For prepper, this is probably useful information. For dealing with gun banners who think banning new ammo sales might achieve the same result (although over a very long period), this is also useful. Rimfire ammo is considered especially prone to degradation compared to centerfire. 9/15/21 AmmoLand reports on testing 65 year old .22:
After accuracy testing, 50 shots were fired to register on the chronograph to obtain average velocity, standard deviation, and extreme spread.
The rest of the 500 rounds was fired for reliability. The manufacturer recommends the rifle be cleaned after firing 200 rounds. The rifle was cleaned at the beginning of the test, and every 250 rounds after that, so test conditions would be the same for both sources of ammunition. Most shots were fired with a few seconds between shots. Nearly all shots were fired from magazines loaded with 10 rounds.
The test is for the ammunition, not the rifle. A semi-automatic rifle was used for uniformity of action. A semi-automatic is considered a bit more ammunition sensitive than single-shot rifles or manual repeaters. If the ammunition will cycle a semi-automatic action, it should work in manually operated repeaters or single-shot firearms.
For practical uses of .22 rimfire ammunition, there is no significant difference between the nine-year-old CCI ammunition and the 65+-year-old Remington ammunition.
Personal anecdote:
ReplyDeleteGot heavily into shooting in 1968, then quit abruptly. Had some .38 and .45 handloads, and nearly 2 cases of CCI .22 standard velocity on hand. Resumed shooting in about 1997, using that old ammo. Had ZERO misfires, even on the CCI. I've had misfires with the new stuff, even CCI.
Ammo was kept in a climate-controlled room, although it got pretty cold at night in the winter.