How Old ?

[Keith Haveman]

How old can boolets be in storage before the lube or LLA is no longer usable to protect the barrel ? For rifle and hand guns ?

[Bazoo]

Pends on the storage conditions and lube composition. But 20 years or more will be a good round number.

Lubed bullets, loaded in cases will last longer in my estimation because they are not subject to drying out. Lubed bullets in a Tupperware will not last as long.

[country gent]

Tupperware or sealed plastic bags. will last longer than wood or cardboard containers as these can wick the oil out of the lube. I dont have any estimates as to duration between the materials as conditions also play a big part.

[Winger Ed.]

I was given some one time that probably came over on the Mayflower.

I melted it, mixed in a little oil, and kept it in a 'borrowed' kitchen sauce pan.
I'd melt it and pour it into the sizer when I was done with a session of using it.
Then it was all ready to go next time I needed it.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

indefinitely, if stored correctly.

[Engineer1911]

I am not an expert, but I had some cast bullets that lost all their 'shine' , turned a dull gray color, loaded in cases and fired at mid-range charges of 357 and 44 magnum loads. Leading and poor accuracy were not problems.

[GhostHawk]

I have BLL lubed cast that was "Laid down" 6 years ago in air tight food storage boxes. Cheap ones.

They look the same as when I stacked them in there. Directly above them is a box of a slightly larger bullet, 185 gr with GC that I could not find the lid for. Same batch of lead, same lube, same everything except mold. And no lid. Those have gone very very dark and are starting to develop white spots.

Do yourself a favor. Take your excess cast, lube them. Stick them in airtight boxes. Write on the lid the Caliber, date, mold, alloy. Snap that baby shut. I suspect it could be as old as your great grandfather and still shoot like gangbusters.

[greenjoytj]

Recently I loaded some Lyman 452644 RNFP bevel base boolits than we’re lubed a year ago.
The heater on my Lubri-sizer got my homemade Emmerts lube too hot an softened it into a sticky gooey mess right up the ogive of the bullets. The lanolin really make the lube sticky. These bullets were stored in a zombie green MTM cast bullet storage box. I stack 3 layers of bullets, 48 bullets to each layer separated by a sheet of 24# printer paper cut to fit the MTM box. I lay 6 more bullets on the top row furthest from the hinge but now the lid doesn’t close completely, gaps open slightly maybe 1mm, so there was some slight air circulation in an out of the box.
I wanted store 150 bullets per box.

A year later I loaded 50 of these bullets, the lube that was smeared on the ogive had dried out just a bit and the lead had turned a dull gray colour, the dried lube look and felt a bit fuzzy. The lube in the groove was still soft with a slight surface drying seen.

After crimping the bullets I gave each bullet a few twists with paper towel. A gray smudge was wiped onto the paper towel and the bullet was once again shiny bright and shot accurately in my 24” Win M73.

I have another identical MTM box with SAECO 955 RNFP boolits lubed 2 years ago that have turned dark gray also. This box is well sealed the lid has been closed completely for 2 years.
I know Lead will turn gray sitting in open air in time.
I suspect the unknown PH value of the lube accelerated the discolouration of the bullets.

Normally I only Lubri-size my cast bullets a day or two before loading them into cartridge cases, and those cartridges are shot within a month.
The pandemic closed the gun club for quite some time so lubed bullets had to sit unused for a long time.

[Harper]

I have seen lens lube get crusty after six months.

[Dusty Bannister]

I have a couple of metal film cans with some 38 cal bullets cast by a friend and his Dad and two uncles when he was a kid. The dad and uncles are long gone, and the kid is now a grand father. Stored in open boxes or containers, they gather dust or dry out. Agree with JonB in Glencoe

If the bullets are starting to form oxide, then you might have a problem and need to apply tumble lube before shooting them.

[nvbirdman]

I don't think there would be much difference between a boolit lubed sixty years ago and a boolit lubed today with the same lube. However, I think there has been an improvement in the lube in the last sixty years.

[gwpercle]

Beeswax based bullet lubes seem to have an extremely long shelf life ... 50 + years at least .
I have some Lithium Beeswax lube purchased in 1978 (43 years ago ) that still looks and feels like new . I keep the old sticks just to watch for any separation or break down ... 1 part Lithium grease to 3 parts Beeswax ... So far it's still like new . Each tube is wrapped in red foil , in a small cardboard box on a shelf in my reloading building ...not heated or a/c .
I make up new lube since getting the recipe but every now and again ...put one of the old sticks in the Lyman 450 just to see if it still does the job ...and it still works just fine .
Also have 45+ year old Lyman Black Colloidal Graphite Lube ... it came with the Lyman 450 when I bought it ..greasy black stuff ... it seems to have a long shelf life also ...still soft , still black and still greasy ... but I prefer the Lithium-Beeswax lube and these tubes got shoved to the back of the shelf, to be used in an emergency !
Gary

[JSnover]

Beeswax based bullet lubes seem to have an extremely long shelf life ... 50 + years at least .
I have some Lithium Beeswax lube purchased in 1978 (43 years ago ) that still looks and feels like new . I keep the old sticks just to watch for any separation or break down ... 1 part Lithium grease to 3 parts Beeswax ... So far it's still like new . Each tube is wrapped in red foil , in a small cardboard box on a shelf in my reloading building ...not heated or a/c .
I make up new lube since getting the recipe but every now and again ...put one of the old sticks in the Lyman 450 just to see if it still does the job ...and it still works just fine .

Gary

I'm having the same luck with a batch of Emmerts I mixed up at least five years ago and sort of lost track of the plastic tub. When it resurfaced during my last move I popped the lid and was shocked; It looks, smells and feels the same now as it did when I lost it.

[TNsailorman]

I have some old .43 Spanish bullets that the lube on them has turned very light, almost white grey and is very dry. But it has been in my shooting area(a very dry basement) that has a de-humidifier in it and I assume the dry air is responsible for its condition.

[slohunter]

Air tight container, forever.