I live in a fairly high-humidity area on the eastern seaboard. My house is old and not air-conditioned or dehumidified. Fortunately, an ever-present sea breeze keeps things reasonably comfortable despite the lack of the aforementioned modern conveniences.

I got into target shooting about four years ago, during which I have stored my ammunition in their original paper packaging, inside plastic ammo boxes with desiccant packets. So far, the ammo has stayed corrosion free. (Some of it has been in the ammo boxes for more than 3 years.)

So here’s my question: If I wanted to keep a few boxes of ammo in good shooting condition for, say, 15 or 20 years, would my current storage method work? If not, what other method—short of storing the ammo in a climate-controlled room or safe—would you suggest?

As always, many thanks in advance for your comments and expert advice.

It sounds like what you're doing is just fine to me !
Jim

While I have never done it I have seen people here in SE Alaska who use those Seal-A-Meal type vacuum packers to seal powder, primers, and ammo for long term storage.

I see no problem with your storage system. I store most of my ammo in a cedar chest inside my closet. My house does have AC but no dehumidifier and no desiccant bags. I've got ammo that is 25+ years old that still shoots fine. I also use steel military surplus cans for the ammo that won't fit in the cedar chest. Yes, I've got over 15k rounds sitting around.

I don't care for plastic ammo cans. I've has the handles snap off and other issues although they do seem to seal well. The metal military cans seal good and will easily outlast me and can be had at the local gun shows for $15 for the larger 40mm cans.

I think 50 cal ammo cans are hard to beat! They have a good rubber seal, a tight clamp-down, latched lid, hold a lot of ammo, if loose, not in boxes, and they're easy to carry. Unless you fill one to the top with 2,000 rounds of 9mm, they get pretty heavy, around 60 lbs!

I am by no means an expert, but I'll share this:

For 30 years of my life, and I am sure before I was born, my father stored his ammo in a lower cabinet of the gun cabinet his father made out of, cedar, I believe, in a basement in New Hampshire. The cartridges were either in their original boxes or in some plastic cartridge containers. Add 8 years to that since he passed away and everything I have tried to shoot has shot just fine.

One day, on a whim, I took a hygrometer to that lower cabinet just to compare it to the humidity inside my home storage system. It was 67%...just like mine at home. I'm not that worried anymore. I use ammo cans and desiccant, but I'm pretty sure it'll be alright.

I live on the south shore of long island, about three hundred yards from an inlet and five miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Soon after moving in, we discovered that we needed a basement dehumidifier. Everything within about 18 inches of the concrete floor, or about chair height, would get damp and moldy.
I quickly learned to keep my ammo and reloading components near the basement ceiling.

We now run a dehumidifier except in winter when its not needed. Some of my ammo is stored on the floor but in military surplus ammo boxes. Powder and primers are always near the ceiling. I've never had an ammo failure of any kind and I have some ammo going on 50 years old.

I bought up a lot of ammo, and re-loading supplies at an estate sale, in Warren, Michigan. It's a very normal climate, usually between 10 to 90 degrees throughout the year. Humidity, usually between 15 to 60 percent. No lakes/oceans near by, no apparent evidence of any leaks, or abnormal dampness.

Everything was stored in his basement, in cardboard, or open top wood boxes,

All the primers were corroded. about 10% of the brass had some slight green spots, and much of the bare leads bullets had some white oxidation on them. I had no idea how old this stuff was. My guess, possible about 20-30 years.

The lead bullets, and brass shells, not being loaded, likely were more bare than loaded ammo, which usually has a trace of some kind of lubricant, or wax on them, which could protect them to some degree. The primers were bare, no pressed into brass shells. They were the worse of everything, very nasty looking. I tried a few, they did work, but I disposed of them. I didn't want to be my life on them!

Ammo manufacturers always say "cool & dry". If you are going to use an air tight ammo can or similar, I'd make SURE to pack the ammo in it on a very dry day. If you do so on a humid day, there will be more moisture packed inside with your ammo. I suppose until you do get A/C just store it in the driest and coolest part of the house and hope for the best. The other thing you could do is to store the majority of it at a friend's or relative's home that is a/c'd if they have no objections. Keep some at your place for daily use.

Good point! I forgot to mention, I toss in a dried-out packet of desiccant.

I am currently using powder and primers purchased in 1997. They work as new. Always stored in an air conditioned house, but not in an airtight can with dessicant. Cool and dry is the ticket.

As long as it is kept dry, there are more worthy things to be concerned about other than ammunition storage conditions.

I have shot 80-year old milsurp 9mm largo that I expect had very indifferent storage for about half of it's life. I was just starting to get some misfire problems with it. 20 years is nothing for modern ammo if it is even halfway properly stored.

Thanks to one and all for taking time to reply to my question. Needless to say, but I will anyway, this is an invaluable site.

Purchase anmo cans with good seals, add desiccant, and rest assured your ammo will last as long as you will

Tupperware for men.

Yes, for the man that likes his ammo fresh and crisp!

I use the smaller Tupperware for taking ammo to the range. Works great! But the 50 cal ammo cans, can hold 2,000 of 9mm. I don't think Tupperware could do that.

I consider ammo manufactured in 1996 to be new ammo. I have some from the 40's that I'm shooting up without any problems.

Yes, but sealed containers would be better.
After someone in the gunzine press said ammo should be "rotated" AT LEAST every year, I loaded up some Vietnam-era 1911 magazines in the late '70s, with WWII ammo along some Hi-Power magazines and Vietnam-era ammo, and threw them into a locked drawer. For twenty years. I did NOTHING to them when I retrieved them, and ALL fired with no issues at all. Many showed discoloration but no serious corrosion.

I lived in SE WI at the time, where summer humidity hits 75% and more in summer, and we did not have air conditioning.

I even loaded an 1875 Remington cap-and-ball and did no more than run hot wax over the chamber mouths and the percussion caps, and left them for the same period. ALL fired the first time after 20 years.

I've used WWII ammo that was 50 years old and spent at LEAST 20 years in my safe, and had no issues. I still have some, and hope to shoot it when it is 100 years old. If I don't live that long, and I probably won't, my children will. If I could, I'd BET it will fire with no problems.

I think people obsess needlessly about ammo storage. I have a few hundred rounds of 8X56R with a Nazi headstamp dated 1938. To date with no special type of container ever, not one single round has ever failed to fire. Same thing with the 1000 or so 3006 Lake City dated 1953. Not one has ever failed to fire. That said, the best container for ammo storage ever invented is the US GI ammo can. They simply cannot be beat.

Ammo cans have been the way to go for me for more than 30 years. I have friends that vacuum seal their ammo. I have a closet full of different size ammo cans. I also have ammo as old as 35 years stored in my ammo cans that I shoot and have never had a problem.

I'm still shooting the 8mm turkish mauser we were buying for 7 cents a round shipped from J&G sales. Most of it has headstamps from the early 40's, there was a bandoleer full dated 1939 that ran fine.

Having said that, I store all my ammunition in GI cans. That provides a stable environment. Now that I'm where water actually falls from the sky, I thought that would be a good thing.

I remember my dad had a leather gun belt in the bottom of the gun cabinet that he used when he carried his Super Blackhawk 44M to the woods. I remember asking him why he never removed the cartriges from the loops, which over time had made them all green and stained the belt.

"Why would I do that? Then the loops will shrink and the bullets would stay that ugly grey!". I never understood his humor, but I'm beginning to get wise. Last fall, we went to the range, and he brought "Ol Blue" out, complete with said belt holster, full of the pretty green monsters. He handed me the gun, then six rounds one at a time. He pulled one, wiped it down, and said "there see? perfectly grey." Not a single misfire, and surprisingly, those rounds smelled like "real" ammo, and smelling it took me back 30 years to the first few range visits I can remember.

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Here, a grain of salt.

Back in the mid-70's I picked up a deal on a bunch of FA-1918 GI .45ACP, World War 1 issue stuff. Worked just fine. I have fired hundreds and hundreds of GI .30-06 with WW2 headstamps, no problems. While moving last year I found a 500-round lot of .357 that my labels showed I loaded in 1985; still in perfect condition.

Excessive heat and moisture are the primary concerns. GI ammo cans are great, as are vacuum sealers, but high temps or wide variations in temperatures are to be avoided.

The only problem I've found with storage is the space. 4 dozen ammo cans is a lot of weight.

I have a friend that keeps his ammo in an old freezer (non-working) in his shed. It does keep it cooler and dry.

I have ammo from the 1970's, 22 lr and shot shells I found when moving, they shot fine, I have primers from then too, I use them for just shooting and not hunting as a few out of a box fail to fire.

Keep in mind some folks are shooting very old military ammo all the time. I've shot WW2 stuff when I could find it but not in my good guns.

I too use army ammo boxes.

I lucked into 500 rounds of M-72 match ammo for my springfield. Dated 1967 shoots just fine and my sako 75 in 30-06 just loves it. The worst stuff I ever had was a batch of WWII 303 British. Must have had a hard storage life. Cases looked ok but kept getting split necks all the time. Pulled the bullets, dumped the cordite and scrapped the brass. Frank

Be careful storing ammo loaded with cast lead bullets. If the ammo gets "hot" in the summertime, the bullet lube may migrate into the powder and cause a misfire. I had a box of 357 mag ammo loaded with cast semi-wadcutters that accidently spent the summer in the trunk of my Chevy. From the box of 50, I got 2 stuck bullets in the barrel out of 18 rounds. Took the ammo home, pulled the bullets, dumped the powder, and found that the primers were ok -- 6 for 6. The bullets were reloaded with fresh powder without any problems.

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S&WHF 366