Cartridge BP storage

[Rafe Covington]

I looked in the search function, guess I aint bright because I didn't see anything.

I am starting to load bp in several different rounds, what is the shelf life of bp cartridge rounds. I want to load quite abit so I have them available for the future.

Thank You

[Lucky R. K.]

Hey Rafe,

If you store them in a cool dry place they will last a lot longer than you will.  There have been instances where a loaded original old muzzleloading rifle has hung over somebodys mantel for years and been fired.  I have a friend who used to gunsmith muzzleloaders before he retired.  The first thing he did when somebody brought one in was to see if it was loaded.  Many times they were.

That is with real black powder, I do not know about the substitutes.  Many of them are crossive to brass.

Lucky 

[fourfingersofdeath]

I usually store them bullet down so that I don't get lube migrating into/onto the powder. I don't know if this is actually an issue, but if it is, I got it covered, lol.

Smokyliss loads generally get carefully thrown into a milsurp ammo tin!

I must load some BP and store them for a year of so boolit up to see if it makes any difference. The ammo tin storage would be a lot easier, but I don't want to have a 'Pop! Fizz! Barrel Block! in the middle of a Cowboy match.

My cautious approach probably comes from my years as a correctional officer/manager. I try and imagine the worst case scenario and plan for that. Works for me. I had a disturbance in a max prison once and I was quizzed as to why I issued 50 gas grenades. I replied 'because I didn't have a hundred,only fifty.'

I might be being a bit anal about this and no doubt real soot lords will chime in shortly with gospel truths.

[Blackpowder Burn]

I rotate through my pistol caliber and shotgun ammunition in 6 to 9 months.  I've had 40-65 ammo stored for 2+ years.  I've had no problems with any of it.

[Crow Choker]

Though they werenot BP loads, I've shot SM loads that I had stored 7-10 yrs. I recently shot some 44 Colt BP loads that had been loaded in early 2009 and they shot as if they had just came off the loading bench. Like 4-Finger, I always store my cast loads(including smokeless) bullet down, just to prevent any lube contamination. I store my loaded ammo in a cool dry basement, away from heat. Here in the midwest (Iowa) summers can make a basement damp, sooooo, I need to run a dehumidifier (is that how ya spell it?) to keep things dry in the 'celler'. (Had an aunt once that  detested the use of the word celler for basement, proclaimed it sounded to 'hick sounding'-that made us kids just use it to get at her. Heh-heh!) Keep yer ammo dry and away from heat (the coolest place ya can find in yer home) amd you should never have any trouble in storage.

[Dick Dastardly]

Black Powder, the genuine stuff, the proper mixture of sulfur, salt peter and charcoal, will outlast the youngest of us if stored so that moisture can't get to the powder.  A proper fitting Big Lube®LLC bullet will add a wide water tight wax seal between the case and the bullet.  The storage mode then becomes one of preventing corrosion of the brass.  I've shot 12 year old Big Lube®LLC ammo with results matching similarly loaded new Big Lube®LLC ammo.  I can't say for sure from first hand experience, but I suspect that my unfired Big Lube®LLC Black Powder will outlast me.  When I do have first hand experience, I won't be able to say. . .

DD-MDA

[Rafe Covington]

I want to thank you guys for the information.

Rafe

[Grenadier]

I have shot original British and German ammo from 1914-1918 and it all went off like a firecracker, not one hangfire.




I know now that it was worth more as collector ammo now