How old is your ammunition?

[old farmer]

Afternoon,

I just bought some ammo. Is there a code for the date it was make? On the box there is CT515, E125670 K6780 (Winchester .40 S&W). What does these mean?

[WarHawk-AVG]

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Has to be like lot number, and maybe type of round..who knows

[WildBill]

Afternoon, I just bought some ammo. Is there a code for the date it was make?

Sorry, I can't help on the date code. If you are worried about it being "too old" or "out of shelf life", you need not worry. Ammo isn't like a carton of milk or eggs. I have shot ammo [stored in dark dry conditions] more than 25 years old without any issues.

[Mike1951]

The most important use of codes is for manufacturing records. We frequently see a particular lot of ammunition recalled that wasn't up to standards or may have been loaded to unsafe levels. The recall will list the lot(s) involved by the numbers you saw.

If you're worried about age of the ammo, don't. If stored properly, it should work for decades.

[57Coastie]

A few months ago I fired some .45 ACP hardball in a military issue lot which I had last fired some of perhaps 50 years ago. No problem when fired from my 91 year-old M1911. This is not intended to be a general observation about all ammo.

Jim

[The Annoyed Man]

I have a couple of boxes of Corbon .45 ACP, a box of Corbon .44 Mag, and a box of Winchester .45 Black Talons that are all at least 10 years old sitting in my ammo case. I keep meaning to bring them to the range and shoot them up, but I also keep forgetting to do it each time I go to the range. This is because my brain is a lot older than 10.

[LarryH]

When my wife decided to get her CHL in August, and I began shooting my Blackhawk (.357 Magnum and .38 Special) and Single-Six again, some of the ammo had been around the house since about 1970. I still have a few rounds of the old .357 left, but they will be fired within the next month or two. Have had no problems with any of the rounds in either revolver, although some of the .22 cartridges didn't feed well in the 10/22.

[KBCraig]

I occasionally shoot ammo made in 1939. It never fails to perform perfectly. On the other hand, I've seen ammo just a few years old that is questionable.

Storage counts more than anything. Cool and dry is best, but if you can't have cool, then at least have consistent temperature.

[BambooShoots]

Shooting old ammo depends on how it was stored.

If stored in a humid area and the bullet neck area/primer are not sealed, the round might not work.

The random assortments of numbers and letters on ammo boxes are lot numbers.

[McKnife]

I fired some Russian Surplus ammo in .45ACP that was VERY old... it was super dusty and the cases felt like sandpaper... but it was 2 bucks per box and I had 3 boxes.

I fed them through my XD-45 and all fired just fine but i couldn't load more than 3 per mag because they would stick together. -- Great groups though!

[bpet]

That certainly says something for the XD. Not sure I'd have tried it without cleaning the cases a little but like I said, XD's are good!! I sure like mine.

As for old ammo - if you have some you are not comfortable with, send it my way. I've got reloads that are way older than 10 years and wouldn't hesitate to use it at least for practice.

My social stuff is fresher just because I like it that way.

[Tactical_Texan_CHL]

Good question, Chaplin. I'm curious about some of my ammo too, but I think I'll try it next time I go out. I don't think this is too much of a hijack since it goes along the same lines. How do you guys store ammo if you have tons of it? I've got a bunch of ammo cans on shelves in my garage where I keep mine. Each can has a dessicant pack in it, but being a garage, the temp isn't always consistant. I've got about 3,000 rounds of .223, 1,000 rounds each of .45, 9mm, and .380 stored that way. I also have multiple cases of Wally World bought shotgun shells still in the big bulk boxes of 10 small boxes on the shelves too. Are shotgun shells as likely to be affected by changes as rifle and pistol rounds? I've been thinking about getting some great big foot locker sized plastic tubs for ammo. Any suggestions on how you guys store ammo would be appreciated. Thanks.

[57Coastie]

I guess there is no problem with old ammo. At least a contractor for the U. S. government providing arms and ammunition to Afghanistan for the "War on Terror" has no problem with it. The Free Market at work. Click here.

Jim

[Rugrash]

Found this today.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/world ... =1&_r=1&hp

The funny thing is that one of the people involved has ties to Botach Tactical which some people on this forum have had problems with in the past. Maybe this explains why...

-Rug

[KBCraig]

The Free Market at work.

There's no free market involved in government contracting. By design, it favors insiders who wade through arcane contracting regulations and offers little recourse against bad contractors.