Ammo Storage

[bananaman]

I have been reloading for many years. Have stored loaded ammo in my garage under a workbench locked. Area is not climate controlled. Worry about the heat at times. Where do you store your ammo & how for safety reasons? Trying to make things more efficient. Thanks for your insight, Bob

 

[BLUEDOT37]

I just keep mine in separate ammo cans inside. Some in one closet & the rest in another.

In a fire the loaded ammo cooks off but doesn't have the direction or force like when fired from a gun.

If you had a fireproof safe that was large enough I guess that would be the safest way to store them.

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Ammo Storage Boxes

(-02b)

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[stansdds]

I keep mine in ammo cans inside my house as well.

 

[OKFC05]

Military ammo is stored in moisture sealed containers in bunkers for decades. Keep it dry and don't worry about the temperatures in your garage.
http://saami.org/PDF/SAAMI_AmmoStorage.pdf
I would be concerned about long term storage in a car trunk or tin storage shed in the sun where oven temps are common.

By the way, NEVER store ammo in a strong closed container like a safe: if the pressure is contained, it makes it MORE dangerous in a fire.
http://saami.org/specifications_and...212-Facts_About_Sporting_Ammunition_Fires.pdf

 

[andy52]

I have a workshop on my property that's heated and air conditioned, I load and store all my ammo there. All the ammo is vacuum seal and stored in ammo tins. The vacuum sealing is just a personal preference, doesn't make it last any longer but it sure does stay nice and shinny.

 

[bananaman]

I currently store powder & primers in ammo cans in the house (my loading area). It would take MANY cans for ammo. Keep the good ideas coming! Bob

 

[MichiganScott]

I store the bulk of my ammunition in GI ammo cans in various closets. A few odds and ends are stored on the shelves in my reloading room.

 

[Maple Trapper]

Mine's all in my reloading room, some in plastic ammo boxes (rifle in 20-60 round) (pistol in 50-100 round) and the rest is in reused cardboard ammo boxes. They are all on one of my 3 heavy duty shelving units.

 

[PPS1980]

50cal ammo cans in the house primarily. Some specialty ammo in a non-fire resistant lock box for ease of access.

 

[Arik]

Ammo can, crates and boxes in the basement. A lot of it I don't even take out of the shipping and till I'm ready to use it.

I wouldn't worry about the heat. It will become an issue if you have sudden and wild swings in temperature. Otherwise it's fine. Most of today's wars in in areas with lots of sun and heat. They still manage to kill each other

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

[Valmet]

Factory stuff I keep on shelves in my gun room and reloads in ammo cans or plastic ammo boxes depending on caliber and quantity. It's a climate controlled area in an unfinished area on lower level of my house.

 

[Jim1392]

Mine is stored in original boxes in a closet in a spare bedroom in my house. There is heat and air in the bedroom so it's a good place for mine. When the grand kids visit I just lock the door on the closet and the bedroom door.

 

[REM 3200]

Mine is stored in original boxes in a closet in a spare bedroom that I use as an office.
I also store powder and primers there in the factory jugs and boxes.
The house has central air and heat.
No kids or grandkids to worry about, but I did put a lock set on the closet door.

 

[Shotguncoach]

Ammo can, crates and boxes in the basement. A lot of it I don't even take out of the shipping and till I'm ready to use it.

I wouldn't worry about the heat. It will become an issue if you have sudden and wild swings in temperature. Otherwise it's fine. Most of today's wars in in areas with lots of sun and heat. They still manage to kill each other

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

Based on experience living in Phoenix, I have to agree with Arik.

I kept all my ammo and powder in the garage for over 15 years with no noticeable effect. The key word there is 'noticeable'. Perhaps if I went into full geek mode with the chronograph I could find something, but I've never been able to tell from behind the gun.

Two quick stories....

In 2003 my house burned down. Three fire stations responded, house had to be scraped to the foundation and rebuilt. Ammo was in the garage in GI cans, powder and primers in the garage in wooden wall cabinets from Home Depot. After the rebuild I pulled samples from every batch of ammo that I had chronograph data for and did a re-test. Again, no noticeable differences. A few batches were more consistent than the original data.

A few years later the widow next door was selling her house and gave me all of her husbands' old reloading stuff. Everything had been stored in a metal shed in her backyard in Phoenix for well over 10 years. Mixed in with the equipment were a few pounds of Alcan AL-7 still in sealed cans. I opened a can and it still smelled ok and burned consistently when I poured a few grains into the driveway and lit it. This sounded like a good opportunity to test the "old powder" stories, so I searched my old manuals for a light .38 special target load and went to the bench. The average velocity was 734 fps, with an extreme spread of 78 fps and a standard deviation of 28.49. A little smokey but everything went bang just fine and grouped as well or better than my standard Bullseye load. By way of comparison, the standard deviation of Winchester white box from the same gun was 37.09. My Bullseye loads have a standard deviation of 13.74. Would I try to go near max with the old stuff? Heck no. But it was a fun way to find out if years of heat swings make a difference.

It's important to note that Phoenix is a very low humidity area. I can't speak towards what would happen with old stuff stored in high humidity. Your mileage may vary...

 

[bananaman]

OK, thanks for the responses. I am not out in left field. Just trying to make storage neater & more efficient. Never had any loads, or powder go bad on me. Bob

 

[TTSH]

Late to the party but I'll add my 2¢.

I learned my lesson decades ago when I stored nearly a full case of 9mm ammo in what I would call a slightly humid, mildly corrosive, variable temperature environment. In less than 5 years, it was junk I considered too iffy to shoot myself and too iffy to give away.

Since then, all of my ammo is stored indoors in a temperature stable, dry, non-corrosive environment... in original boxes which are then locked in a large wooden ammo box or in ammo cans. Never another problem ever again.

 

[federali]

My Stock Example

I offer the following example whenever this question arises: I was cleaning out my father's jeep upon his passing and in the spare wheel well, I found a leather ammo holder with 12 rounds of .30-06 which I had given him years earlier. He hadn't hunted in at least 15 years so that ammo endured 15 years of alternating northeastern winters and summers, baking and freezing with the season. After cleaning off the verdigris from the leather. All the ammo fired without incident.

 

[robertrwalsh]

I keep a lot of my ammo, including my good factory stuff, in the house. I do have a modest amount in the garage, in ammo cans, just because of storage space issues. Garage is not climate controlled. I can live with it.

 

[chief38]

Cool and Dry is the most important. The more humidity and the more heat that the ammo is exposed to, the faster degradation starts.

I've got some ammo stored in a cool dry place and it works perfectly after 60 - 70 years. Some of my Pheasant Shells (#6 shot) are paper shells and the Pheasants don't seem to mind at all. LOL!

 

[Model39]

Laws Rocket Storage Container

About a decade ago, I saw an ad for surplus Laws Rocket metal containers, and decided to purchase one. It is heavy thick green steel, about the size of a foot locker, similar to a small ammo can but a lot larger. It has a rubber gasket around the entire top and numerous snap/lockdown clamps on it. It keeps my ammunition completely secure and perfectly dry/element free. It cost more to have it shipped to me than it's purchase price. This has worked out fine for me as I have all my ammo together and separated inside the container, and keep it locked up where no one could get into it.