[Chino Hills]

How long is battle packed ammo supposed to last?

I have a "battle pack" of some sort of NATO 7.62 in my safe. I guess I'll open and repack it. I don't have the humidity problems many might so vacuum pack with dessicant in an ammo can is likely to be fine.

Now, if others start sampling their packs and we find a lot of problems, or with different makes and years. I doubt most users would be interested in distributors opening all the battle packs to check condition. It may almost all be fine. It would almost certainly be an upwards force on the price of surplus ammo, if not all.

 

[XXIV Corps]

I had some German battlepacks from 1943, with 8mm military surplus ammunition in cardboard boxes. Which were holding the 200 rounds with cloth handles. Each round I fired a few years ago all went down range ever time. So

How long is battle packed ammo supposed to last?

a mighty long time I think...

DI5

 

[buckley94thmp]

All depends on storage. If it is kept clean dry and at a consistent reasonable temperature I think it'll last well over 100 years

 

[lysander]

Battle packed lots of ammunition (actually all ammunition) are checked at regular intervals (at least US stuff). If the random packs opened, pulled apart and inspected check good, the rest of the lot is considered good, if the sample fails the lot is condemned.

Theoretically, this can go on until the sample size is the same as the remaining ammunition in the lot.....

 

[Chino Hills]

Well, for example, I have a pack that looks like this, except the label says BF 79-51. I'm guessing I picked it up maybe 10 years ago. There must be tons of similarly packed surplus out there and the discussions seem to indicate very few problems. I may open it and repack to a spare ammo can just to see how it's doing. I expect it's fine. Which is what I think most folks feel about their packs. I'll be lot closer to knowing when it's open and some sent down range.

 

[Mainzer]

That's a good question and there might not be a single correct answer. Many of us will recall the Portuguese battlepacks awhile back that somehow had acid, used in making the cardboard boxes in the battlepacks, that was improper. Result was that corrosion was rampant. Though it was discoloration for the most part, as opposed to pitting. On the other hand I have both MEN and DAG that dates to the sixties and is like new to this day.

 

[RENCORP]

Lots of variables. Storage, temperature, humidity, packaging materials, etc.

I have shot 8x56r from 1938, 303 from 1919, 30 06 from 1912, 8mm Mauser from WW2, and so on.

It does seem like older ammo was more shelf stable, maybe based on being sealed up in metal tins to a certain extent, but my take is also that the quality of the materials and construction of the components was much better way back when as well. Powders in particular seemed to be more stable for shelf life relative to newer formulas.

It may be that the golden age for quality ammo was over by the early seventies, replaced by gee whiz newer unproven stuff, and a lot of cost cutting.

Just my opinion.

 

[Chino Hills]

That would make sense. Low quality "paper" has acid, it's one of the considerations in framing artwork, the quality of the paper products use. I just Google searched up something like NATO battle packs and found a lot of images. Tracked a couple that looked like mine back and and one old auction stated theirs were Portuguese packed for one of the other NATO countries. But it looks like a pretty generic "standard" label.

I worked for quite a while in configuration management/quality control, etc., and during that time, there was a push to get away from doing things the expensive military/government way because commercial practices were better (cheaper?) and at the same time the push to move towards "ISO" quality standards was developing, which perhaps not too surprisingly for high end purposes are a lot like the high end mil processes. Go figure. It may well be that buried in the mil specs for ammo and packaging, the packaging material quality is laid out. Going commercial/cheap could well result in relearning some rather expensive lessons.

 

[alseides]

I just received my battle pack from PSA today. It was still sealed. Some folks have said theirs were opened, mine was not. Now you've got me wondering.

 

[TheShooter]

How long is battle packed ammo supposed to last?

I have a "battle pack" of some sort of NATO 7.62 in my safe. I guess I'll open and repack it. I don't have the humidity problems many might so vacuum pack with dessicant in an ammo can is likely to be fine.

Now, if others start sampling their packs and we find a lot of problems, or with different makes and years. I doubt most users would be interested in distributors opening all the battle packs to check condition. It may almost all be fine. It would almost certainly be an upwards force on the price of surplus ammo, if not all.

If the battle packs do not have an odor or mold on them then do not open it until you want to shoot it.

 

[mercman]

I had a wooden case of .30-06 dated 1911 and a similar case of .45ACP dated 1917, both unopened. Not modern plastic battle packs, but sealed metal liners. I opened both in the late 80's it all went bang. Of course both were corrosively primed but I just cleaned accordingly. No idea of how it was stored in the intervening years. The '06 crate was pretty beat up and plain to boot, but the .45ACP box was interesting so I kept it and still have it.

 

[mercman]

If the battle packs do not have an odor or mold on them then do not open it until you want to shoot it.

Dunno about that advice. I bought a K of MEN 7.62 in 200 round battle packs in the original case and opened one to see how it looked. The sleeves were perfect. About a third of it had some corrosion and about 10% was heavily corroded. I sent it all back and got a refund. The seller wasn't at all surprised and didn't give me any static so they apparently were aware of its condition and figured most people would just lay it back for years before shooting it.

http://m14forum.com/ammunition/166875-what-do-1037-rounds-pink-corroded-men-dag.html

http://m14forum.com/ammunition/108956-pictures-corrosion-inside-men94-cases.html

 

[Mindfield]

I had some Brit .303 from Pakistan, packed in the 50s iirc, you know they don't store stuff right no issues. Had a lead sealed box of 8mm Mauser on clips packed decades ago, all good. I wouldn't worry

 

[lefty o]

its supposed to last indeffinately. if it was packed properly originally, and stored in a fairly stable cool dry environment, it should outlast you!

 

[KurtC]

Just remember that all surplus ammunition was abandoned by the host nation for a reason. RNGR2

Sometimes it is because they no longer have a weapon in their inventory for that cartridge, but most of the time it is because the ammunition has reached a point where it can no longer be trusted.

 

[Chino Hills]

Everybody is in a different place. It may well depend on if it's "Want to shoot it" vs "NEED to shoot it" in your stack as to how badly you might want to sample it, if at all.

 

[Lruss]

i think the apes on planet of the apes* the 1st. one
were shooting surplus ammo. so quite a while.
Lruss

 

[FWP]

Just remember that all surplus ammunition was abandoned by the host nation for a reason. RNGR2

Sometimes it is because they no longer have a weapon in their inventory for that cartridge, but most of the time it is because the ammunition has reached a point where it can no longer be trusted.

Good point!

 

[Chino Hills]

I opened the battle pack. Took out two boxes and retaped it shut so it would fit an ammo can. Looks perfect on a couple of rounds I checked from one box. Will try to get a picture of a round or two. At first glance, it looks a little darker than some new PP 145 grain ball but that's all I have handy t compare it with.

 

[Vos Parate]

I remove all ammo that comes in cardboard and pack it in ammo cans. I save the boxes.