How do you (long term) store your ammo?

C

cz858lover

BANNED
BANNED
BANNED
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Say you got a good deal on some bulk ammo and stocked up for future use, how do you store it to ensure that it will be good to use in 5,10,20 years from now?

Is it ok to store in a basement if its in an airtight ammo can with some Desiccant packs?


also, I found a box of ammo in my garage from two hunting seasons ago, do you think it'll still work and be safe to shoot?
 
In my basement with the dehumidifier running when its humid. It goes bang. Not sealed, just locked in a big ol steel box, up off the ground. I routinely shoot both milsurp and hunting ammunition that is 50+ years old. The only stuff thats every given me problem is WW2 or older milsurp stuff, and even then its very few problems. So thats 80~ years old

Unless the stuff you found in your garage was laying in bucket of water, its fine.

Ammo isnt *that* fragile. It literally goes to war.
 
blasted_saber said:
In my basement with the dehumidifier running when its humid. It goes bang. Not sealed, just locked in a big ol steel box, up off the ground. I routinely shoot both milsurp and hunting ammunition that is 50+ years old. The only stuff thats every given me problem is WW2 or older milsurp stuff, and even then its very few problems. So thats 80~ years old

Unless the stuff you found in your garage was laying in bucket of water, its fine.

Ammo isnt *that* fragile. It literally goes to war.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. I was surfing the web looking at storage ideas and everything I read was stressing about storing it in an airtight container with some desiccant packs inside.

But you're right that ammo is not exactly fragile and is designed to be used in all conditions from arctic to tropical and everything in between. To be on the safe side i'll throw it in a ammo can and throw in a few desiccant packs.

I wonder what the main cause of ruining ammo is? Do you think its corrosion on the brass or is it ruining of the powder and/or primer?
 
cz858lover said:
Thanks for the response. I was surfing the web looking at storage ideas and everything I read was stressing about storing it in an airtight container with some desiccant packs inside.

But you're right that ammo is not exactly fragile and is designed to be used in all conditions from arctic to tropical and everything in between. To be on the safe side i'll throw it in a ammo can and throw in a few desiccant packs.

I wonder what the main cause of ruining ammo is? Do you think its corrosion on the brass or is it ruining of the powder and/or primer?
Click to expand...

They used to say oil would kill the primers but that has been disproven. Black powder tends to be unstable, becomes more explosive,but probably no one is storing ammo made with that, Heat can degrade most any chemical compound, as can moisture, but people know to control for those. There were some West German surplus 7.62x51 battle packs of 200 where people found the presumably acidic paper wrapping on the 20 round subpacks had discoloured the brass on some rounds. I don't know if that was serious, but it's the only time I've heard of an issue with brass degrading. I dislike storing ammo with pure soft lead bullets because I've seen too many times where the lead had oxydized and swelled to the point where it couldn't even be loaded, in my personal experience that applies to stray .22 LR rounds but you see it in all lead bullet calibres in older ammo collections too. My own problem with storing ammo is that it tends to disappear downrange really fast, keeps ahead of my impulse to save.
 
cz858lover said:
Thanks for the response. I was surfing the web looking at storage ideas and everything I read was stressing about storing it in an airtight container with some desiccant packs inside.

But you're right that ammo is not exactly fragile and is designed to be used in all conditions from arctic to tropical and everything in between. To be on the safe side i'll throw it in a ammo can and throw in a few desiccant packs.

I wonder what the main cause of ruining ammo is? Do you think its corrosion on the brass or is it ruining of the powder and/or primer?
Click to expand...

Keep your house at a good humidity rate 50% and it will be fine no matter what you store it in.

I mean, it sits on shelves in stores sometimes years before you buy it.

Ive never seen a case corrode to the point of being unusable except for shells that were left in wet leather bandoleers and stored away. All of my hunting shells show some surface corrosion from handling and being in the wet, but they are still fine.

The milsurp misfires Ive had were powder related I guess. The cases were still fine.

Big Bad has a fair point about 22 rounds oxidizing and being unusable. But Ive only seen it with decades old rounds, and at a couple cents a load its not really a problem if I have to chuck a few. Now I just make sure to cycle my 22 bricks through every few years and its not a problem. Centrefire Ive never Ive never had an issue like that.
 
Thanks everybody for the input.

Just to be on the safe side I will pack everything in airtight containers and throw in a few moisture absorbent packs.

If the brass has a little discoloration, no real corrosion or pitting, but is definitely not shiny like new brass is, do you think its still good to use?

How long can you store ammo under the right conditions before it becomes unreliable?
 
cz858lover said:
Thanks everybody for the input.

Just to be on the safe side I will pack everything in airtight containers and throw in a few moisture absorbent packs.

If the brass has a little discoloration, no real corrosion or pitting, but is definitely not shiny like new brass is, do you think its still good to use?

How long can you store ammo under the right conditions before it becomes unreliable?
Click to expand...

Yes its fine to use, and it will last longer than you will live

Shawn
 
cz858lover said:
Thanks everybody for the input.

Just to be on the safe side I will pack everything in airtight containers and throw in a few moisture absorbent packs.

If the brass has a little discoloration, no real corrosion or pitting, but is definitely not shiny like new brass is, do you think its still good to use?

How long can you store ammo under the right conditions before it becomes unreliable?
Click to expand...

Discolouration is fine.

Under the right conditions? Indefininite. I have no doubt that we'll still be shooting WW2 era ammo in 2040.
 
There is lots of advice here, and most of it seems good. 50% domestic humidity sounds on the high side to me.

All I would add is to avoid storing your ammo in proximity to a cat litter box or other household materials known to emit corrosive vapour.
 
I was also wondering, do you think its bad to throw loose ammo into a steel ammo box or should you try and keep it in its original packaging?

If you get a really large container, such as a 81mm mortar case or a 7 gallon pail, do you think the rounds at the bottom could become damaged from the weight of the rounds on top of them? I'm not sure if I should get one large can or a few smaller ones, weight isn't really the issue, i am more worried about crushing the bottom few layers.
 
cz858lover said:
I was also wondering, do you think its bad to throw loose ammo into a steel ammo box or should you try and keep it in its original packaging?

If you get a really large container, such as a 81mm mortar case or a 7 gallon pail, do you think the rounds at the bottom could become damaged from the weight of the rounds on top of them? I'm not sure if I should get one large can or a few smaller ones, weight isn't really the issue, i am more worried about crushing the bottom few layers.
Click to expand...

They wont be damaged. Again, they arent fragile.

I know youre concerned, but youre WAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY overthinking this.

Outside of storing ammo in puddle of water, you can do just about anything with them and they'll be fine.
 
I've got some 1976 Swede ammo manufactured in 1976 I got from Lever in the 1980s.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom