Storing handgun ammo in backyard shed?

V

valleyforge.1777

New member
I have a case or two of about 1,000 rounds each of handgun ammo. I do not want to store it in the house. I have a shed in my backyard (Pennsylvania), made of plywood and 2x4 framing, not insulated, 2 small windows: it gets hot in there in the summer and freezing in the winter.

I was thinking of putting the ammo (still in the un-opened thin cardboard boxes of 50 rounds each) into a thick plastic trash bag, sealing it up, and then storing that in one of those Rubbermaid 32 gallon trash cans. I can seal the lid on the trash can with caulk or silicone if someone thinks that is necessary. Will this plan be OK for preserving the functionality of the ammo?

Other ideas for outside storage?

Thanks !
 
Probably not the best option but I have done it in water and airtight military ammo cans with no ill effects. Moisture is a sure enemy. The up and down in temperature is probably not good on ammo but I'm sure military ammo is subjected to these conditions freqently. Avoid direct sunlight on the container.
 
Are you storing with the intent to save it for future use?
Are you storing it in your shed because you're afraid your house will catch fire?

Buy a couple of military ammo cans, (they're cheap). You don't need to do any more than that.

Don't worry about the internal conditions in your shed. I keep all my powder, primers and bullet components under similar condition in my shop and they've never been affected by heat or cold.

Why don't you take those 2,000 rounds and shoot it?
 
Proper storage is...

COOL and Dry.

If I leave ammo in car during high heat, (95+) I'm changing it out to fresh ammo and using the replaced as practice ammo.

The ammo cans will keep dry, but transfer the ambient temperature.

The same with powder and primers.

Maybe mitigate temperature by digging floor forming an below grade area, with a gravel base wor water drainage???

Hope this helps.
 
Storing Ammo

I never took the course for ammo handling while in the military but I did pick up the basics:

Store inside original containers until ready for use.
Store so it does not get wet.
Store so it does not get direct sunlight.
Store so that air circulates freely (around and under).
Inspect regularly.

That would all seem to be easily applicable for your situation.
 
Why don't you want to store it in your house? It's not a fire hazard or anything. If you have kids just lock it up. The ambient temperature and humidity will be much better inside.
 
valleyforge.1777
Storing handgun ammo in backyard shed?
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Why not store it in the house? Are you hiding it? If you're worried about a fire, it is very unlikely that ammo will go off the way it does in a barrel. The powder will likely burn off.

Now, if you are wanting to stash it for a rainy, then outside is still not a good place but is doable. Put the ammo in packs of 4 into a gallon sized Ziploc vacuum bag, seal, vacuum, and tape the vent shut. Put that into a smaller Rubbermaid with desiccant and seal the Rubbermaid with pvc packing tape.
 
Its not optimal to store it in an unheated or uncooled environment ...for too long ....but a yr or so ( as long as its dry ) is probably ok.
Some air circulation is way better than none.

I would not seal up a plastic bag especially ....because its not air tight ...and in the summer - warm humid air will get inside ...and humid air holds more moisture than cool air / when it cools off - the air inside that bag will give off moisture and it will condense on the coolest thing in there - the bullets and the inside of the bag. I've seen conditions - where you can get a cup of water condensing out of the air inside a 20gallon trash bag.

Air circulation would be way better / plastic is not a good idea ...plastic lets air in ...but it doesn't let the moisture out ...

stacking it on a shelf ...is better / but I'd reconsider storing it inside - its just not dangerous. Most fire jurisdictions - have limits on the amount of powder and primers we can store in our homes ...but not on completed rounds of ammo.
 
My method of storing ammo for long periods of time; temperature controlled, period. It's not that most ammo can't take temperature fluctuations, it should not be subjected to extremes.

No excessive cold, heat, or humidity.

I personally have a "man cave" closet inside the house for whatever I want and need. This includes my guns and ammo.
 
Buy a couple of military ammo cans, (they're cheap). You don't need to do any more than that.
Click to expand...
Store inside original containers until ready for use.
Store so it does not get wet.
Store so it does not get direct sunlight.
Store so that air circulates freely (around and under).
Inspect regularly.
Click to expand...
+1, particularly the last one. Related thoughts:
  • Keep it off the floor. This is where most of the condensation occurs in a non-climate-controlled outdoor building, and condensation is the biggest enemy of powder- much more so than simple heat or cold.
  • Keep the cans a good distance away from the walls. Critters get into sheds, and tight, dark spaces make them feel secure and encourage nesting. Rodent urine is acidic and will eat away a metal ammo can.
  • For this same reason, place the cans in a way that facilitates inspecting all the way around them without moving anything out of the way first. This will discourage nesting because the critters won't feel like they can hide behind the cans.
  • Don't store liquids above the cans, for obvious reasons.
  • DON'T store pool chemicals- particularly muriatic acid- in the shed! The fumes accelerate the rusting process, sometimes by a stunning degree.
Maybe mitigate temperature by digging floor forming an below grade area, with a gravel base wor water drainage???
Click to expand...
I discourage doing this unless you take really extensive measures to perfectly seal the containers.

The soil a foot or two below ground level is usually a lot wetter than the soil above, and it usually stays at a relatively constant temperature that's significantly lower than the ambient outdoor temperature in summer. This encourages condensation, and lots of it. (This is why a house's basement is usually cool and damp.)

This approach may mitigate temperature, but it encourages condensation, and IMHO temperature is by far the lesser of the two evils.
 
I am the original poster that opened this thread.

I do not want it in the house. Lots of reasons, but fire is one big one. We've had several fires around here this year where the sounds of popping ammo caused the firefighters to back out and switch to an external attack, which is a last ditch way of fighting a fire and assures a complete loss of the internal structures and property. Any fire report that mentioned popping ammo sounds would negate my fire insurance. I'm not taking that chance even though YOU and I know darn well that the ammo would be harmless to anyone trying to fight the fire. I'm not interested in that kind of dragged out fight in court.

So, it goes outside and I am interested in the best way to do this. One option is to just store it on shelves, and not surround it with plastic bags or put it in the Rubbermaid plastic trash cans. I can go out there this winter and inspect it and see what's going on regarding condensation and then change the plan as needed.

Incidentally, I keep about 1,000 to 2,000 pounds of road salt in my unheated, un-air-conditioned garage (I don't like to run out of stuff I need). For years I kept it in the bags stacked up on the floor of the garage. I had to admit that the steady, syrupy stream of salty water pooling around those bags probably was not good and that I needed to do something different. I emptied all the bags of salt into 32 gallon Rubbermaid trash cans, each lined with a 3 mil heavy duty trash bag. The back end of the garage is filled with those trash cans. So far, this is working fine for me. The salt is not getting wet on the inside of the bags, as far as I can tell. The ammo would go in a shed in the back yard, not the same garage that is used to store my salt collection.

Just a side note as some background info about me: I'm originally from PA, but moved south for a while for work. I got caught in the great ice storm of 2000-2001 in Little Rock and no one had any road salt and our power was out for a week. That experience permanently scarred me. Then, I moved back up to the United States in January 2004 and we had sub-zero temps for 6 weeks straight. Never got above 32 degrees for six full weeks here in my part of PA. Home Despot and the other places ran out of salt real quick. I've got 300 feet of sidewalk and a driveway to keep free of ice. Those experiences led to the accumulation of my Great Salt Collection.
 
Mill surp ammo may or may have not been stored in climate controled conditions and it still seems to go bang. ( yes, I know that the mil probably has a upper time limit for storage however, this ammo _must_ go bang every time. )

In the days pre AC, what did gun shops do in the summer to keep ammo cool? Or what did the user of said ammo do in the days pre AC?

Moisture would be my biggest issue with storing ammo. Some silica gell packs would be a good addition.

There are some commonly known "rules" that are not true: "Do not store tires near electric motors", is one that comes to mind. Brush type motors do generate Ozone from the sparking of the brushes however, in a home enviroment these motors are few, far between and to small to be a issue. ( sweper, drill, sewing machine ) Even in a industrial setting, brush motors that generate enough Ozone are not that common and the general enviroment probably isn't that good anyway.

The cool ,dry place rule while it will help storage, it might not be the end all.

A quick edit. Is the shed vented? Not doing so will cause elevated temps in the summer and when moisture does get in it won't leave.
 
I wouldn't store it in the shed due to moisture issues. With that said, if you feel you must store it outside, why not at least by some mil surplus ammo cans to store it in? They might not keep out all moisture, but it's better than nothing.
 
OP doesnt have that much ammo.
However I believe it is still best to keep the ammo stored in a dry climate controlled area just like the firearms. I look at the ammo as an $$investment.
 
Why are you afraid to store that small amount of ammo in your house?
If you really feel that's a serious worry, you might use this option. I store ammo and reloading supplies in a 12x20 metal shed some distance from my house using old nonworking freezers. We normally don't have extended periods of over 100* and the freezers' insulation keeps the high temps at bay until it cools somewhat. In addition, the freezers moderate temp fluctuations which will promote moisture condensation. I've had ammo, powder, and primers stored this way for years w/o any noticeable deterioration.
I've seen several small gunshops located in uninsulated and barely heated garages over the years and really never heard of a problem but they weren't storing ammo for more than a year or so as it was sold out and restocked.
 
Put it in the shed. Winter cold is not an issue. Summer heat is not a major issue, but can perhaps be mitigated if you put at least a ridge vent on the shed, or perhaps one of those revolving, convection-powered exhaust fans. Put a louver (with screen) into a sidewall, down low (but not where snow will pile up over it) to allow air flow.

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I have seen ammo that went dead when stored for a couple of years on a shelf above a hot radiator. And everything I have ever read or heard about ammo storage says "cool, dry place". It seems to me that an outdoor shed on a day like today (102 degrees not far from PA) would not be a "cool" place.

Store it in a dry basement or in the house. I'll bet a lot of folks reading this store a lot more than 2000 rounds that way.

Jim
 
Mobuck had a good ideal with the old fridge. We kept welding rods in an old non-fuctioning one in an unheated area. Kept them dry. You could even fabricate a lock for it.
 
storing ammo

Sorry to hear that you may have insurance problems with storing ammo in the home. that info is good to know for the rest of us. I am making a mental note to deal with this insurance issue when we buy a new home here in florida this year.
From personal experiance I can tell you that heat can kill ammo. I had several thousand rounds stored in a building with no insulation for two years. When I fired some of it, all of the rounds went bang when I pulled the trigger but many of them were noticably of lower velocity with a milder kick. My fault for storing it such as I did.
 
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