Rescued some Shotgun ammo - What is safe to shoot?

rivetc78

rivetc78

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Hiya. Bored tonight so I took some pictures of some shotgun ammo I was given.
Sorry, not dozens of cases. Just about 100 rounds of various shells.
These were sitting in a shed for years....then a garage for some more.

I took some pics. We got some 20GA and 12GA.

What I am wondering is. What is safe to use? I would hazard a guess that the rusty shells are garbage. :rolleyes:

Is light tarnish o.k to use? Some of these shells look absolutely fine.

I would not use these for hunting, just for fun.
Tell me what you think.

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RUST. Yuck. Garbage.......

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RUST. Yuck. Garbage.......somehow 3 shells look new in that box??

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Not sure about these. 50/50? Can we save these?

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I think these are fine?

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Some shells in good condition...:)

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Look, 20GA Slugs. Nice :)

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Finally some odd balls. I like those Best American. They stood the test of time.

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I had come across some shells like this a year ago from my uncle and I cleaned them up and shot them through my 870 basher! and my maverick 88 basher....they all fired fine!
 
i personly would shoot them all, but only do it if you feel safe. my grandfather gave me a bunch of his old imperial, remington and CIL paper and plastic shot shells. most are allot worse then yours but i still shot them. i cleaned them up a little bit with steel whool and sandpaper just so they chamber, havent had a single problem yet. and if you dont want to i will gladly take them off your hands, they would look good in my collection and i will try shooting them.:D
here are some of the ones i have left, the 5 in the bottom row are on the 3rd reload.
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A good friend of mine went out one fine day hunting with his father...

Dad had supplied the vintage yard sale 12ga ammo for the trip....

Suddenly there truck was ambushed by a fat grouse standing not 20' off the front bumper!!!!

My friend dashed from the vehicle with his Belgian Auto 5 in hand and tossed a #5 CIL into the chamber as fast as he could!!

The beast was so close the front bead all but dissapeard in its ploomage

With grace and skill he squeezed the trigger....

....it was a quiet fall day in the forest... Leaves were starting to dawn there golden rust and the rut would soon be in full swing, in the distance you could hear the honking of the geese...

But in the distance the geese could hear...laughing? Howling?!!

What's this???





....as my buddy's father would later tell us around the campfire

When the trigger was squeezed there was no BANG, nor a BOOM... A soft click was The last thing the poor grouse would ever hear... The primer lit and pushed the shot and cup out of the barrel at so slow a speed it was seen by 2 astonished hunters in slow motion... My buddy's aim was true as it hit the beast square in the head knocking it out cold.

After that day there is always a fresh box of 12ga in the glove box when they go hunting....

True story

....
 
Tarnish is one thing but serious rust weakens the metal. How dearly do you value your body parts? Ammo's cheap; hands and eyes are expensive.
 
rivetc78 said:
:cheers::agree:
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i agree too, but most of those are still in good condition. little bit of rust and tarnish can be tooken off with steel whool. but its the chamber that takes the pressure not really the shell. thats why me and my brother reload all our rounds (shotgun, pistol, rifle) untill the case starts cracking.
 
m-134 said:
i agree too, but most of those are still in good condition. little bit of rust and tarnish can be tooken off with steel whool. but its the chamber that takes the pressure not really the shell. thats why me and my brother reload all our rounds (shotgun, pistol, rifle) untill the case starts cracking.
Click to expand...

Certainly the barrel contains the pressure, but there's a difference between a barrel exploding and losing obturation (rearward pressure sealing, in this case). Minor rust is one thing; serious rust is another because it makes that more likely.
 
Like M-134, I'd shoot 'em all! If you're not sure, give (or sell) some to a collector. Save / sell the boxes too - some guys collect that stuff. I don't recall ever seeing the Supreme shells in a box of 25 - only the smaller orange/brown box of 20. Even still, I've shot all of those over the years. Some I had forgotten about until seeing your pix.

MANY years ago I raided my grandfathers cupboard of old shells and shot everything that would work (being a poor student with no cash for ammo) Most worked fine even being decades old. The duds were really old (new smokeless powder, etc) that had crystalized. Stupid of me and probably not particularly safe...could have sold those shells for a pretty penny if I hadn't tried shooting them!
 
For my part I would not shoot them even the one lightly tarnish one.

Last summer I got a savage 24-c in like new condition.The seller gaveme a boxe of 21 20g. shell that was bought at the sametime of the shotgun. I test fire the shotgun barrel with it...result was sharp recoil and a slug size hole in the target. All the lead pellet had seized together.But all the cartridge look good with no rust,tarnish or anything.
 
ATOM said:
Tarnish is one thing but serious rust weakens the metal. How dearly do you value your body parts? Ammo's cheap; hands and eyes are expensive.
Click to expand...

Agree 100%. Clean the tarnished ones with a brass brush and toss the rusted ones. I shoot a lot of tarnished in my 16ga's never an issue.
 
obviosly do what you want, but i wouldnt toss them out. they are still old shells that havent been made for a while. some one will most likely buy them and they still make a nice piece for in a collection. as for them being tarnished, youll get tarnished rounds in a new bok of shells. it wont hurt a single thing besides what your shooting at.
 
Just shoot them.... I shot worse thru my SX2 and they ran fine...

The neck will split on the rusted ones no big deal....
 
i did some research and i couldnt find much but based on what i did find those old mastercraft shotshells are verry collectable. i wouldnt even think about tossing a single one out. i cant even find a picture of them on the internet! i do not recomend tossing a single round out, simply for the fact that there old, naturaly there collectable. if anything just put them up on a shelf and keep them, expecialy those mastercraft ones. just try to keep them out of the sun so it doesnt warm them up too much and also to prevent them from dryving out and colours fading.
 
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