What's the oldest ammo or components you've shot successfully?

[oafpatroll]

I shoot out my carry ammo on a 3 year cycle. Every year I buy enough to stoke my primary carry gun's mags and move the ammo from that to my secondary and from that to my tertiary. What comes out of that gets shot out at matches or in training. In twenty years of doing that I have never experienced a single failure. I've often thought that I am overly cautious and extravagant with this procedure but it seems like fairly cheap insurance against a click when I'd prefer a bang.

That got me to thinking about what the oldest stuff I've shot successfully and a bit of head scratching and memory bank trawling got me to the oldest ammo being 1942/1943 marked German steel cored 9mmP that was 100% reliable over 500+ rounds and fierce hot. I've also shot out approx 1000 rounds primed with Swartlip 12G primers from 81/82 and many thousands of 9mmP rounds charged with Musgrave branded Somchem powder from the early 80's.

The only stuff I've ever had a problem with were PMP SPP from the mid 90's that had visible water damage to the packaging and which caused approx 50% squibs.

What's the oldest stuff that any of you have shot successfully?   

[Ds J]

I shot a few roudns of WWII 8x57 ammunition from the original paper box - all fired, but some (most?) had delayed ignition.

Milsurp 9mm, 223, 303 and 308 - hundreds of them without trouble. The 303's had delayed ignition from time to time.

Some really old Norma 38Spl rounds we found in the back of my dad's safe all went bang as well; they were quite hot - bought somewhere in the 70's or early 80's. 

[oafpatroll]

Some really old Norma 38Spl rounds we found in the back of my dad's safe all went bang as well; they were quite hot - bought somewhere in the 70's or early 80's. 

All the Norma ammo I've had the opportunity to shoot has been, subjectively at least, on the warm side.

[Treeman]

I have shot quiet a lot of WW2 ammunition that was stored VERY well by chance. 9 mm - 45 ACP, .303 and 7.62 all shot very well. I am rather strong in the opinion that you can tell how likely the round is to fire by looking at it (after some experience). All the good shells were clean brass like, no layer or dulling. The iffy ones were all dull or corroded, like almost a mossy feel to the case. Any green or orange on case is a no no.

I have shot lots of 1960 - 1970 ammunition, yet I have had 1990 ammunition that was dangerous to even look at, case head separation when trying to pull bullets stuff. Chemically welded from South West Africa coast climate.

I have found that shot gun ammo is very susceptible to deterioration  in times as short as a year, especially reloads. There seems no real rules with shottie shells, same box same storage, different results. It seems that the main reason for issues with the shottie shells is clumping of propellant, sometimes it becomes one putty like blob.

.22 surprised me, I thought the more sealed, primerless, lead bullet set up would surpass centerfire cases easily, it did not. .22 seems to have a rather poor shelf life, very prone to chemical ation between the two metals, the powder seems to "go flat", the priming agent seems to dry out further and fall loose from rim. The cases corrode for apparently no reason and if just in a bag they seem to react with each other - electro/chemical whatsa name process. Old .22 fires like new, does not fire, the case splits or what I found and said one of my few gratitude prayers for - the rim explodes. ( This is what got me into the .22 lifespan study).
Took Cody with to shoot some old .22 given to me, two bank bags of the stuff from 2 - 3 years of handing ammunition in for destruction, just a mixed mess of brands, ages and condition. I hand picked all the visible not lekker cases out and then shot 10 - 20 testers with Cody sitting next to me , "can i Dad Can i ?". Some of mine did not fire, but that was it.
Cody shot a few and then he moaned that some were spitting on him. I had a look and he had tiny black specks burns on his baby skin.  I shot a few and they were good and then bang, one blew burning specks on my cheek. I checked and the cases had ruptured rims.

[big5ifty]

I have factory 38 special from when they were still made with lead, I've shot a few with no issues.

I had 25 ACP older than me that I shot with no memorable issues.

I never buy rifle ammo, when I do get loaded rounds from friends who don't need them anymore or from their friends that passed, etc, I pull them all.

For some reason with rifle ammo, a residue accumulates between the bullet and the neck which acts like an adhesive. I prefer not to shoot those, and I can't tell by looking, so I pull them all.

[oafpatroll]

I have found that shot gun ammo is very susceptible to deterioration  in times as short as a year, especially reloads. There seems no real rules with shottie shells, same box same storage, different results. It seems that the main reason for issues with the shottie shells is clumping of propellant, sometimes it becomes one putty like blob.

Interesting this as it's at odds with my experience. I have been gifted fairly large amounts of shotty ammo over the years, some from long dead shooters. One batch included significant numbers of paper hulled stuff which I assumed must have been from the 70's or earlier. All of that worked perfectly well except for the shells that were obviously swollen which I imagined resulted from moisture.

[223]

I have shot quite a few WW11 era 303 Mk7 rounds. On warm days they shot well, but in cold weather they had a few hang-fires.  I guess the Cordite was getting old after 75+ years.

Also shot some PMP headstamped 303 and 7,62 Magnus ammo from 1966 to 1979.  No issues at all.