doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Winchester Super Double-X Shelf Life

It's been my experience that storage is everything with older ammunition. If it's been stored in cool and dry conditions it will last indefinitely. I've shot 100 year old ammo that was reliable.
Jim

I don't believe Winchester was using grex in pre-WWII shells.

With proper storage ammo shelf life is very long. I heard folks shooting soft iron cased .45ACP loads from WWII (made at same time as copper-less penny I suspect). Years ago I have shot bunch of 20ga paper cased slugs sold by either Sears Roebuck or J.C. Penny. There was no failures and ammo was about 30 years old when I shot it. The problem is just one squib can create an obstruction and if not noticed next discharge will result in bulge or worse.

I hunted with factory loaded, pie-fold paper ammo from the 50's almost exclusively for 15-20 years. I may have had a misfire but I can't recall a single incident. I surely wouldn't have risked wasting a grouse flush if I had doubted the ammo.

By contrast, I found that roll-crimped stuff, no matter how pristine in appearance, was at high risk of duds. Perhaps some of the roll-crimped stuff that was still manufactured post-war would be more reliable...I suspect primer technology may have changed during the war effort. In any event, a simple rule of thumb to avoid roll crimps and embrace pie crimped shells has served me well.

Back in the late 70's, I bought 25 boxes(25 rds. each box) of WW Super X 00 buckshot. The shells had been in a discount store for some years. I had no use for it but they were 25 cents a box, so it seemed like a good idea at the time. By the way, it kicked real hard in my double.

After 15 or so years, the brass in many rounds began to split lengthwise. They were stored in my house, high and dry. If I remember correctly, they were not the Mark V case and had the paper base with fiber wads. As I recall, sometimes the paper bases could get moisture somehow and swell, thus expanding and perhaps causing the splitting.

The Winchester Super XX shells are practically sealed with the way the crimp is made at the factory. Some of the best patterning factory loads ever. I still have four boxes that have been in a controlled climate and look brand new. I would bet my life on them.

Unless they were stored in high humidity, they should shoot great. Double X were great shells. Didn't know they were ever made in 16 ga., or 20 either, for that matter. Talking about the 80's stuff.

Thought they were only made in 10 and 12 ga.
JR

Blackpowder arty rounds from the Civil War still go boom after 150 years of burial on southern battlefields. I have left-over lead shot duck hunting reloads from the early 80's that I'll occasionally shoot to check out a gun's POI/POA. I've kept them in old military metal ammo boxes stored in my house which is low in humidity and year round in the 70's. I would be surprised if your rounds were bad.

The old Double X Mags were made in both 16 and 20ga. I've patterned both back when they were available. Wonderful patterns but a painful experience in a light sxs.

Thank you to all for feedback

I tested them on Prairie Chicken today, they worked well.