cool!
Posted on 06/22/2017 5:25:26 PM PDT by upchuck
Seal in .50 cal. GI ammo cans. Keep in a cool place where the temps don’t vary much.
Loose boxes can be just kept in your house but not in basement.
Probably not necessary but desiccant in the cans would be nice.
I have found the Plano brand of opaque plastic storage boxes with a rubber gasket work well. Desciccant packages certainly won’t hurt.
I always store one in the pipe.
“Ammunition can last years and even several decades when stored properly.”
Are some more prone to degradation than others?
If so, which?
I imagine they would work well especially with the seal.
A surplus store near me used to sell the .50 cans for almost nothing. I understand they have increased greatly in price.
Just 3 words are needed: cool, dry place.
UV exposure??? C’mon. Even if it was fast neutrons it would probably just glow some... ;-)
I have old 1946 mercury fulminate primed stuff that still goes bang.
I had some FN produced 7.65 Argentine Mauser which was head stamped 1932 and 33. It shot great. I sold it all around 10 years ago.
On the other hand, I had some Argentine .45 ammo which was bright and clean with a 1950s head stamp which was totally bad. I think every single round was bad.
Spam cans work
1932 sounds old.
Is there any market for antique ammo?
I think that has to do with the primer composition.
Not sure when they stopped using mercury fulminate.
Modern primers do not last 25 years or so I have been told.
I imagine the price would be low for ammo that old but it can be still good. Then again it might not be. It just depends.
Lots of Market for old ammo.
People buy it just for collectors value.
The real money is for older ammo in the original box.
https://www.wardscollectibles.com/viewcat.php?category=3
“Seal in .50 cal. GI ammo cans...”
50 cal cans aren’t any better than other sizes, but their larger internal dimensions do afford more flexibility.
The older style cans fabricated of drawn steel are stronger than the newer plastic variety, but are at least as heavy. Corrosion risks to the steel cans are not zero: both inside (if dessicant is neglected, or they get packed on a very humid day) and outside - if the cans get shelved where moisture (or worse, pooled water) touches the bottoms.
The strength of steel can come in handy, if one must stack supplies.
Black powder boasts a long shelf life, if kept dry: it’s merely a mechanical mixture of the ingredients (potassium nitrate, sulfur, and charcoal) which can almost never separate, thanks to modern mixing, drying, and coating methods. Nitro propellant will ultimately degrade: the solvent chemicals and mixing/reactant agents can never be completely removed following formulation Cool-and-dry is recommended, because it slows any incipient reactions as much as they can be.
For decades, the US War Dept refused to use non-corrosive primers, citing insufficient evidence they’d remain stable. The sole exception during the Second World War was 30 US Carbine ammunition, which was specified from the outset to use non-corrosive priming. Shelf life can extend well beyond “a few decades”: in a prior job, I repaired guns and test-fired M1 Carbines. Less than five years ago, I touched off a couple 30 Carbine rounds headstamped “44”: zero hangfires, zero misfires.
I have around 20 boxes of Lapua Match with this headstamp:
7/027/6. I have no idea what that means but it is pretty old and I think it will last far longer than I will.
cool!
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