"Suanne Lippman" wrote in message news:b35pf.1552

I bought a case of Olin hand held flares at an auction. I thought it was a
good buy until I found out the expiration date was 1989.

Do flares actually expire? Will they fail to ignite or will they explode,
or what?

They may or may not fire. The legal requirement is that you must carry the
proper number of *in date* flares. You may carry additional cases of out of
date flares if you want.