Ammo Storage in basement cold room - thoughts, opinions?

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amaclellan

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Hey all, my poor little gun safe is full. Yeah, I guess it's a good problem to have.

I'm going to purchase a cheap little gun cabinet to store my ammo in (they are on sale tomorrow at Cdn Tire for $99), but will probably have to put it in the cold room - because the little miss'us probably wont let it go in the laundry room.

I have new ammo cans coming from Canada Ammo, (hopefully sometime this year - *poke*) and i'll get some desiccant packs online to put in the cans. I'll be storing 12ga, center and rim fire ammo. I go through quite a bit of ammo, so I wouldn't suspect anything sticking around too long.. but for some calibers I don't shoot often i'm just wondering.

Anyone foresee any issues keeping it in the cold room year round? Should I have to refresh the desiccant packs? I'm getting the re-loadable ones you put in the stove.

Thanks
 
I know from experience that cold cellars, in both new and old houses might deteriorate the cardboard in the ammo boxes. I've had this happen with boxes, including those up off the floor, in both houses I've lived in over the last year. One house was 13 years old, and the other 60. If it were me, I'd make sure the cabinet is up off the floor, which I'm assuming is cement. They don't quite rot, but they get mushy, for lack of a better description.

An alternative if you have to sit it on the floor, is an old car/bike-guy trick, used when storing a vehicle in an unheated (the horror!) garage: Sit a piece of plywood down (cedar is best, but standard spruce will do) on the floor, and the cabinet on top of that. That way, any moisture that evaporates up through the concrete will be absorbed (that may not be the correct word, but you get the idea) by the wood.

Cannon
 
amaclellan said:
Hey all, my poor little gun safe is full. Yeah, I guess it's a good problem to have.

I'm going to purchase a cheap little gun cabinet to store my ammo in (they are on sale tomorrow at Cdn Tire for $99), but will probably have to put it in the cold room - because the little miss'us probably wont let it go in the laundry room.

I have new ammo cans coming from Canada Ammo, (hopefully sometime this year - *poke*) and i'll get some desiccant packs online to put in the cans. I'll be storing 12ga, center and rim fire ammo. I go through quite a bit of ammo, so I wouldn't suspect anything sticking around too long.. but for some calibers I don't shoot often i'm just wondering.

Anyone foresee any issues keeping it in the cold room year round? Should I have to refresh the desiccant packs? I'm getting the re-loadable ones you put in the stove.

Thanks
Click to expand...

As long as it's lower than 40% humidity year round you should be fine.
 
I wouldn't worry about the temperature, as long as it doesn't swing wildly. The humidity, on the other hand, could cause you problems....
Have you got room for a dehumidifier?
 
max_freddy said:
Maybe if you found a locking cabinet that meets her design style you could put it in the laundry room?
Click to expand...

I think Max just won this thread!
I was thinking about having a laundry room closet door to match the rest of it, open the closet - and have the stack-on gun cabinet inside bolted to the floor / back wall. Not going to happen, apparently we need the closet for towels and bed sheets or something.

I'm not certain of the humidity in the room - I just finished building it two months ago, and haven't put much in there yet. The room is only 8ft x 8ft and only has a sealed light, with the switch on exterior of room. I'm getting a meter for the room soon.

I don't see being able to put a dehumidifier in the room, which is why i'm going to get packs of desiccant to put in the ammo boxes with the ammo. My plan was to just put the desiccant packs in the oven every so often if need be, but not really sure on how often I should check them, etc.

I might do some test with the ammo boxes with a pack of 22lr and check it in a month or something.
 
How about getting some cheap coolers and storing the ammo in them with dessicant packs? Or even doubled heavy-duty garbage bags (sitting on cardboard or something to minimize abrasion) with dessicant packs?
Joel
 
To hell with the laundry room. Take over the whole cold storage area. Install a steel entry door and it is now your gun safe. I run a dehumidifier on low all year round and hang the guns on an interior wall. Buy a couple plastic storage racks to put all your ammo on.
Then you have a much bigger room to fill!
Done.
 
Hummmm - not sure about the laundry room idea.

The constant change in temp might cause condensation, and then there's the moisture from the dryer.

Not sure ...

How about utilizing that unused / never visited room that contains the job-jar your wife has for you?
 
Wrap your ammo boxes in a plastic bag. If you are anal, seal them in vacuum seal bags, a la battle packs.
 
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