20 year reloads
 

today i got down a box of old 3 inch shells my dad had loaded over 20 years ago...shot several they all shot ok...so i guess even old reloads can set on the shelf for a while... charlie

You are most correct, Charlie. As long as loaded ammunition isn't kept in a damp environment, its shelf life is almost indefinite. The most fragile component of any cartridge is often the brass part. Brass embrittles with age. This is why the world's militaries used to dispose of ammunition over a certain age.

as long as they are kept dry and no humidity they will last a long time. I shot 6 rounds for my 416 Taylor,all the info i had on them was 350gr Speer Mag Tip 1995. I keep better track these days.

When I got my wife's Ranger Arms LH bolt action 25-06 some handloads came with the gun . They had all the load info with them etc and were dated for the early 80's !

I took them out with the rifle and shot some of them . What the guy called his deer load kept 3 shots in a hair over 1/2" at 100 yards .

Maybe it's just me, but I'd never shoot someone else's handloads unless I knew him really well. My face ain't pretty, but it's the only one I have.

Durring the 1st Gulf war we were getting 50 cal ammunition loaded durring the Korean conflict and it all worked just fine after 40 years.

I must just be lucky :whistle:

But then there are several folks that shoot my handloads and they all seem to have the same face they had :cool:

I 'inherited' several hundred rounds of skeet loads when my father died. Most were well over 15 and many 20+ years old. I shot them all up at trap with nary a hick up. All the misses were my own fault. I probably should have cut them up and salvaged the shot etc as they were 1 1/8th loads. Today I use 7/8 and sometimes 3/4 and could have multiplied the loads. I was just too lazy.

When I was 14 (1963). I loaded some 270's. In 1992, my son shot his first deer with that ammo

Worked fine: one shot.

I've been loading shells with some old Hercules Red Dot that is over 40-50 years old.
It's in the red metal keg and it still shoots great.