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Flatlander
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Old 22lr
Mar 24th, 2026 at 11:58am
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I recently came across some older high end 22lr bricks but they have been stored in a garage here in the heat of Arizona. There appears to be a wax dripping from the bullet tips. Could one just relube and shoot? Would the heat degrade the powder and prime mix? Price is right. Thanks.
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watchthewind
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Re: Old 22lr
Reply #1 - Mar 24th, 2026 at 12:29pm
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I wouldn't shoot a match with it.
  
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westerner
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Re: Old 22lr
Reply #2 - Mar 24th, 2026 at 12:34pm
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Long time ago I purchased two cases of Federal Ultra Match that had been stored in hot weather. The tips of the bullets had lube drops on them. When the cases were flipped over and stored in warm weather the lube went back in place. The ammo shot fantastic and I still have three bricks of it.
  
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Flatlander
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Re: Old 22lr
Reply #3 - Mar 24th, 2026 at 12:38pm
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I guess I'll just shoot them and see what happens. The worst that can happen is I'll have some cheap practice ammo.
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Re: Old 22lr
Reply #4 - Mar 24th, 2026 at 1:24pm
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I have a bunch of old match ammo, that was unfortunately stored in an ammo can in a garage in the summer heat in central CA for a couple decades. Never had a misfire, but there it definitely degraded accuracy.  Im betting it is a lube issue, so I have played with relubing it without much luck. I have pretty much relegated it to plinking ammo in my non-match rifles
  
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Re: Old 22lr
Reply #5 - Mar 24th, 2026 at 1:43pm
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I tried using SPG to re-lube some match-grade .22LR stuff that had been poorly stored.  Couldn't tell much difference.  Finally took a flannel cleaning patch and just rubbed up the old lube.  That helped more than applying new lube.

Joe's idea of inverting the boxes makes sense.
  
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Flatlander
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Re: Old 22lr
Reply #6 - Mar 26th, 2026 at 8:50pm
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   westerner wrote on Mar 24th, 2026 at 12:34pm:
Long time ago I purchased two cases of Federal Ultra Match that had been stored in hot weather. The tips of the bullets had lube drops on them. When the cases were flipped over and stored in warm weather the lube went back in place. The ammo shot fantastic and I still have three bricks of it.

  Sounds like the most logical idea I've heard. Time to give it a try
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Schuetzendave
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Re: Old 22lr
Reply #7 - Mar 27th, 2026 at 9:36am
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I was given left over Tenex from the Montreal Olympics that had been stored in a garage.

The cases had gotten brittle (case hardened brass) from the weather changes occurring in the unheated garage.

Every tenth case ruptured blowing pressurized gases back.

It was deemed safest to discard this ammo.
  
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Re: Old 22lr
Reply #8 - Mar 27th, 2026 at 1:08pm
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Schuetzendave wrote on Mar 27th, 2026 at 9:36am:
I was given left over Tenex from the Montreal Olympics that had been stored in a garage.

The cases had gotten brittle (case hardened brass) from the weather changes occurring in the unheated garage.

Every tenth case ruptured blowing pressurized gases back.

It was deemed safest to discard this ammo.


How old was that stuff when you experimented with it?  Alternate freeze-thaw is about the worst way to store .22 rimfire or anything else.

And it isn't just the brass or lube.  Anybody remember HiVel 3 and the .401 WSL problems?
  
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Re: Old 22lr
Reply #9 - Mar 27th, 2026 at 5:07pm
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I remember some Texex like that. Very distracting when the rim blows off.
  
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