Storing ammo long term ( help )

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Puma prepper

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Hi all, I have recently made a Gun / Ammo room with all my guns, ammo and accessories in it. With a dehumidifier i keep the room at 45% humidity, good for guns and ammo?:confused: My biggest question is i decided to put all my stored ammo on a shelf in the room instead of being in the ammo cans. I figure it would be fine being that the humidity is low. Im thinking this is a better idea vs sealing moisture in the can every time i open and shut it. Let me know your thoughts, thanks :o
 
Ammo can with a seal, toss in.a couple descecant bags and that ammo will out last you. No need to get all crazy with it, there have been a ton of topics on here regarding this.subject matter and many many agree that unless youre storing it in bad conditions, youll be just fine with most peoples very simple suggestions.
 
My long term storage is-
(223 )
100 rounds per Quart freezer bag
4 freezer bags in vacuum sealed freezer bag (200 rounds )
4 freezer bags in a 50 cal ammo box 800 rounds )
cans labeled

larger cartridges there are less per ammo can

as some are used the rest are still sealed
 
You might be over-thinking it a little. I believe that either choice will work just fine.

But I do follow your line of logic: If the air in the room is "good" (proper temp/humidity), why not allow it to circulate around your ammo? A lot of people wish they had your "problem."

If it were me, I'd keep the ammo in the cans, but open the cans now and then to exchange the air. In either case, you're ammo is likely to last for decades. Well done.
 
I am in the middle of setting up an ammo safe, I scored a 53 gun safe for $200 Its a browning sporting model normal price is over $2000, but this one has been in a flood, I emptied it out and Im going to build some horizontal rotating shelves for holding ammo, powder and all my reloading supplies..


I am going to just hand some dehumidifier bags in there with them, I do the same thing in my gun safes..
http://www.amazon.com/Star-Brite-Ha...=1417565512&sr=8-2&keywords=dehumidifier+bags
 
I would try to drop the humidity to about 35%. If there were no wooden gunstocks in the room I would suggest lower to 25%.

Corrosion needs oxygen & moisture to do its deed. I know of carbon steel tanks that have water spraying in them 24x7 for years yet they have far less rust than expected because of one thing. The atmosphere in the tanks is inert - less than 5% oxygen.

getting rid of either oxygen or moisture stops corrosion.
 
Riflemen: you might want to rethink storing loaded ammunition, smokeless powder, or primers in any container capable of holder pressure. You run the risk of turn a possible fire into a significant explosion.
 
I get a little weird with mine. my "stockpile" ammo goes into my used powder cans with a re-activated silica packet, I have the load and bullet type written on the bottom of lid. figure they should be good for 50 years or so.
 
Riflemen: you might want to rethink storing loaded ammunition, smokeless powder, or primers in any container capable of holder pressure. You run the risk of turn a possible fire into a significant explosion.
Click to expand...


I have considered this and I have read what saami has to say on the subject. First I thought I would relieve one of the interior walls as a blowout wall, so the pressure from an explosion would be much less, the blow out wall would fail and relieve the pressure, then I considered cutting a 2x4ft panel out of the rear and replacing it with a thinner metal bolted to the safe, 22 ga would not hold much pressure at all... But both of them ideas would destroy the safe, I can weld a new piece in to replace anything I take out, but who wants to deal with that?


So I just chose to ignore the potential issue, JK... :)

I am insulating the safe in and out and locating it in an area of the basement that is not in a huge fire risk, it is under a porch, 40 feet from anything really flammable, my basement is over 3000 sq ft, just cement walls... So in case of a fire it will have to be pretty serious to ignite this safe, also I am fireproofing the safe and it is now going to be double walled, a friend of mine who is a fire inspector went over the design with me, we are building a safe inside the safe, there is 3+ inches of air gap between the outside and inside we are building, that is also going to hold the rotating hardware for my shelfs...

I am also fireproofing it with a product called Technokontrol {probably spelling that wrong}, we are having some issues doing the door, but I am working on it, I am going to make the locking mechanism just 2 bolts, I have some machining to do but its not impossible, I originally figure on just removing some bolts, but it is way harder than that, lol...

I am in no hurry to finish it, just a project I am playing with, I have enough of the techno board {which is like bullet proof, fireproof, explosion resistant :D } to do the inside and the outside, I am not doing the outside of the door, but trying to get double in the inside of it, not easy, so I think I am doing 1 layer of that with some fiber type fire resistant boiler liner insulation...

I even contemplated a few 20 gallon sprinkler tanks in the ceiling fed by the well pump with a vacuum release incase there was no water pressure {pretty simple the plastic melts and relieves the vacuum, which lets the water out, but my buddy who is the fire inspector said its a waste of time, 60 gallons of water is a joke compared to how hot it would have to be to make a difference, he said to just placard the entry ways and let the local fd know you have the safe there with some ammo in it...
 
I vacuum seal the ammo in the original carton and store it GI ammo cans with a couple of desiccant packs. Keeps it all nice and shiny for many years.
 
Silca packs.can be reactivated simply by "baking" out the moisture, some.change color to indicate they are ready to go.
 
RKG said:
Riflemen: you might want to rethink storing loaded ammunition, smokeless powder, or primers in any container capable of holder pressure. You run the risk of turn a possible fire into a significant explosion.
Click to expand...


Small arms ammunition is of no concern in a fire UNLESS it is in the chamber of a barrel where it will act as a if the trigger was pulled.. so says SAAMI and my personal experience as a ff.

http://youtu.be/3SlOXowwC4c

Primers and powder are somewhat of a different story, but unless the safe is welded air tight and loaded floor to ceiling i doubt there will be enough pressure built to cause concern. For a detonation to occur the rapidly expanding gasses must be contained until container failure occurs, and most safes are not built this way (hence the need for moisture control)
 
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Desiccant "recharge" (actually discharging its water content) is done by baking at temperatures that differ with the desiccant and often with the covering the pouches are made from. A lot come in Tyvek pouches and the temperature is limited by what will melt them. The desiccant maker web sites almost always have the time and temperature for the particular product. Unfortunately, at Tyvek-safe temperatures this takes a long time and often doesn't get as much water out as a higher temperature can.

I like to make my own. One of the most common mil-spec desiccants is montmorillonite clay. One form of bentonite essentially matches it. The difference in names comes from where the clay is mined. One form of oil absorbent sold by both Autozone and Advanced Auto Parts is the same clay. Autozone also sells a 33 pound bag for $8, if you really want that much. Be careful you get the Safety Sorb and not the same company's Super Sorb, which is made out of something else entirely. STP Oil Absorbent appears to the the same thing, but I can't find an MSDS for it to verify this.

Spread the clay out on a clean cookie sheet and bake it at 450°F for about an hour. Use a metal funnel to pour it into a sealable metal can (empty paint can from Lowe's is good) and let it cool. Put as much as you need into the bottom of a small paper bag and tape it shut. For larger containers i scoop about a cup into the bottom of a paper wine bottle bag, then roll it up and put a couple of rubber bands around it to keep the dust in. Moisture will migrate through the paper and into the clay. I'd guess a couple of weeks are needed to get full effect.

Temperature is the main issue with storing gunpowder for long periods, and this is true whether it is inside a cartridge case or a factory container. The cooler you can keep it, the longer it lasts. Some powders are moisture sensitive and some are not. It depends on additives. Alliant has a sample of Unique that is over 100 years old and they store it under water. Periodically they dry some out and test it, and so far, it still performs as it originally did. If you tried that with some rifle powders, the deterrents and stabilizers would dissolve out, leaving you with a faster burning—perhaps much faster burning and therefore dangerous—shorter-lived powder when it was dried out again.

For stored ammo, you can size cases for a finger slip fit of the bullet at the mouth and seal primers and apply pitch inside the mouth the way the military does, then charge and store the charged cases in a tray in a sealed container with desiccant for I gradually concluded the smart thing was not to store its any differently from any other ammo, but do mark the ammo cans by age, then when you practice with the same load, put the new loads in and take the same quantity of oldest ammo out and use it.
 
Why not just put the open, empty cans in till they reach equilibrium with the room humidity, then fill & seal them? Probably 24~48 hours is all it would take.

Thinking about it logically my ammo cans have about an 85~95% volume filled by ammo, leaving just 5~15% for "atmosphere" anyway.:)
 
Unless the cans were wet inside, I don't think it would take anywhere near 24hrs, let alone 48. More like a matter of minutes, at the outside.

If the air in the room is ok, then the air in the can when you close it will be ok, too. It's really that simple. If you keep it from temperature changes, condensation will not occur.

A dessicant pack is extra insurance, and something for when you close cans in higher humidity atmospheres (like the 80% plus common in the south and east).

Do take note of the thread about low humidity and static electricity during reloading, as well.

Out of direct sunlight, temperature controlled, not dripping wet (although some nations store their small arms ammo under water) and it will likely last longer than you do.
 
what size ammo cans do you guys use for storing your ammo ?
I have a large one for 223 and thinking maybe a small one for 45 acp.
 
I vacuum seal GI ammo cans the easy way. I make sure the can has a good gasket to seal properly then I fill the can with ammo I want to store. When the can is full, I put it out in the sun for a while to heat up. I let it heat until it's slightly uncomfortable to the touch. Then I simply close the can and store it. When the can and the ammo inside cool, it will create a vacuum seal. Sometimes I'll include a desiccant pack but I don't think it's necessary.
You can get varying degrees of vacuum depending upon the amount of heat so you'll have to experiment a bit. You'll hear the satisfying inrush of air when you crack the seal on the can when you do it properly.
NOTE: This method may also make the ammo cans harder to open since you have to overcome the vacuum.
 
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