box then cold then hot. maybe a few years it could degrade.

I have read so many posts about peoples old 60 or 80 year old ammo working just fine.
I shot some 30-30 that an old geyser carried for years in his farm truck and it was just fine.

[spqrzilla]

Ammo stays pretty fresh for me in the "crisper" section of the refrigerator.

This was intended as a joke actually ...

[MtGun44]

I decided that the likelihood of an AD while unloading and reloading the carry guns all the
time was increased, plus there was the wear and tear on the ammo, as previously mentioned.
No kids in the house, so the carry guns stay loaded all the time.

Rarely change the ammo, occasionally maybe every 6 months or so, shoot a few to verify
zero and function, then clean out the lint that has collected, relube and reload.

Bill

[Char-Gar]

The ammo in my auto pistols gets changed every few months. I fire the mag in the pistol and the extra. I then clean the pistols, rotate mags and load them again.

With rifles, I don't keep them loaded, so I don't worry about the ammo. It is stored in an air conditioned and heated room, so it stays fresh for a very long time.

The only shotgun I keep loaded is a double and there is not much wear and tear on the ammo as it is not cycled through an action.