Rimfire shelf life

[deerslayer303]

Hello Everyone,
I heard folks mention in the past that rimfire ammo does not store well for long periods of time. All this talk was at the peak of the rimfire drought. Any of you tried shooting old rimfire ammo?

 

[Spats McGee]

Define "old." If by "old," you mean more than about 10 years, no. I'm pretty sure I've shot 10 year old rimfire, though.

 

[wogpotter]

I'll bet dollars to donuts that climate is more important than priming.

 

[deerslayer303]

Sorry Spats, I should have clarified, for me, I mean no more than 2 or 3 years. I rotate my rimfire stock. And I don't think the Kids will ever let 22 ammo sit that long anyway. I guess, I'm mainly just wondering why folks made the comment of the shelf life for rimfire being so much shorter than centerfire ammo.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

I've shot bricks of rimfire .22LR that were about ten years old with no more duds than new stuff. Over the years, I'm sure my grandfather had some ammo for his Winchester carbine that was a lot older than ten years, because I don't think I ever heard of him firing it except when he was teaching us grandkids to shoot.

 

[DaleA]

I've shot "10 year old" .22LR that shot just fine. And by "10 year old" I mean it was older than that but I don't want to start a "my ammo is older than your ammo" contest.

Also there wasn't anything extraordinary about the storage...just had it in an old ammo can.

 

[lamarw]

If stored in a climate controlled environment? I can imagine longer than my life span. Lets try 200 years. Why the question?

I think one should go shoot it within their life span. Otherwise, what does it matter unless you inherit it.

 

[Doyle]

If stored properly, it doesn't get "old" until sometime way after I'm long dead and buried.

 

[4V50 Gary]

I have several bricks that are over ten years old. No problem (last year I used a couple when I was training some folks in defensive handgun shooting).

 

[Tinbucket]

shelf life of .22s

My cousin has some boxes of .22 peters shorts , I probably bought in the mid fifties at .26 a box. Maybe high on the price.
When Uncle died in 2010 we shot a few out of old .22 Springfield.
They shot just fine.

 

[Snyper]

When we remodeled at the gun shop, we found primers and ammo that had to be at least 25 years old.

I used it all and don't recall any misfires

I still have some old crimped "rat shot" loads that are now close to 40 years old and they worked the last time I used one several months ago

 

[USMC 77-81]

Kept dry it will last indefinitely.

 

[FrankenMauser]

Stored properly, it will last quite some time.

One of my grandfathers is still working on a brick of .22 LR from 1956. When he decides to share with visitors, he'll 'splurge' and hand out a box or two from the early '70s.

Personally, the current best (most reliable and most consistent) .22 LR that I own and shoot is a batch of Remington from 1977.


If rimfire ammo wasn't any good after 2-3 years, then I wouldn't have anything to shoot. The majority of my .22 LR and .22 WMR is at least 5-6 years old, with smaller quantities of various loads dating back to that 1977 Remington stuff.

 

[jughead2]

shelf life

my dad died in 1986. i still find a few rounds of 22 and still have a few rounds of 16 gauge that he bought dont remember a miss fire with any of them. if found just use the 22 for plinking.

 

[B.L.E.]

When my wife's dad passed away, we inherited his .22 rifle and this old box of ammo was in the gun case. IMHO, it shot better than the new stuff from Remington. Not a dud in the box.

I was shooting trap about a month ago and I noticed there were some really old Remington paper hulls littering the ground. These were so old that Remington was still using #57 primers instead of #209. Apparently, they all shot just fine.

 

[Kreyzhorse]

I've shot 20 year old ammo that my dad had squirreled away without issue.

Properly stored it should last your lifetime and likely much longer.

 

[Duster340]

When cleaning out my folks place, I found an old tobacco can buried in a closet. Instantly flashed back to my younger days carrying that can to the car to head out to the "country" with Dad to shoot an old JC Higgins semi-auto. Pried the can open and found it was still full of boxes of 22lr from the 60's & 70's. Shot a few this past year with my daughters without a misfire.

Sorry about the "life story" , but safe to say that if stored in fairly stable condition, rimfire ammo will last a good while.

Be well

 

[SaxonPig]

If stored properly the shelf life of modern ammo will exceed the life expectancy of the owner. I was recently shooting a brick of 22 ammo with a price sticker of $7.95 on it. Must have been at least 20 years old. Now that I think about it, I believe I bought it in the late 1980s. Getting on to 30 years old. No problem with any of it.

 

[spacecoast]

Last year I shot 5 boxes of Remington standard velocity .22LR that had to be from the 70s, if not before. Every round fired just fine, very consistent and accurate too.

 

[Evan Thomas]

I shot some 10 year old .22LR last year. It had fewer duds than some of the newer stuff we were shooting.