My dad has some guns that his granddad had, and we are looking into having a gunsmith look at them and ensure they are suitable for firing. But also, what can anyone tell me about the age of the ammunition? There are a few shotguns with old shells - but there's only a couple boxes and those are cheap enough that we might just toss them and get new. But he has a 44-40 with several boxes of shells that look like they're from the early 1900's. Does Ammo go bad?

Early 1900s could still be black powder loads, that round was loaded with BP after 1900 if I am not mistaken. Might be worth more as collector items than shooters. Good thing is that round is available thanks in large part to the Cowboy action shooters.

I agree with kmon1 that those old .44-40 rounds have collector value in excess of the cost of new ammo.
TC

thanks for the info - I hadn't thought about them having collector value. I don't know the pros/cons of whether it was loaded with Black Powder or not... is that good or bad? does that mean it's more corrosive and probably not good?

Also, to my original question: I've always had the thought process of grabbing a box of shells as I see them in the store, but I don't want to keep buying new rounds if ammo goes bad. I just don't want to have to worry about ammo shortages or any other issues that our wonderful government may come up with. So, does it go bad?

Keep it inside and it will last for a long time. Shot some WW-II 30 carbine ammo last Summer, it shot great. I shot some 22lr also last Summer that was bought not sure when but was price marked 65 cents and know it was from the 60's, it also shot well. Ammo stored in controlled environment like your house will last a long time.

As far as old ammo, most of it from the early 1900s will have primers that are corrosive so if you do shoot it be sure to clean the guns well after shooting. If loaded with black powder even more so. For real old ammo especially if you have the boxes for it, Collectors love that stuff. 44-40 ammo is easy enough to find these days If it were me on that ammo I would buy new to shoot.