Old ammo

[OVERKILL]

My buddy found this old box of ammo in his dad's ammo locker:

Thought it was pretty neat. It is full. I imagine the rounds are OK

 

[CarbonSteel]

Way awesome! How old do you think they are? I have seen WWII surplus stuff being sold and shot that still functioned normally.

 

[OVERKILL]

I have no idea. Maybe 1950's? But that's just a WAG.

 

[Rolla07]

Cool! I like seeing old stuff like that..too bad companies that old dont exist anymore...at least not onshore...

 

[Chris142]

As long as its been dry it will be fine

 

[BISCUT]

Nice....with 22LR no worries if it's bad. Not like a pressure spike will cause you issues. Just be leery of a delay fire. I cleaned out a property room we have and gave some old 38's to a friend with his father NYPD revolver from waaaay back. We knew enough to be careful.

Pull trigger and about 3-5 seconds later the rounds would fire. This happened consistently for a few cylinders full. Some quicker than others. YIKES!!!!! That was a [censored] good lesson for keeping the muzzle only on what you are ok with shooting.

 

[spasm3]

For some reason 22lr does not store as well as other rounds, i have russian 7.62x 54 ammo from the 70's that fires consistantly. I've had 22 rounds 10 years old that were 50% duds. I think it might have to do with the rimfire primers, but i can't say for fact.
Cool box i have a couple of old ammo boxes, I plan to frame them with my grandfathers holster.

 

[Robenstein]

It says its non corrosive and those tend to have a determined(by the military)reliable life span of around 30 years. That is why non corrosive ammo hits the surplus market at around that age. Now if it was corrosive ammo, you can shoot those at a century old as the priming compound is just more durable.

 

[webfors]

Pull a round out of the box for more pics!

 

[tc1446]

Don't shoot it till you find out what it may be worth to a collector. Theres folks that are big time collectors of ammo.
I'd guess that box is Pre-WWII.

 

[UncleS2]

A neat find!

My best guess is 1950's at the latest, might be 1930s- or even late 1920s when non-corrosive priming was brand new. Notice how the box makes a big deal about it not rusting the bore? Until non-corrosive priming came along .22s were notorious for rusted barrels. IIRC it was introduced by Remington, & they called their .22 RF ammo KleenBore for decades.

You say the box is full- remember that if there is any collector interest a full box of 50 is Much more desirable than a partial box of 49.

(But he ain't gonna get rich on it.)

 

[Falken]

I used to use CIL products as a kid.

I think for a while Canadian Tire house brand ammo was CIL.

Imperial was the name I think.

 

[zerosoma]

At least it was less than $5/box...

 

[SuperDave456]

First find out what it is worth to a collector.

The box may be worth quite a bit since it is unopened.

That being said .22 LR ammo does seem to be more temperamental about how it was stored. However, you won't know if it is good until you try.

BTW, I have a friend who's grandpa died and I helped him clean out the garage. I've seen ammo stored in a chest since WWII work just fine. No hang fires or anything from the .45acp.
The 1911 we did find was rusted up pretty bad, cocked and locked with one in the chamber.
It needed to be cleaned up, a new barrel and magazine and all new springs, and although the slide is pitted it still works today.

 

[Pete C.]

Go get a new .22lr round. Wiggle the bullet. Nuff said.