Sealing ammunition

BillBro

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I know alot of people say this is a stupid, wasteful and unnecessary step in the process of crafting our own ammo but I do do it for rounds I intend to load for long term storage, ammo stored at our camp or something I might load for a special hunting trip depending on the location and climate.
I think the most popular commercial product used by many including myself is Marcron but it always seemed very expensive to me considering what it is , basically nail polish as far as I can tell. I havent bought or used any in a very long time but have used it many times.
A friend and myself, who I discovered has a camp in WV not too far from my place ( its walkable, might take a few days but definitely walkable) decided to load up some ammo just to squirrel away in these uncertain times and he brought up the sealing of it. He was ready to order the Marcron and I told him to hold off until we could look around and see what was currently available to us, bound to be some new products out there by now right? Well, not many as it turns out but I did find something called Ranger. It's on Amazon, I know, hard to believe isnt it. Yes, Amazon, they have everything. This sealant comes in several different very vibrant colors like red, blue, dark and light green, orange and purple I think. Says your ammo can be fully submerged for 6 months, says it's easy to apply, dries in about 5 minutes and a $29 bottle is enough to do something like 30,000 primers.

OK, I'll bite. Ordered a bottle of the red and did up every round I loaded after getting it in the mail about a month later, comes from the Czech Republic I think it was. It is indeed easy to apply. They send a small brush with it but that was wasting too much product and it was aesthetically offensive. I took a snippet of a metal clothes hanger and sharpened one end to a long fine point, makes a perfect pinpoint applicator. Dip it in the bottle, the liquid runs down and forms a droplet at the point tip, touch your round where you want to seal it and this stuff very rapidly will run completely around a primer or a casemouth/bullet and I did both, sealed the primers and the case/bullet junction of about 3,000 5.56 rounds and I couldn't tell you how many pistol rounds and still have over 2/3 of the bottle left.

It does indeed dry in about 5 minutes but if you blow ever so gently on say, a drop that might have been too big and it's running a little it will congeal before your eyes. It's very easy to apply and you'll soon get the hang of how deep to dip your applicator for the perfect amount for a primer or vase mouth.

I guess you could say it creeps very well too, like Kroil does and just sucks right into the smallest crevice.

I dont know about submerged for 6 months or whatever they claimed but 1 month, definitely. I took a handful of 5.56 rounds I loaded and put them in a big plastic bowl that I kept topped off with water and after 1 month took them out, dried them off and shot them and they all went bang, bang, bang...

Seems like a decent product if anyone is interested in this sort of thing.
 
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Alternate product : Minwax #155000 Clear Brushing Lacquer
( gloss , satin or semi-gloss) 0ne quart $12.25 Amazon.com
1 quart of brushing lacquer will be a lifetime supply X 2
Thin with a little lacquer thinner if it doesn't creep enough for you .

The "Ranger" product is 4 ounces $29.00 ... Minwax is 32 ounces $12.25.
Also good to use around shotgun shell primers and to seal the crimp for duck hunters ...everything gets wet when duck hunting .
Gary
 
Just to point out, If you make reloads from good quality, CLEAN components, Then store them in Army ammo cans They last like these:

In 1984 I loaded 20,000 223 Remington. I used mixed range brass that were tumble cleaned in corn cob media, and nothing special done to the primer pockets, except I swaged the crimps out.

They were loaded with Winchester Surplus 55 grain FMJBT w/ cannalure. WW 748 powder & CCI Small Rifle Magnum primers.

These were stored is 2 type of containers: Fiberglass radio boxes (Army surplus) and 50 Caliber ammo cans, also Army surplus. Small quantities were in the house, large quantities were kept in an open room in the barn. Some winters there were snow drifts covering the stored ammo.

In 2011 my second son bought an AR-15 (Stag left handed model) so I gave him about half (3000) of what I had left (6000), that ammo had been through 25 years of storage. That spring I was shooting one of my bolt action rifles with a 6.5-20x40mm Veri-X III scope and still got multiple 5 shot groups at 100 yards, that were 1/8" centers!

We moved from the farm 6.5 years ago, and during the Covid shut down last year, the same rifle and ammo again produced those same small groups! (After 36 years in the barn and unheated garage)

Using the lacquer water sealing product can cause some fouling of primers if not applied properly, and the only way you will know is when you pull the trigger and you hear only CLICK.

As far as home based progressive reloading, it will double or triple the time involved per round!

Ivan
 
Yep, not saying it's for everyone, just passing it along as something I've used and seems to work pretty well. I dont even do it that often any longer but may give some people some peace of mind. Take it for what it is, free advice.
 
See tinfoilhats.com. Sorry, its late and my tolerance is low. Load, shoot, clean, reload.

Edit: not my fault if this link doesn't go anywhere relevant. Loaded ammo lasts to like your great grandkids kids, so not to worry! Unless you are in Atlantis, then that is different.
 
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If ammo is properly loaded and has adequate neck tension and tight primer pockets, it can be stored on a shelf in a closet with no special packaging. The busy work will be eliminated. However, the busy work, done properly, probably hurts nothing.
 
Most of the bombs and a lot of other munitions used in the Gulf War were from WWII. They seemed to work OK. Just saying you may be looking for an answer without a question. I have recently shot some reloads from the 1970s and they all went bang without issue. Some were stored boxed on shelves and some in ammo cans.
 
I'm in the ammo can camp.

But thanks so much for your detailed post about sealing ammo. I'm pretty ignorant on the subject. That being said I do plan on loading a few hundred of both .308 and .30-'06 hunting rounds for an "I need to feed my family" emergency and I will likely seal those.
 
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I’m with Ivan on this one. I’ve used military ammo cans for decades and like Ivan I have ammo loaded 20 years ago that is still un tarnished, accurate and just as reliable as when it was new.

I’ve had ammo go through hurricane Irene submerged in 5’ of water and stay 100% dry.

There’s a reason the US military uses them.

The problem with sealers around the primer is that if it has. A little too much creep, it can contaminate the primer and there is no way to tell until , you shoot it.

In addition the lacquer on the primer can start collecting on the bolt face and in the firing pin hole. Similarly the lacquer on the cake mouth can start building up and backing on in the chamber and leade. Not an issue on an generously proportioned chamber but a potential issue in a match chamber.
 
Have never used an actual sealer - although know some that do.

My method for long term storage is generally GI 50 cal. ammo cans (got a bunch back when they were cheap), or the modern plastic equivalents.

I clean the inside very well, clean the lid gasket and then spray lid gasket with silicone. Allow to dry, which takes only a few minutes.
Fill with whatever ammo, toss in a ~3"x3" desiccant pack and close.

If the can is going in a structure with a concrete floor like a shop,garage, etc, all cans are set on 2"x6" or similar planks to separate them from the concrete. Otherwise, heavy-duty shelving works great.

I've had occasion to shoot 30+ y.o. handloads stored like this - good as new.
 
I use red and green nail polish on the primers to differentiate between loads. I also have some clear polish that got used on ammo carried in a backpack pocket that could get wet. Previous to this I have some 44 special reloads that I blamed on wet storage. I had no problems with the nail polish covered rounds. I shopped the 10 cent close out colors.
 
Why not just vacuum pack them? Use the small bags and pack 100-200 rounds in each. Good part is you can use it at come for food packing too.

Vacuum packing works extremely well.

Well, at the time I did not have a "vacuum pack" machine, so used a seal-a-meal on some 22LR rounds from K-Mart. Notice the 1980 mark on the price tag. I see no issues +40yr ago, thought I suspect that age has made the bag itself crinkly and may have a few micro-holes. Nothing to worry about.

Personally, I see greater issues in my old .222 rounds from the 1950's. Most of my +50yr old reloads have neck cracks and some show corrosion at the primer. I have fired a few of the ones with intact necks and no corrosion at primer. NOT the bad ones... :eek:
 

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BTW, back in 1980 the vacuum sealer had NOT even been invented yet. I guess that I was ahead of the time, just having a first generation Seal-A-Meal machine... No vacuum bagging until 1985:

SOURCE: Our History

"...1985 – Pioneering the Vacuum Preservation for home use
This is a key date in the food preservation history. Starting from the technical knowledge in the medical field, Flaem Nuova developed the First vacuum sealer for home use.
Having a machine was obviously not enough, as the smooth bags – the only available at that time – were not suitable for external air extraction.
Therefore, Flaem Nuova also invested the first bag with structure..."
 
BTW, back in 1980 the vacuum sealer had NOT even been invented yet. I guess that I was ahead of the time, just having a first generation Seal-A-Meal machine... No vacuum bagging until 1985:"[/I]

I remember buying the "Waffle" bags, but not the date. I put all manor of equipment in vacuum seal bags for backpacking and canoeing trips.

When I moved from the farm 6.5 years ago I found 5 bulk boxes of Federal 22's in vacuum bags for about 15 to 20 years, they held up fine.

Ivan
 
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