Ammunition age and storage

How long do you keep your ammunition before replacing it? I have my defensive ammunition at something like .80 per round and I have my FMJ for the range at something like .12 per round. It’s all expensive. I know you don’t want to rely on “aged” rounds, but what constitutes “aged”? How often should I cycle through my defensive rounds? Of course I go through some at the range to be sure I have training with the same rounds I will have in an incident, but should that be a complete refresh every year?

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I cycle my defensive ammo every 3 to 4 months. As far as storage I don’t store large amounts of ammo at home.

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I brought a similar topic to this a few weeks ago. You may be able to find some answers here.

People on this board have fired ammo from WWII. It’s all a matter of proper storage.

It was determined that cycling ammo is more to keep up proficiency with carry ammo than “will it work”. You are more likely to have a malfunction with your gun than have issues with quality ammo (you do need to make sure the ammo you buy runs in your gun. Some guns can be picky. This isn’t a bad thing, but you don’t want to buy hundreds of rounds and find out you’re gun can’t cycle it.

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Ammo has a pretty decent shelf life. I shoot about once a week, not always with my EDC. However, when I do, I will start the range session with the EDC ammo in my firearm and spare mag. Why? To check the function and POI from my EDC in the condition that it is carried in. Because it is not a “controlled environment.” It is subject to being stuck against my body, to the environmental factors I deal with. It might get stuck in my hot truck in the middle of summer or freeze in the middle of winter. Plus there is the constant vibration of my movements, riding around in the truck, etc. And I will at least finish that 50 round box in that session. A 50 round box costs about $35 out in my neck of the woods, so I am at $0.70 per round. That is more often than most, but I think a full refresh every year is fine. The ammo can take it. And what do you mean by a complete refresh? Everything in your inventory? That should be fine for years if it is stored in a temperature and humidity controlled environment.

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Where are you finding ammo right now? :thinking: May be worth a road trip for me!

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As of last week, the local gun shop here in Richland Michigan was fully stocked in HST’s and critical defense’s in 9mm and 45 ACP plus plenty of blaser brass practice ammo. Price on the defensive stuff as indicated above, Blasers at $15/box of 50.

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A complete refresh - for HD ammo let’s say I keep about 100 rounds in magazines total - at home with my wife or on me with my EDC. I always order ammo as it saves me money (targetsportsusa is my primary supplier Dawn), so I don’t rely on a quick trip to the store if I should burn those rounds at the range. I want to be able to replace my 100 rounds immediately, so I have another 100 rounds on the shelf, for a total of 200 rounds of HD ammo at any given time (as I write this I start to think it looks ridiculous, but then I fill a pair of 16rd magazines and realize I’m 30% through my supply). similar thinking goes to my FMJ rounds. maybe I want to always have 250 available for the range, and then I want to have an equal amount on the shelf when I get home from the range. So now I’m up to 700 rounds and I want to know how often I need to replace them. What I think I am hearing is, replace the EDC rounds every 6 months, and run a magazine of HD ammo through anything else once per year, but what’s on the shelf is okay for a few years.

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Please remember to use ammoseek.com to find ammo. They have comparison prices and show who has what in stock. I’m finding some sites are price gouging and found several that haven’t changed prices except by a penny or two.

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Whatever SD ammo I buy for just in case I’ll fire a sampling of few rounds to assure myself that lot# functions as it should.
Getting a bad lot and then having to depend of it sometime down the road is no bueno!

The same with range ammo :+1:

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@Derrick fresh quality ammunition properly stored will last longer then you will live to shoot it. That being said I prefer vacuum sealing for long, long term storage. Cool, dark and dry in ammo cans with moisture absorbents will work fine. :+1:

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