Loading long term ammo

[GeoDudeFlorida]

a Army Buddy dropped me 4 cases of MRE’s 5-6 years ago. I should probably start eating some

Do your colon a favor and donate them. C-rats are better for you, last longer, heat easier over an engine block, and unless you plan on being VERY mobile come the Armedmegettin', store easier.
Commercial canned foods these days - including some of the packets and jars but really I mean cans - when stored properly will outlast their purchaser.
That and, if you've never made a can cannon, you need to. A can of Campbell's Cheddar Cheese soup will penetrate a block wall if driven fast enough.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

SSG Bob there has the right of it...load it up, and put it in rotation. Should encourage you and the family to shoot more as well! Make it a personal goal to shoot through that entire stockpile on a regular basis. Even if you don't "shoot that much", it should be easy to go through that much ammo in 5 years. Every year, load up a hundred of each, add that to the hoard, and take out the oldest 100 of each to shoot up. It will never go stale as long as you live...and will allow the maximum longevity following your "untimely demise" as you put it. If I was doing this, I'd buy a big ammo can for each caliber. Pack the ammo in 50rnd mtm cases, date each one with the load information. Pack them in the ammo can with dessicant. Then each year, unpack your ammo can and repack it with the newest ammo always going into the bottom, and the oldest on top minus the oldest boxes that you're taking to the range. Replace the dessicant each year when you do this. This is the way.

I really need to get back into that habit. When I was a kid starting out, I only had enough .38Spl and .357Mag cases, primers, and bullets for one season of practice and two or three hunts. My first pound of Unique lasted me almost two years and my first pound of Bullseye, almost five. I shot a lot more 7.0/158gr. loads back then because, well, "magnum!" Then I discovered 2400 powder and Jenny bar the door! I was shooting "real" magnums.
Before I went back to school, when I was still machining and single, I did a sort of JIT-type loading routine: load up a season or two's worth of ammo then put everything away - powder, primers, press, the whole kit-n-kaboodle - and just shoot until the magazine was dry. Then load up more of what I wanted to shoot or buy a box or two for the fresh brass. That way, everything got rotated pretty often and I was never storing a lot but always had plenty of ammo for the shooting I did do. When I graduated and got an office job, and married, I hunted less, shot less, worked more, and had less free time so I loaded when I could plan a few hours of free time, I could get everything out, setup, load on the fly and put everything away during a commercial break. Might have to get back into that habit and just store less, have less, reload less.
Time to burn some nitro.

 

[Mark_Mark]

Do your colon a favor and donate them. C-rats are better for you, last longer, heat easier over an engine block, and unless you plan on being VERY mobile come the Armedmegettin', store easier.
Commercial canned foods these days - including some of the packets and jars but really I mean cans - when stored properly will outlast their purchaser.
That and, if you've never made a can cannon, you need to. A can of Campbell's Cheddar Cheese soup will penetrate a block wall if driven fast enough.

wrong wording! I never has the honor of serving .

 

[Mark_Mark]

Do your colon a favor and donate them. C-rats are better for you, last longer, heat easier over an engine block, and unless you plan on being VERY mobile come the Armedmegettin', store easier.
Commercial canned foods these days - including some of the packets and jars but really I mean cans - when stored properly will outlast their purchaser.
That and, if you've never made a can cannon, you need to. A can of Campbell's Cheddar Cheese soup will penetrate a block wall if driven fast enough.

I lived in Fayett-nam from 8 to 13yo, me and the boys would go to the surplus guy at the all week indoor flea market and feast on old MRE’s! loved the dehydrated strawberries and bbq meat balls! cheese spread and crackers! now I think about it, good times!!!

 

[CoalTrain49]

The can of W748 lasted around 45 yrs.

W748 will work for the rifle cartridges you listed. I use it for .223/5.56.

 

[WeekendReloader]

Load your stockpile ammo with new powder so you can start the clock today.
No sense using 20 year old powder on ammo that you plan to store for decades.

 

[EricBu]

Do your colon a favor and donate them. C-rats are better for you, last longer, heat easier over an engine block, and unless you plan on being VERY mobile come the Armedmegettin', store easier.
Commercial canned foods these days - including some of the packets and jars but really I mean cans - when stored properly will outlast their purchaser.
That and, if you've never made a can cannon, you need to. A can of Campbell's Cheddar Cheese soup will penetrate a block wall if driven fast enough.

Save for when the kids (or anyone really) gets bubble gut. Nothing stops the runs like Cheese Spread. They are also good to keep around for parties and get togethers......trot out the cracker package and get people to play the "2-Minute Cracker Drill".

Good times, good time.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Save for when the kids (or anyone really) gets bubble gut. Nothing stops the runs like Cheese Spread. They are also good to keep around for parties and get togethers......trot out the cracker package and get people to play the "2-Minute Cracker Drill".

Good times, good time.

Well, I will admit, the peanut butter packets make good boar bait. Spread a little in the knobbies of your boot and go walking through the palmettos. The hogs will find you.

 

[Mark_Mark]

Load your stockpile ammo with new powder so you can start the clock today.
No sense using 20 year old powder on ammo that you plan to store for decades.

very true! them use your old
powder now for range day pinking! Anybody ever shot some of that 60yo 8mm mauser ammo from turkey or some were out there. Hang Fire heaven! Just Hold Steady

 

[Mark_Mark]

Save for when the kids (or anyone really) gets bubble gut. Nothing stops the runs like Cheese Spread. They are also good to keep around for parties and get togethers......trot out the cracker package and get people to play the "2-Minute Cracker Drill".

Good times, good time.

we did out business in the woods and hoes off before coming back in the house. If we didn’t! Mom would —- beat us with whatever she found!

 

[N555]

I'm going to try to move away from ballpowder in 44mag and 30carbine and try to replace it with Alliant 410 a single base stick powder that burns pretty close to 2400.

 

[N555]

Do your colon a favor and donate them. C-rats are better for you, last longer, heat easier over an engine block, and unless you plan on being VERY mobile come the Armedmegettin', store easier.
Commercial canned foods these days - including some of the packets and jars but really I mean cans - when stored properly will outlast their purchaser.
That and, if you've never made a can cannon, you need to. A can of Campbell's Cheddar Cheese soup will penetrate a block wall if driven fast enough.

Yes you can buy days worth of canned food for the cost of an MRE meal.
But it's hard to beat the low low price of free 99. Canned commercial foods will go down easier and come out easier.

 

[Muddydogs]

Load them up and store them in plastic ammo boxes, zip lock bags, coffee cans or ammo cans and don't give them a second thought. I'm shooting 30 year old 44 ammo loaded with H110, 45 ammo loaded with Unique and Blue Dot plus many other calibers that have been loaded for 10 to 20 years. You're way over thinking this. Guys are shooting old ammo all the time without issues.

 

[N555]

Yeah my last keg of unique I finished off was made in 1994. I bought it for $60 in 2019.

 

[twarr1]

How do you guys have 30 and 40 year old powder?! Mine gets cycled pretty quick. If I have a can of something I don’t use, I’ll burn it up in plinkers or give it away. I’m not going to store it 35 years and try it again.

 

[Mark_Mark]

How do you guys have 30 and 40 year old powder?! Mine gets cycled pretty quick. If I have a can of something I don’t use, I’ll burn it up in plinkers or give it away. I’m not going to store it 35 years and try it again.

these old timers have been prepping since I was 10yo! RESPECT!

 

[BudrowBob]

very true! them use your old
powder now for range day pinking! Anybody ever shot some of that 60yo 8mm mauser ammo from turkey or some were out there. Hang Fire heaven! Just Hold Steady

Years ago I did shoot some of that Turkish "wait a minute ammo", it was some scary stuff,
but I also shot plenty of WWII German surplus which was good, accurate ammo and went bang everytime.
I'm not sure if the Turkish ammo was bad powder, bad primers, bad storage or a combination of the three.

 

[Mark_Mark]

Years ago I did shoot some of that Turkish "wait a minute ammo", it was some scary stuff,
but I also shot plenty of WWII German surplus which was good, accurate ammo and went bang everytime.
I'm not sure if the Turkish ammo was bad powder, bad primers, bad storage or a combination of the three.

I found it to be a great training round. Teach you to pull the trigger and don’t disturb your sights. Kindda like loading a blank to see if your flinching a bunch

 

[bullseye308]

very true! them use your old
powder now for range day pinking! Anybody ever shot some of that 60yo 8mm mauser ammo from turkey or some were out there. Hang Fire heaven! Just Hold Steady

Years ago I did shoot some of that Turkish "wait a minute ammo", it was some scary stuff,
but I also shot plenty of WWII German surplus which was good, accurate ammo and went bang everytime.
I'm not sure if the Turkish ammo was bad powder, bad primers, bad storage or a combination of the three.

I found it to be a great training round. Teach you to pull the trigger and don’t disturb your sights. Kindda like loading a blank to see if your flinching a bunch

Fond memories of days gone by. Remember the Indian 308, got on that early on and had several cases to pull apart once I realized how crappy it was. It was fine when it worked, but lots of it didn’t work.

 

[bullseye308]

How do you guys have 30 and 40 year old powder?! Mine gets cycled pretty quick. If I have a can of something I don’t use, I’ll burn it up in plinkers or give it away. I’m not going to store it 35 years and try it again.

In trying new powders sometimes you find a better load with a new powder so you shelve the old powder and in lean times you are forced to pull it out and use what you can. I have some AA2460 from 1990 and some Varget, Unique, a couple others from at least 25 years ago that I’ll get to soon for specific rounds I’d like to try out in some new guns. They don’t take up much room, eat anything, or make any noise so keeping them around till needed isn’t a problem.

 

[AJC1]

How do you guys have 30 and 40 year old powder?! Mine gets cycled pretty quick. If I have a can of something I don’t use, I’ll burn it up in plinkers or give it away. I’m not going to store it 35 years and try it again.

I would guess mostly from older people that pass... my dad hooked me up when he passed a few years ago... his powder wasn't old because he was 67. If people's grandparents reloaded and their 90 they might not have been active for 20 years or more and vola old powder.

 

[twarr1]

In trying new powders sometimes you find a better load with a new powder so you shelve the old powder and in lean times you are forced to pull it out and use what you can. I have some AA2460 from 1990 and some Varget, Unique, a couple others from at least 25 years ago that I’ll get to soon for specific rounds I’d like to try out in some new guns. They don’t take up much room, eat anything, or make any noise so keeping them around till needed isn’t a problem.

I’ve decided anything AA5 can do, True Blue can do better, so I’ll load up the rest of my #5 in 357 Magnum and be done with it. If in the future, in the unlikely event I want to try it again for something, I’ll get more. If it isn’t available, then no point in working up a load with it.
But I get your point. I also have some AA2700 I only use in 30-06 that’ll last for years.

 

[N555]

ok!!! can food is free in Seattle… Food bank here is not for the low income or homeless. It’s for everyone!

Had to beat the low low price of free 99.

 

[Palladan44]

OP-

Corrosion on the brass or bullet has been the most noteworthy concern in cartridges I've loaded up and had long term. Using brass that has been wet tumbled with the rods has done the best job. Make sure to thoroughly dry of course. Dry tumbling in vibratory, not as clean especially inside the case and in the primer pocket- not at all.
Any bit of oxidation left means the chemistry is already there to just start multiplying again.


I have examples of highly oxidized fingerprints on some 357 cases that are only about 10-15 years Loaded. They also have been stored in a sealed ammo can, and the tarnishing has shown up slowly over the decade and a half.

If you plan to store long term, new brass is always best...but deprimed-prior-to-being-cleaned wet rod tumbling is a close second.

If you don't want to wear latex gloves to avoid touching your ammo, wiping them down with a cloth when finished is fine too. Using petroleum based case lube such as Hornadys One-shot also has a latent cleansing effect ive noticed.

Again, this is if you want to get picky and have the best possible outcome. The more detailed you get with your process, the better the long term outcome will be.

I've some old hard cast lead alloy bullets (more similar to Pewter IMO) that is just as shiny as when new, where the pure swaged soft lead showing fom the tip on some jacketed bullets is caking white after only 10 years. Load hard cast LSWC for the long term with confidence.

All of the above is far more important than the life of any powder or primers with respect to hand loading. I do not worry about silly things like powder or primer lifespan.....but do worry about things I can directly control.

Good luck

 

[Walkalong]

How do people have 20 year old powder? When I stopped shooting Benchrest because I couldn’t afford to feed kids and shoot I was left with 8+ pounds of N-133, 8+ pounds of H-322, 5+ pounds of N-130, and a few pounds of 2015. Shot the 2015, the N-130 went bad before it was ten years old, been shooting some of the H-322 in .458 Win Mag, but have most of it, have used hardly any of the 133……


Bought 5 pds of 700C at a gun show many years ago as a backup to what I had, still have about 4 pds……. Etc, etc