Ammo life span accuracy

[Ironramrod]

Hi Guys,

What is the approximate life span of BPCR ammo using accuracy as the main parameter? For starters I've kept .45/110 pp ammo for a year and had excellent performance with it. How about other shooters? Is there an impact of climate? Is there a difference between pp ammo and lube groove ammo?

Regards
IR

[Don McDowell]

As long as any exposed lube grooves haven't had the lube dry, all seems to be well. Paper patch doesn't seem to have a lifespan.

[Old Jim]

IR, as I have some hunting ammo left from an antelope hunt in Wyoming from a few years back, I will fire a couple of them thru the roller in the next few days, and post the results.

Jim

[Ironramrod]

Jim, Don't know if you had a chance to test some of your old ammo, but I've not seen any changes in the pp ammo at least here in North Dakota, but it's fairly dry, cold and windy here. That make make a difference. If moist climates don't affect ammo then that should answer the question for just about anywhere; maybe.

Regards
IR

[Old Jim]

Took the 45-90 roller and ammo from 2008, yup old stuff, to the 200 yd. range a few days ago. I have a cardboard antelope silhouette that had the old 2008 holes, so I shot at it. Different sights and a higher sight-setting placed 4 shots into another 3"+ -- spacing at the 200 distance. Sorry, no pic.

I don't have any trouble using older ammo to hunt with.

Jim

[MikeT]

I had some 20:1 alloy money bullets [paper patched] that were excellent at long range until they reached 3.5 years on the shelf.
Luckily that was the last of that batch I had cast up. They were all over the map at 1K and didn't do a lot better at 900 or 800 yards.
I cast up more bullets with the same alloy [rotometls] and then I was basck in business.
I do not know what was wrong with those bullets after sitting on the shelf for 3+ years, but I am never going to cast a large supply
of bullets again.

Keep on hav'n fun!
MikeT

[Dan Cash]

I regularly have ammo carried over from one season to the next and use it with no noticed degredation in performance. These are grease groove .45-70 BP rounds. I paper patch my .30-40 hunting ammo which is smokeless. At one time, I listened to some expert advice and lubricated the patched bullets just a little. That ammo, when kept for a prolonged period exhibited terrible accuracy. It appeared that the patches were sticking to the case neck and tearing on firing. Ammo loaded with unlubricated paper patched bullets or shellacked paper patched bullets seems to have an indefinate shelf life.

[Martini2]

Our hand crafted BP loads, carefully measured and assembled with TLC should outlast the maker IF stored in proper stable conditions. If in doubt perhaps an old shootist trick from another discipline (please don't jump on what might be considered blasphemous about loads that do not make smoke ;-) Back in day when High Power completions regularly filled weekends there was a lot old surplus Blammo being used up. It was not uncommon to run rounds threw a corresponding seating die to just barely "BUMP" the bullet seating to "break" any extra age induced friction. In some instances, if your hair is gray enough, you may recall GI issue rounds where bullets were sealed with black tar substance. Sorry if I digress, Point is if you are fortunate enough to load large quantity of fixed blammo before needed, rechecking the Over All Cartridge Length might be good practice. I have noticed some BP rounds now with GG bullets lengthen in time due to trapped air. It just adds to uniformity to inspect and compare older loaded rounds specs with loading info.

[Old Jim]

When the ODG were around, they got their factory-loaded BP ammo from a place that may have had them on the shelves for a year or two or longer, and stored in not the best of weather conditions. At 100 yds. on a buff hunt, the accuracy was ok for what they needed.

Jim

[Kurt]

I had some 20:1 alloy money bullets [paper patched] that were excellent at long range until they reached 3.5 years on the shelf.
Luckily that was the last of that batch I had cast up. They were all over the map at 1K and didn't do a lot better at 900 or 800 yards.
I cast up more bullets with the same alloy [rotometls] and then I was basck in business.
I do not know what was wrong with those bullets after sitting on the shelf for 3+ years, but I am never going to cast a large supply
of bullets again.

Keep on hav'n fun!
MikeT

Mike I'm beginning to feel the lead from Rotometal is not 99.9% pure like he lists it on the web page. Pure lead does not ring when you drop a Pig on the cement floor. I handled a lot of lead through the years I was a plumber wiping lead joints and wiping flashings as well as pouring lead joints. we used solder that came in 25# chain ingots 5# ingots linked together and I could tell by dropping a ingot or the whole chain on the floor and tell what is lead or solder by the sound.
The lead I been getting lately from Roto some of the pigs I drop on the floor it rings like a bell and the cast bullets from batch to batch do not drop from the mould the same weight at times. This makes me think if he is using recycled scrap or the people he has working boxing up the lead box up some of the already mixed alloy. I don't have a $4000. lab BHN tester to get a accurate reading on the lead so I cant say if it's 99% pure or not.

Even John Walters has been sending me sheet lead lately and that stuff has arsenic in it to keep it from oxidizing and makes it harder.