Old ammo

I wouldn't hesitate to shoot it for practice and perhaps you'll be able to fire enough of the old rounds to be confident in their reliability and performance. I personally would just save those for practice and buy a few boxes of fresh ammo. You'll need enough to zero your gun and be familiar with the ballistics of whatever round you settle on. Good luck!

I'd shoot them and see what they do.


I snagged an old 30-30 over the summer and it came with 6 boxes of ammo that looked like they were from the 80s. They grouped as well as the new rounds I bought. Shot a box of them with no issues.

It's not the age, it's the storage conditions. Don't trust surplus. WW2 4831 military powder though, I had about 15 pounds that I had bought for $.50 per pound years ago and it degraded in the cans and jugs. I had some of it stashed in the back of an upstairs clothes closet and the wife got pissed that in the process of degradation some of it converted to nitric acid, ate through the cans and caused her clothes to fall into shreds.
On the other hand, properly sealed black powder seems to last forever.
LINK

I’ve still got a few boxes of 30-06 that I bought in 1978, still have the Howard Brothers price sticker on them. I use them for hog hunting, now. No issues at all. Still do what they did 40 years ago.

I do hear a lot of jokes at the camp, though.

I have 30 06 ammo from the 70’s. It’s just fine. SuperX. xxx 12 gauge Magnum. Copper plated lead. They used to hit the mallards very hard. Don’t know what I’m going to shoot with the shotgun bullets now though.

Thank y'all for all the responses! I'll test them out to see how they shoot.

I'm hoping they fire okay after seeing the price for them after not buying any for 15 years...lol

quote:

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but a new box of 30-06 is the cheapest part of a hunting trip

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Truth