Shelf life of 22lr ammo

[knight0334]

My dad has some 100+ year old .32 Long rimfire. ...yes, .32 caliber. The ammo he has was made no earlier than 1910, still in their original boxes(Remington/Union Metallic). Once every few years we pop off a round of it - not once has there been a failure to fire of the 100yo ammo as far back as I can remember(mid '70s). It shoots just as well as the .32 Long rimfire ammo that I found for him that was made in the 1990's by Navy Arms. Dad has owned this old ammo and this gun since the mid 1950's. It was his first gun, which he bought the gun and ammo off of his aunt, which she inherited from a dead husband, whom which received it as a gift from his dad or grandpa at a very young age.

[Irwin Inhabitant]

I have some 22lr ammo that is about 8 years old, would it still be viable to use in a mag feed bolt rifle? It is mostly Thunderbolt and Remmington bulk.

Probably more reliable than some of the Remington .22LR ammo I bought 2 weeks ago.

[TheRedBaron88]

Be careful when you compare the shelf life of centerfire and rimfire ammo.

Rimfire has drastically shorter shelf life than centerfire although I have no definite years for either, I know centerfire is very very long. Rimfire ammo suffers from the fact that the priming mix is in direct contact with the powder, both of these chemicals mix/degrade/change as a result. However, the change is varied and continuous. I've chrono'd some .22's that were about 12-15yrs old and noticed not only an audible difference but also a 100-200 fps difference out of a pistol and more duds. Note that the majority of the ammo's life was spent in a safe which has a regularly-purged silica packet in it.

You're not going to notice a difference if you just go plink at the range with a box of 20yr old ammo because it will all sounds the same, but when a relative takes a 15yr old box of federal bulk and I take a 15month old box of federal bulk, the difference is noticable.

[Recoil]

Be careful when you compare the shelf life of centerfire and rimfire ammo.

Rimfire has drastically shorter shelf life than centerfire although I have no definite years for either.

Well I do. About 39 years or so from my personal experience for rimfire and I doubt the varmints in my area, the ones who are left, would argue about the accuracy or affectiveness of old rimfire ammo.

[TheRedBaron88]

I heard the Batmobile was shot down with this gun using 80yr old 22 Short ammo!! haha!

[busdoor]

If by .22 short you mean 38 spl then yes. That was a S&W Model 15-3 with a custom 21" telescoping barrel. Also, never rub another man's rhubarb...

[Rundownfid]

This winter I was cleanig my garage and found a .22 rifle and some ammo for it there. I thnk I vaugly remember putting it there to ambush a groundhog with that I only seemed to see when working in and around the garage. This was over 20 years ago, The garage is unheated and gets to over 100 in the hot sun and probably has seen <10 every winter for the past 20 years. Both shot fine, even before I fully cleaned the rifle, although I did remove the mud wasp nest in the barrel.

Don't worry that ammo will be GTG long after you're gone.

[mpan72]

I figured it would be O.K. Just wanted some opinions. This forum is great. I got a bunch of replies and no j.o.'s calling me an idiot for asking a "silly" question. Thank's guys.

[offshorebear]

I shoot some 30+ year old 22 longs on occasion. It is more reliable that modern production rimfire.

[mauser]

I had a few bricks of Thunderbolt from the mid 70s that lived in the trunk of one of my cars for a few years in the early 80s. One of the bricks opened and some of the individual boxes opened, there was ammo scattered all over the trunk. What came out of the boxes was put into a few baby food jars and sat around for a long time. (some of it is still sitting around). Whenever I grab a handful of it they all go bang. I certainly wouldn't be concerned about 8-10 year old ammo, especially if it's been stored in any kind of respectable manner.