Cartridge Shelf Life?

[animal79thecat]

Hello you blazing squad,

How long would you say shotgun carts would last in storage? (Dry,room temp conditions etc)

Many thanks,

Garth x

 

[Hamster]

Probably indefinitely.

 

[Will Hewland]

'Kin ages.

 

[Jim Wheeler]

some old brass case ammo with cordite degenerates. but  as I have never seen cordite in shotgun cartridges,, :sarcastic:   I expect they last indefinitely? I have used all sorts of cartridges,, including WW1 stuff,, mostly all worked too!

 

[Skeet UK]

Cartridge Shelf Life

Well, that really depends on the components.

If you make the shelf out of old cereal boxes, wet chipboard or my wife's Lasagne...then probably not too long.

A good wooden shelf is probably the best bet, but of course it does depend on the application.  If you are talking about thousands of shells, then perhaps a steel racking system may be more appropriate.

Do remember of course, that regardless of your chosen shelving material, it needs to be properly fixed to a suitable wall...otherwise it was all just a waste of time.

I hope that helps to answer your question . . .

 

[Jeremy Baker]

Long as you like.

I have some shells that are twenty plus years old and they work fine.

 

[Wonko the Sane]

What's the point of keeping them around long enough to matter?

 

[HDAV]

If you haven't shot them after 50 years give them away

 

[HDAV]

If you haven't shot them after 50 years give them away

 

[ips]

Ask 40up he has a garage full

 

[westley]

I used to shoot with a Guy who was still on his first 1000 after over 50 years of shooting, he just blagged them off the Guest Guns ! Funny, but I do not recall him buying a round in the pub afterwards either.

 

[Bryn12]

We have some carts for an 8gauge that according to my dad was last used regularly either by my great or great, great grandad still look in decent nick, I shot a goose with it about 40yrs ago, not a tool to lug around rough shooting :crazy:

So I reckon Hamster is right

 

[Les53]

Ask 40up he has a garage full

Yeah, how big is his garage Ian???  He seems to have a huge stock of out of production ammo knocking about!!!

 

[ips]

When I say garage they will actually be in one of the buildings on the 40up estate

 

[Les53]

When I say garage they will actually be in one of the buildings on the 40up estate

Ah I see yes, over at Thornley Manor, he probably has his man rotate the stock every few years, like he does with his wine cellar! :biggrin:

 

[ips]

You been watching that Prog on at the moment about toffs and how its hard to get the staff ...... need I say more.

PS

Thornley Manor ..... love it ........ pmsl

 

[andypandy]

All explosives do degrade over time and are very susceptible to temperature changes depending on their chemical make-up, many of them are hygroscopic.  Depending how they are stored, if you tested some cartridges today then kept a batch for say 20 years the performance would have changed (might not be noticeable to the human eyes or ears).  Probably the most noticeable difference though would be the metal bits, as I'm sure everybody is aware all the brass looking bits are really mild steel and if not stored in a dry air location will corrode.

 

[Chris Hill]

A few years ago just after we moved house I gathered up all my fathers odd cartridges, that had ended up languishing in drawers, in ancient barbours etc. Some of them were probably 20 years old. I used them up game shooting. Not one failed to go bang.

My grandfather is a cartridge collector, quite a few well over 100 years old. A couple of them if you roll them over in your hand you can feel that the shot has formed one big clump. 

Although I'm sure they would still go bang, I'm not sure you'd want to do it through anything tighter than True Cylinder!

 

[Matt_L]

I used to shoot with a Guy who was still on his first 1000 after over 50 years of shooting, he just blagged them off the Guest Guns ! Funny, but I do not recall him buying a round in the pub afterwards either.

Fibre Wad, Plastic Wad or Tight Wad?