[TexasFreeper2009]

how long will ammunition stay good if stored well?

[grobdriver]

Longer than you will likely be alive to use it.

[GL of Sector 2814]

how long will ammunition stay good if stored well?

I've shot 80 year old military rifle ammunition. It went "bang" every time, so I'd say at least a century, if stored properly.

[Still Thinking]

Decades, if not centuries.

[Spktyr]

Empirically, more than a century. People have found caches of properly stored centerfire ammunition that dated back to the Spanish American War of 1898 that worked just fine when fired. Velocity was a little less than expected, but whether this was due to age or poor quality control at time of manufacture was impossible to determine.

The good news is that being in Texas, we don’t have to worry about this idiocy in our state just yet.

[matt1234]

I've fired centerfire rifle ammo that was produced in 1944, and it was fine.

I'm not sure about shotgun ammo due to its plastic components. Anybody know?

[Red Steel]

As long as you live. Keep dry and about....I guess optimum temp is about 60 - 67 degrees.

[calex59]

Almost indefinitely. I had some 30-06 ammo in 1975 that was manufactured in 1942 for Marine use(my Uncle was a retired Captain of Marines and helped me out here)and I had 2000 rounds of it. It worked well, the only thing was the corrosive primers that necessitated cleaning the gun with water on the day of shooting and 2 days after in order to get all the salt out of the gun, but that was a minor convenience compared to the 2000 pieces of brass I obtained. No misfires in the 2000 rounds either.

The brass lasted for a long time afterwards through many reloadings.

[Pearls Before Swine]

how long will ammunition stay good if stored well?

A lifetime, more or less.

[wolfcreek]

“how long will ammunition stay good if stored well?”

If you use primer sealer (like military rounds), a lot longer.

[Osage Orange]

Decades.......I recently bot some ammo that is near 50 years old...and goes bang every time.

[Nebr FAL owner]

Kept dry & in low humidity at constant or near constant temp modern small arms ammo has a shelf life of better than 50 years.

[PeteB570]

As a number of posters have stated in this thread - a long, long time.

Key point though - use the really old surplus ammo for range training. Good for malfunction (rare) training, etc.

When you reload “Momma” for carry or home protection use newer ammo from a quality manufacturer.

[Eagle Eye]

A long long time.

[Randy Larsen]

Decades!

[Joe Boucher]

Neighbor has his special sniper shells in a 5000 pound vault with a dehumidifier in it.
So very cool, he used to go and shoot Armadillo on the runway at night with a 50 caliber with a night scope. Then with a bucket of sand on his golf cart he’d go and repair his divot.
:-)

[PapaBear3625]

how long will ammunition stay good if stored well?

"Stored well", meaning sealed in a low-humidity, air-tight container which is kept from large temperature swings (eg, in a dry basement rather than in an attic) will keep for decades.

[Repeat Offender]

For quite a long time my FRiend. I order some Dragunov ammo manufactured in 1951......... I opened the spam can and shot about 50 rounds..... not a single missfire. Keep in mind that the “progressives” are looking at ways to develop ammo that goes bad after a year to prevent stockpiling. So if you haven’t stocked up............ sooner rather than later is the key.