Mmmmm... Old ammo good

[gunlaker]

Or maybe it should read, Mmmmm.... grease groove good, but really it ought to be Mmmmm.... Shiloh Sharps rifles are good .

Today I dug out some ammunition that I loaded in February of last year just to see how it shot.

I miscounted and thought I had fired ten shots, but I had a previously fired case in my ammo box so only shot nine on target.

300 yards NRA legal prone position, 600 yard target reduced for 300. The first shot was a ten at 3 o'clock and I then put in a half minute of left. The wind was about two mph left to right. The rifle then put the next 6 into the x-ring, the next is probably another x ( it looks good when I use a .458" bullet as a plug guage ), and the last was a pulled shot lower into the ten ring.

The only sad part is that I thought I'd shot ten rounds and not nine.

This .45-90 really works. Not including the first shot which had a different amount of windage on the sight, the remaining shots are sub minute of angle.



Chris.

[John Bly]

I shot some ammo this year that was 3 or 4 years old and it shot as good as when freshly loaded.

[gunlaker]

I was surprised John that it still shot well. I expected that neck tension would have changed and I'd get poor accuracy. Years ago I pulled apart some year old ammo loaded with very little neck tension. The bullets were quite hard to remove so something had changed. I think maybe it might have to do with the fact that in the old days I was making my own lube and it was reacting with the brass after being stored for a long time.

It's nice to see that you can have confidence in older ammo. I always try to load it and use it up while it's fresh, but maybe that's not necessary for match grade accuracy.

Chris.

[beltfed]

I load my fire formed brass with powder and wad, compress at home,
and only finger seat the bullets before going to the line at the matches
So, no problem with neck tension.
Also, note that those of us who are paper patching do not have to worry
about interactions of the bullet with the case.
beltfed/arnie