KEEP YOUR POWDER DRY AND FRESH?

I wonder about the wisdom of hoarding ammunition. How long does it last in storage, and how about ideal storage versus typical storage?
Jerry S., Kansas

Excellent question, to which I have some incomplete answers. First of all, I've lived long enough to come to the conclusion, through actual experience, that extruded (stick-type) powders seem to store better in typical conditions, in loaded rounds or in bulk, than most ball or flake powders. There is no doubt that Hodgdon's tech people could answer this a lot better than me but, for retaining original performance, that's where I'm at. Ball powder can glom together to some degree, especially when exposed to particularly hot climates, so I tend to use something in that same performance range in an extruded powder. In ideal storage conditions, the difference is probably not so pronounced. I store above grade in a climate-controlled environment.

Flake powders are, again in my opinion, the worst of the three for retaining original performance in long-term storage. Only freshly manufactured ammunition is used in any serious match, because the decline in reliable performance is well known among these shooters. The spread in velocity, as well as an overall reduction, can easily be tracked with a reliable chronograph. If rimfire shooters are aware of this, they will shy away from the enormous supplies of 22 caliber rounds that are being hoarded by both normal people on a budget as well as multi-millionaires. I'll take the fresh stuff any day. 

Shooters beware... Let the hoarders shoot their own slowly dying ammunition. Stick with your reliable local store and avoid grabbing the gray-market ammo that someone else has tucked away for profit. Ammo isn't like gold or platinum; it changes over time. Don't be a sucker. The commercial quantities will become available again, about like they were before. Your enemies on the current shortages are the hoarders and the big-box stores that have the power to buy directly from the manufacturer, and then dole it out a box or two at a time. They're acting like the government more every day. They should be willing to take pre-paid orders for reasonable amounts, like a couple of bricks, and then buyers can manage their own inventory. If that same buyer shows right back up with another order, he'll just have to wait until the others are served. Hopefully, the days of boneheads going out and blasting away hundreds of rounds in a couple of hours are coming to an end.

JDC