Six years and six months ago, and I mean that most literally minus only a day, because on October 13, 2009, I wrote up a blog post about corroded ammunition that I had laying around in my basement. I showed a photograph of ten rounds consisting of a few different calibers. All of the ammo in the pic was lightly to maybe moderately corroded.
The ammo was in that condition because it had been exposed to slightly to fairly humid air over the course of at least a few to several years in my basement. I took that ammo, and placed it into a tin ammo box, the type they give you with a few hundred rounds of cheap 22LR, with a deck of playing cards or an even cheaper small knife, and that they call a collectors tin. After putting the pictured rounds and many other corroded ones in that box, I put the lid on the box. There was no desiccant inside the box and no special seal. It sat in my basement these last six and a half years. I had planned that at some time or another I would dispose of all the rounds in the box properly. As I think you may have read here before, I am The Great Procrastinator. Since then, I have opened an closed the box a few times a year to add more ammo to it and most of those pictured rounds have remained in there.
Yes, that means I still have the ones in the picture; well, I have 8 rounds of the 10 anyway. When I went through that box recently, I could not find the pictured 7.62x54R round nor the blank 22 rimfire round. I have no clue what happened to the 7.62x54R round. As to the blank, I am almost certain I fired that one, it was only slightly tarnished.
I decided to take another photo of those rounds, from the 2009 image, to show you how much, if any, they changed in the last 6 1/2 years during which time they remained in the mostly closed tin. The only round, in the current photo, that I am not fairly certain is the same as the one in the original is the 22LR round, there were several of them in the box all with about the same amount of corrosion, so I grabbed one of them. As to the seven other rounds in today's pic, I am pretty certain they are the same exact rounds as shown in the 2009 photo because of the corrosion patterns on them. I was pretty surprised when I took a look at them and compared them to the ones in the picture that I took of them back in October 13, 2009 - they were almost identical! Despite being in that box, down in my basement with no desiccant of any type and no special seal for the lid, it is amazing how little they have changed. Why is that? I am guessing because they were in a box with a fairly tight fitting lid that did not admit almost any moisture or air into the box; the box remained closed for the most part - maybe being opened and closed a few times a year at most but was kept relatively dry. Take a look yourself at what they look like today.
So, what is the point of all this? Well the number one point is that you should store your ammo in a dry and relatively cool condition, air free if possible, to avoid corrosion in the first place. The second point, the one more relative to this particular blog post is that just because ammunition is corroded, it does not mean it needs to be destroyed because you think it can only get much worse in a short time. Yes, if you keep your ammo under less than desirable conditions and it becomes slightly corroded and then continue to keep it under those same conditions it will likely continue to corrode at a fairly rapid pace. However, if you take that lightly corroded ammunition and store it properly, chances are the corrosion will cease to worsen. The ammo in question, those rounds in the photos, were never kept under ideal conditions but even once slightly corroded and then placed in improved storage conditions, the corrosion worsened only minimally.
So why keep corroded ammo in the first place if not merely because you are a procrastinator like me? I think all of the pictured ammo could possibly be cleaned up and fired; although, I would not attempt to use any of it in a self-defense situation. There is just too much chance of some sort of a failure with it. It might be okay for plinking or hunting in a survival scenario but still why take the risk unless it is the only ammo you have on hand!
So what risk is there, what could go wrong? Chances are some of it may not fire if the corrosion allowed moisture to get inside the casing and corrupt the powder or primer. Firing badly enough corroded rounds could also lead to a catastrophic failure of the shell casing. While this is just my opinion, I do not think any of these particular pictured rounds are corroded so badly to cause a catastrophic failure of the casing when fired. Yet, there is always that potential risk with corroded ammo, that the shell casing fails and either cracks or has the head separation and things like that can cause an excess buildup of pressure that could destroy your gun and injure you. There is also a chance that if the bullet is too corroded it may not pass through the bore and may cause a blockage. If you did not realize the bullet was lodged in the barrel and tried to fire another round, it could result in the barrel blowing up and could cause injury to you or others nearby. Cleaning corroded casings and bullets may or may not help along those lines but you certainly don't need to risk any of these things happening so maybe it is best not to use ammo that is in any state of corrosion beyond being more than just somewhat tarnished. Yet, if you absolutely need it to survive, it may be worth cleaning and storing but remain aware of the potential dangers if doing so.
All the best,
Glenn B
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| The corroded ammo as it appeared in October 2009. |
Yes, that means I still have the ones in the picture; well, I have 8 rounds of the 10 anyway. When I went through that box recently, I could not find the pictured 7.62x54R round nor the blank 22 rimfire round. I have no clue what happened to the 7.62x54R round. As to the blank, I am almost certain I fired that one, it was only slightly tarnished.
I decided to take another photo of those rounds, from the 2009 image, to show you how much, if any, they changed in the last 6 1/2 years during which time they remained in the mostly closed tin. The only round, in the current photo, that I am not fairly certain is the same as the one in the original is the 22LR round, there were several of them in the box all with about the same amount of corrosion, so I grabbed one of them. As to the seven other rounds in today's pic, I am pretty certain they are the same exact rounds as shown in the 2009 photo because of the corrosion patterns on them. I was pretty surprised when I took a look at them and compared them to the ones in the picture that I took of them back in October 13, 2009 - they were almost identical! Despite being in that box, down in my basement with no desiccant of any type and no special seal for the lid, it is amazing how little they have changed. Why is that? I am guessing because they were in a box with a fairly tight fitting lid that did not admit almost any moisture or air into the box; the box remained closed for the most part - maybe being opened and closed a few times a year at most but was kept relatively dry. Take a look yourself at what they look like today.
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| This is the 2016 photo of at least 7 of the same rounds from the 2009 photo. (the 22LR is questionable as being the same round). It amazes me how little the corrosion advanced over the course of six and a half years. |
So why keep corroded ammo in the first place if not merely because you are a procrastinator like me? I think all of the pictured ammo could possibly be cleaned up and fired; although, I would not attempt to use any of it in a self-defense situation. There is just too much chance of some sort of a failure with it. It might be okay for plinking or hunting in a survival scenario but still why take the risk unless it is the only ammo you have on hand!
So what risk is there, what could go wrong? Chances are some of it may not fire if the corrosion allowed moisture to get inside the casing and corrupt the powder or primer. Firing badly enough corroded rounds could also lead to a catastrophic failure of the shell casing. While this is just my opinion, I do not think any of these particular pictured rounds are corroded so badly to cause a catastrophic failure of the casing when fired. Yet, there is always that potential risk with corroded ammo, that the shell casing fails and either cracks or has the head separation and things like that can cause an excess buildup of pressure that could destroy your gun and injure you. There is also a chance that if the bullet is too corroded it may not pass through the bore and may cause a blockage. If you did not realize the bullet was lodged in the barrel and tried to fire another round, it could result in the barrel blowing up and could cause injury to you or others nearby. Cleaning corroded casings and bullets may or may not help along those lines but you certainly don't need to risk any of these things happening so maybe it is best not to use ammo that is in any state of corrosion beyond being more than just somewhat tarnished. Yet, if you absolutely need it to survive, it may be worth cleaning and storing but remain aware of the potential dangers if doing so.
All the best,
Glenn B
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