Storage life of BP Cartridges?

[school of mines]

I am snowed in and looking to do some reloading. I have a question, though. How long can a black powder cartridge be stored before being fired? I read somewhere that they shouldn't be stored over the winter. What's everyones experience/thoughts on this? I don't want to load some shells and have them not fire in the Spring when the range opens up!

[Don McDowell]

Unless something happens that contaminates the powder or primer, they'll fire.....

[KCSO]

When testing and developing duplicate miliitary loads for the 45-70 i fired a goodly amount of FA loads dated between 1887 and 1892. this was in 1990 or there abouts so they were good for close to 100 years. If the case is solid and retelativly untarnished and the storage was in a dry place i would guess cartridges are good forever.

[1874Sharps]

School of Mines,

Sorry to hear of the blizzard in your part of the county. I had to put on a swearshirt today, as the temp dropped to a bone chilling 53 degrees this afternoon! Sorry I could not help myself.

As to the question of shelf life, I do not think you will have any trouble at all with the cartridges you are proposing to load. The only thing potentially I think that is of condern is that the BP lube stay put and not migrate. That should not be a problem at all in the cold! In fact, it has not proven to be a problem even in the sweltering sweatbox summer heat in South Texas with cartridges stored in the second deck of the garage with SPG lube that I use.

[shotman]

As said I have shot some that were 80 or so years old I would say the lube would be the problem If its soft and would melt dont store them.

[August]

I shot some 45/70 cartridges that I made up about 18 months ago at a match recently. Went nine for ten at 306 yards and won the buffalo competition. Didn't have to wipe or blow either.

I had a strange (unscientific) sense that the rounds actually performed more consistently than had others from that batch which were fired shortly after putting them together.

I often load my 38-40 loads six months ahead and have never had a problem.

I do, however, take care to store finished cartridges with the bullet end down. Have no evidence that doing otherwise would hurt, just voodoo I guess.

[missionary5155]

Good evening
I have a 43 Spanish Roller & fired some 100+ year old ammo. It all fired normal except for 1 round that ever so slight was a hangfire. The fouling seemed a bit more crusty but cleaned out normal with a WET patch.

[school of mines]

Thanks for all of the input! Looks like I need to get busy loading up some shells!

Keep warm,

Cornhusker

[jlchucker]

I would think a very long time. When I was a kid in the 50's there were a couple of old timers who trudged out every deer season with 38-55 leverguns. These old guys didn't handload and didn't shoot much. They had really old boxes of factory ammo, no doubt bought at the local general store that started business in 1905. These were blackpowder factory rounds, and that old storekeep didn't sell big volumes of factory ammo, so what he had on hand was really old. You'd see these old guys at the local sandpit before deer season--usually firing a shot or two at a can to see if their guns were still working--then later on you'd see them weighing in a usually pretty big buck with one bullet hole in it. That would have been real black powder, and not Pyrodex or any other brand of new stuff.

[NickSS]

One time quite a few years ago I and a buddy of mine fired about 100 56-56 Spencer rounds that he found a case of in the attic of the house he had just bought. All but 2 went off and we had a ball. Then we found that they were worth about $1 each and a box of 7 Would go for $35. So my buddy sold the rest to cartridge collectors and bought a CF breach block for his Spencer. By the way he killed several deer over the years with that rifle.

[coyote hunter]

About six months back in the process of moving I found about 80 rounds of .45-55-405 mil. spec. ctgs that I'd loaded and stored about 8 years ago. All were loaded with GoX. ctg grade and SPG lube, and all reciently fired as though they were new. The only problem that I did run into was in the same box was 200 rds worth of boolits, lubed with SPG that had not been sealed up. All had to be recast because the lube had hardened up to the point of brittleness.
hope this might help.

[Jon K]

I just got done shooting a 3 day Buffalo Match with ammo I loaded for the match shot 2 years ago. They shot as good as ammo loaded last week.

Jon

[Mk42gunner]

Black powder doesn't go bad; as long as the lube doesn't contaminate the powder and the primers stay good it should last forever.


Robert

[Circuit Rider]

I have noticed on some of my cartridges there is a green streak down one side if they have sit for a few months. Just tarnish? I presume they'll be okay to shoot. Circuit Rider