Shippy's experiment - ammo storage and performance

[Shipyard]

so when i took the wifey to her first steel shoot, i forgot a box of Winchester white box 45ACP in the trunk of the car. i noticed it about three weeks later and said to myself: "hey - you're an awesome dude..." then, i said to myself " you should leave that ammo in the trunk for a long while and see what if anything happens..."

that was june or july 2010.

box was the standard cardboard bulk pack with paper dividers. no plastic inserts. box was not stored inside a plastic bag or anything else, as evidence by the condition of the box. i duno what the top temp of a car trunk in the sun during a MN summer, or the low temp outside during the cold Mn winters are, but i guess they're quite a bit more severe than inside your ammo storage location in the secret bunker

today i was at Oakdale havin some fun when i noticed that box of ammo that's been rumblin around the trunk for 27+ months and decided today's the day.

headed to the short range and opened it up. all the casings are nice and shiney and showed no signs of tarnish/corrosion or otherwise.

test gun was an XD45 bi-tone. loaded up a bunch of mags and double tapped to my hearts content.

100 rounds. no FTF, no FTE, no failure to fire, no squibbs, no nuthin. just like it came off the shelf or off the reloading press.

FWIW - draw your own conclusions or whatever.

thus concludes today adventure in science. you're welcome.

[bstrawse]

Why are you always at Oakdale on days I'm not there

Interesting test results. I've left ammunition in the garage for years - all seems to work fine
b

[Shipyard]

Why are you always at Oakdale on days I'm not there

Interesting test results. I've left ammunition in the garage for years - all seems to work fine
b

we should rectify this issue sometime... with SCIENCE!!!!

[bstrawse]

Well since I'm sitting here doing MBA Statistics at the moment, I'm sure I could graph up this shizzle for you and make it all official like.
b

[PRS]

What i find most interesting is you where able to leave a full box of .45 in your trunk for 27 months without shooting it up! if i found a box of ammo i forgot somewhere i'd be out shooting it the next day....

[EJSG19]

Speed up the test on the internals with a tumbler. Ive tumbled loaded ammo for short times, but always wondered at what point it would become a bad idea.

Spose each powder type would abrade differently and react to that differently as well.

I have .22lr birdshot from the fifties that functions perfectly. Has to be a real special need though, only a few boxes left.

[Shipyard]

oh yeah man = i know there's a LOT of ammo from the 1940's floatin around that's been stored right and it still lights off just fine...

i just thought in the context opf people saying to change out carry ammo every 6 months due to being out and about and subject to temp swings being in vehicles etc. that doing something like this would be me some personal piece of mind knowing what i carry may not be as sensitive as some may suggest.

you all can take it for what you want. for me, this was the laziest path to fun for whatever reason

[Shipyard]

What i find most interesting is you where able to leave a full box of .45 in your trunk for 27 months without shooting it up! if i found a box of ammo i forgot somewhere i'd be out shooting it the next day....

it's called owning a dillon progressive - 400 rnds of 45 in about an hour whenever i want it for half price of factory

but i hear you - you should hear the excited noises from the kitchen when i find a bottle of pale ale in the fridge that got overlooked in the bottom drawer for about a week

[EJSG19]

oh yeah man = i know there's a LOT of ammo from the 1940's floatin around that's been stored right and it still lights off just fine...

i just thought in the context opf people saying to change out carry ammo every 6 months due to being out and about and subject to temp swings being in vehicles etc. that doing something like this would be me some personal piece of mind knowing what i carry may not be as sensitive as some may suggest.

you all can take it for what you want. for me, this was the laziest path to fun for whatever reason

Right on. The 6 mo recommendation is never a bad one, as far as blanket rules go. Under my circumstances i dont see the need to follow that blindly. It gets rotated through for better reasons than shelf life still however.

I was surprised your brass was as nice as it was though. Got the same stuff in my truck concole right now!

[gunforhire]

kind of cool to know that varying tempurature and humidity don't affect ammo all that much.

Here's my fun ammo test from a couple weeks ago
I went rafting on the Mississippi here in Sauk rapids with my nephew. Well, because of my 225lb frame and the fact that I suck at little rubber rafts, I got water in it, and you guessed it on and in my sweet Glock fo-tay. well, after some time, I noticed i was losing a little air. time to get ashore.......effin now. as I disembarked, i went into the drink. The gun was completely submerged for around a minute. I thought about lighting one off under water for the hell of it, but realized that was retarded and got out of the water. I walked up some rich guy's back yard and made the walk of shame back to where I parked the truck. I left the gun untouched for the rest of the night. After work the next day, I went to light these off. 15 rounds Zero issues. I then remembered that the federal HST'S have locktite to "seal" the primers and projectiles where they meet the case. apparently that works pretty well to keep moisture out. That's my retarded science minute, enjoy!

[Shipyard]

kind of cool to know that varying tempurature and humidity don't affect ammo all that much.

Here's my fun ammo test from a couple weeks ago
I went rafting on the Mississippi here in Sauk rapids with my nephew. Well, because of my 225lb frame and the fact that I suck at little rubber rafts, I got water in it, and you guessed it on and in my sweet Glock fo-tay. well, after some time, I noticed i was losing a little air. time to get ashore.......effin now. as I disembarked, i went into the drink. The gun was completely submerged for around a minute. I thought about lighting one off under water for the hell of it, but realized that was retarded and got out of the water. I walked up some rich guy's back yard and made the walk of shame back to where I parked the truck. I left the gun untouched for the rest of the night. After work the next day, I went to light these off. 15 rounds Zero issues. I then remembered that the federal HST'S have locktite to "seal" the primers and projectiles where they meet the case. apparently that works pretty well to keep moisture out. That's my retarded science minute, enjoy!

good story! - science is awesome

[gunforhire]

Thanks


Here's a idea, what if we take some ammo, soak it in salt water for a few days, then freeze it? the day of the test, just thaw, dry out and fire.

[peckerhead]

I've been carrying the same Winchester Hi-Shocks in my spare mag for over four years. I spend lots of time outside, so these things have been exposed to lots of perspiration and temperature extremes. Every once in awhile, I'll shoot a few of them to see what will happen. No issues as of yet.

[GunGoogler]

Thanks


Here's a idea, what if we take some ammo, soak it in salt water for a few days, then freeze it? the day of the test, just thaw, dry out and fire.

Heck, leave some frozen. I'm sure the shooting will thaw it out.

[scout]