Frankford Arsenal Ammo

[BoogieMan]

I won a Gunbroker auction $20 for 80rnds of PISTOL BALL FRANKFORD ARSENAL .45 M1911 AMMUNITION LOT F. A. 672 & F. A. 11.
Did I get lucky or is there something I dont know about the ammo that other people do? I may shoot up one of the 4 boxes, but mainly bought it to go with my '42 1911.

[kilimanjaro]

You scored. It's mainly a collectible for WWII buffs. You might be able to trade some with others, otherwise just shoot it. It's common enough, unless pristine boxes or something.

[F. Guffey]

F. A. 11.

FA 11. I will assume the head stamp is FA 11. 4 boxes of 80 rounds? I have 45 ACP ammo in boxes of 50 rounds, a box of 20 is not common.

I would not shoot anything that old, when collecting old is good.

F. Guffey

[Slamfire]

I won a Gunbroker auction $20 for 80rnds of PISTOL BALL FRANKFORD ARSENAL .45 M1911 AMMUNITION LOT F. A. 672 & F. A. 11.
Did I get lucky or is there something I dont know about the ammo that other people do? I may shoot up one of the 4 boxes, but mainly bought it to go with my '42 1911.

I would not fire ammunition that old. I have written extensively on old deteriorated gunpowder, and one of the nasties involved with old gunpowder is pressure rise. As gunpowder deteriorates combustion pressures rise. Some of that is due to the physical deterioration of powder, breaking down to a dust. Dust has a much greater surface area and that will spike the pressure curve. If you want to see how coal dust explodes, google coal dust explosions, it is surprising how big of a bang occurs with coal dust. . Another pressure spiker is burn rate instability. Old powder does not burn evenly.

Ammunition companies claim the lifetime of their ammunition is less than 10 years, that is conservative, but any ammunition around 30 years old is suspect in my opinion.

Here is a pistol blowup with old factory ammunition.


For those that think old ammo is still ok....
http://www.gunandgame.com/forums/pow...-ok-print.html

A buddy of mine took his Sig p220 .45 down the range with us the other weekend. He had some old winchester hollowpoints that looked like they had been buried for 30 years. With myself still being new to guns and shooting, i didnt think anything about it.

Well he took one shot and it blow up in his hand. Now he has shot numerous rounds through this gun without a problem, of course they were new. Anyway, noone was hurt but the sig. This is hte way the gun is stuck in. It will not budge. Id say its a nice new paperweight

[jonnyc]

"Ammunition companies claim the lifetime of their ammunition is less than 10 years"

Where did that info come from???

[Slamfire]

Federal says their ammunition has a ten year shelf life:

Federal Ammunition :

http://www.federalpremium.com/company/faq.aspx

What is the shelf life of ammo and storage?

Store reloading components and ammunition in a cool, dry place, protected from direct exposure to sunlight. If stored properly there is a 10-year shelf life on loaded ammunition.

[gyvel]

F.A. 11, assuming it would go off, would definitely be corrosive. You have very collectible ammo in 20 round boxes there, which is how it was issued in certain circumstances at that period of time. Some of the others missed the boat on that auction.

[jonnyc]

FWIW, that's just "Lawyer-Speak".

[Mike Irwin]

OK, this is a duplicate of a thread that's ongoing in General Handguns.

As a reminder to everyone, we do NOT do duplicate threads here. It dilutes the discussion.

Closed.