Regarding ammo (shotgun ammo in particular) storage/longevity

[SantaClawz]

If never touched by hand, stored in good quality containers, at room temperature along with some silica gel, is it safe to say that these shot shells could last a lifetime? Would they degrade in quality? How so? etc etc....

Many say for longer term storage, fill the container with silica gel and keep it all air tight. Won't silica gel absorb the moisture and stay "wet" inside the container? if it's air tight it has no way of releasing the moisture/drying out? Right? wrong?

 

[Trotter]

Silica gel has a color indicator, when its wet it changes color. Take it out, and heat it up, then replace. I personally wouldn't have a problem storing ammo this way for decades. My father in law had paper shotgun shells, and he stored them in a barn... they still worked!

 

[Claybuster]

I would suspect with a plastic hulled shotgun shell stored under those conditions would last indefinitely. I have fired both paper and plastic shotgun ammuntion that was more than 40 years old and it worked fine.

 

[SantaClawz]

Btw, I heard when it comes to buckshot, over time it's possible for pellets to clump together permanently and come out as one piece when fired. Is this a strong possibility?