Who is hunting with 16 gauge???

[edgarspencer]

Originally Posted by Ed Norman

I have a question, I have a few partial boxes of 20 gauge shells I had from back in the 70's, when I quit hunting, I did not even think to try shooting them because of their age. I purchased new shells a couple of years ago when I started hunting again. Would those 40 plus year old shells still be ok to shoot?

Good question, ED. I'm sure, somewhere, someone has studied the effect age has on powders, in loaded ammunition. I certainly know, that some powders age in their containers. I know that 7625, no longer available, stinks like hell when it's old.
I won't tell you to take out your best gun and try them out, but I have never had any issue shooting older shells. I load 12, 16 and 20, so never am short on ammunition.
I quit skeet shooting back in the '80s, and had 50+ boxes of reloaded AA 20ga. It was at least 20 years old when we shot it all up, up at the farm, informally shooting clays.