Very Old Cartridges

[Torquemada 288]

I was doing a mouse job in a loft yesterday and came across half a dozen very old looking 12g cartridges. The customers husband (long dead) was a shooter so the lady told me to take them. Will they still fire do you think and if so safely? They are plastic and the metal is a fair bit corroded...

[walshie 2,804]

They'd be safe enough to fire. The primers or powder might have gone off if they have been in the damp for so long, so you might possibly get a misfire or hangfire, but nothing dangerous.

[Torquemada 288]

Cheers.

[Tiercel 6,986]

If their plastic I would not think that they are that old?

 

TC

[Tiercel 6,986]

They'd be safe enough to fire. The primers or powder might have gone off if they have been in the damp for so long, so you might possibly get a misfire or hangfire, but nothing dangerous.

Unless he looks down the barrel to see why it has not gone off.

 

TC

[The one 8,594]

Just check the barrels are clear after every shot you will be fine

[comanche 3,298]

Is it really worth the risk? Plastic cases have been around for fifty years .

Fair enough to satisfy your curiosity by popping them off at a target and ,as said, check your barrels before loading the next cartridge.

As far as using them in anger -don't. In the heat of a flurry of pigeons or clays you might not be so conscientious.

It only takes one half burnt charge of damp powder to leave a wad in the barrel and that free cartridge could be your last.

Edited February 3, 2016 by comanche

[shropshire dan 467]

I found some old paper case 12g shells whilst helping s farmer move house and he told me to take them. Tried them and they were fine. Some were 1956 stamped on them and they were sound. Pigeons didn't complain anyhow

[SportingShooter 0]

I was given a bag full of paper cased cartridges by someone who had to give up shooting and in there were six shells that stopped being made by Eley in the 30's.

 

Curiosity got the better of me and I had to try firing one which went off and did it's job years later

 

They'd been kept in good nick though all that time.

[comanche 3,298]

I found some old paper case 12g shells whilst helping s farmer move house and he told me to take them. Tried them and they were fine. Some were 1956 stamped on them and they were sound. Pigeons didn't complain anyhow

We found a load of paper cased ones under the seat of a Land Rover that had been bought by the boss when I was a Keeper. One lad took the lot and went roost shooting with them . He must have been in a hot-spot because he had far more shots than me. Most of the cartridges worked but a few needed turning in the breech and even worse every once in a while there would be a dull fart . The lad admitted in he didn't think to check his barrels after the half-fires !.

[SportingShooter 0]

 

I found some old paper case 12g shells whilst helping s farmer move house and he told me to take them. Tried them and they were fine. Some were 1956 stamped on them and they were sound. Pigeons didn't complain anyhow

We found a load of paper cased ones under the seat of a Land Rover that had been bought by the boss when I was a Keeper. One lad took the lot and went roost shooting with them . He must have been in a hot-spot because he had far more shots than me. Most of the cartridges worked but a few needed turning in the breech and even worse every once in a while there would be a dull fart . The lad admitted in he didn't think to check his barrels after the half-fires !.

 

 

I've heard stories of paper cases that have become weak sending the whole shell apart from the brass up the barrel

 

If you're eye was in, you could hit some high birds with them

[Rimfireboy! 1,463]

Ive got plenty of old part boxes and stuff and sometimes use a few, never had a bad one, but they're kept dry and in good condition. I went crow shooting with my uncle in the seventies, and he provided the ammo, in the form of 3" eley magnums in bb shot? Don't know why, or if he got them cheap, but they killed crows alright anyway. Well I've still got some, not that old I know, but forty odd years, and they still work just fine.