Which shells are always in your fire safe?

R

rhinonewshooter

New member
I have a relatively limited amount of room for shells in my fire safe. I was talking with a buddy of mine, and he was talking about all of the ammo he has for his AR, handguns etc. Granted, the AR eats ammo, but it made me start to wonder if I should actually store some ammo at home, rather than having a few boxes at the ready for a trip to the range.
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1) Is there a limited shelf life to store bought ammo? (I'm thinking not really unless it gets wet repeatedly)
2) What should I keep in fire safe/which shells do you keep in your fire safe?

I have easy access to shells for skeet/trap/sporting clays - everywhere I shoot has plenty on hand at reasonable prices. I work very close to a Dicks Sporting Goods and a Walmart. Access is not an issue.

I do have about 250 shells right now, but I don't know if I'll even bring them in from the car - It's Friday, and I'm going shooting tomorrow:D

Is there a mix of HD shells and or hunting slugs that you keep in your fire safe? If so, what do you keep/store just in case/to have at hand in case the store runs out?

Beyond a lighter load #9, is there a particular load that is harder to find in the big box stores?

What size shot do you use for HD - I should probably pick up at least one box.

TIA
 
Ammo stored properly has almost indefinite life. Other threads have discussed this recently. My ammo is in my attached garage/shop.
I don't have a fire safe. My gun safe has a small amount of ammo for a couple of the pistols there.
 
I've never kept ammo in a safe, even many years ago when there was room for it. I have stacks of ammo cans, rubbermaid bins, cardboard cases, canvas ammo bags, and individual boxes here and there that I haven't put away yet. I started stocking up for retirement about ten years ago. And then didn't. And then my father gave me his guns and ammo in '07 when he decided they needed to move to The Home.

I've never had ammo go bad and I don't have central air either. I had a half box of .38 Sp. blanks that were bad, but they came to me with an 1884 S&W breaktop that belonged to a great uncle and the ammo looked like WWII vintage or earlier.
 
Ammo storage is best when...

kept cool and dry.

Te GI ammo can is great for this. You can label the lock to ID what's inside.

FOr home use the 200+ round in-house is okay, for shotgun might be cheaper to buy a case when on sale of favorite birdshot and then have five five-count boxes of slugs if you into deer hunting and same for any buck-shot ideal for HD, (but revise to your situation) or a heavy bird shot loads #2 / #4.

hope this clarifies for you.
 
I do have about 250 shells right now…​
For that volume, just keep them in your pockets.:D

Seriously, keep your ammo in factory boxes. Preferably in a cool and dry space away from children. A fire safe is not necessary. If you're worried about your ammo getting overheated in a fire, put it in an insulated picnic cooler.

I keep my new ammo in the factory boxes within the factory case cartons. For my reloads: I store shot shells in the factory boxes (it simplifies counting at the range). For rifle and hand gun cartridges, I use plastic ammo boxes (by Dillon) for the first few thousand of each caliber and the remainder is loose in cardboard boxes. It's all stored on wood shelves.

I learned the hard way not to store ammo at floor level. Years ago, a broken pipe got several new case cartons of shot shells wet. I had to open all the boxes and dry the shells. There were no misfires but I didn't trust them for competition shooting.
 
All ammo in the house go into the fire safe per agreement with LOML. She heard the local PD armorer talk about storing ammo in a fire safe and that was that. She wants the ammo locked up in a fire safe separate and apart from where the shotgun is locked up. I can work within these limits as I get my shotgun and my shells.

I'm wondering what folks tend to store/which shells can be hard to find.
 
Storing the ammo in any sort of safe or other enclosed container not designed for pressure relief is more dangerous than ammo stored in the factory boxes or ammo cans (which are designed for pressure relief).

Ammo stored in factory boxes or ammo cans makes noise when it ignites and little bits might fly about if unconstrained, but it doesn't pose a serious hazard except to the eyes.

Not sure whether 250 rounds in a big safe is really a problem in a fire, but at some point, the pressures generated by igniting ammo will blow a safe apart. The failure could be dramatic since it's not in the design of the container. This sort of failure could be very hazardous, or lethal.

Even fire safes are questionable--especially the lower end stuff. Ignition temp of ammo is something like 320-330F. If storing ammo in a fire safe, make sure it's got a UL fire rating that you are confident will keep your stuff under the ignition temperature in any kind of fire likely in your structure.
 
Why keep ammo in your safe.............shoot it up, buy/reload more, especially shotgun - I have a steel drawer chest that holds over 500 boxes of 12 gauge - can't fit that in a safe
 
No ammo or shells are hard to find in my area .../ and I reload 99% of everything I shoot.

I do have some "Defensive ammo for Shotguns and my handguns" ...but its just stacked on a shelf ...in the same room where my safe is ....and I only keep about 20 rds of 12ga defensive ammo ( OO Buck ) ...and about 30 rds each in 9mm, .40S&W and .45 acp...( just enough for a couple of mags per gun - in a 1911 ) single stack ...

( Its for Defense ....not a shootout at the OK Corral ...) ....

In general re-loaded ammo and shells...again stacked on my shelves / or in 10 gallon rubbermaid storage boxes with lids ...I keep about 20 - 100 boxes per handgun caliber ( 9mm, .40S&W, .45 acp, .38 spl, .357 mag and .44 mag ) and about 30 - 60 boxes each of 12ga, 20ga, 28ga and .410 ...( and 5 reloaders, and powder, and primers, and bags of shot to load many thousands more ....) ....

None of its in a fire safe .../and I want easy access to it - ( like last nite I went to the range with about 300 rds of .22, 100 rds of .38 spl, 400 rds of .357 mag and 150 rds of .44 mag ...) and 5 S&W revolvers ...worked on my draw from a holster, trigger control, did some double taps, some speed reloads, etc ..and had some fun and a few laughs .../ I don't want to spend an hour ...digging thru a fire safe - to get a few boxes of this caliber and that caliber out ...) ...

To keep all that stuff in a safe ...the safe would be big enough to store a volkswagon in it ....:eek:
 
My buddy has a two door safe and he keeps his guns on one side and hundreds and hundreds of pounds of various assorted ammo on the other--His reasoning is that he didn't bolt it to the concrete basement floor and instead uses the weight from the ammo and his 30 assorted rifles, handguns and shotguns (I'm assuming close to a 1K pounds) to prevent potential thieves from being able to easily maneuver the safe. Makes some sense in that the harder you make it for perps the better.

-Cheers
 
All ammos and powsders are on my basement on wooden shelf, either on original card boxes or in plastic boxes of 50 or 100 units , the basement is dry, cool and with wooden hardwood floor. In over 35 years I never experience a problem with rifles or pistol cartridges or shotgun shell.
On the rifles safe I my bed room have only 5 12 gauge ssg and 5 .357 125grain cartridge... just in case...!
_______
roberto
 
I keep the stuff I don't use much (PD rounds & slugs) in the safe, more or less to add weight. Keep the shot gun shells on the shelf for quick access for skeet and trap. I have ammo cans but it's more convenient just to grab a few boxes of #8 and run out the door. If I ever have a fire, ammunition is the least of my worries. I have 25 bottles of propane stored for my Coleman cook stove for SHTF or natural disaster. Come to think of it, storing that much propane is, a disaster waiting to happen...
 
Ammo on hand includes a couple hundred rounds of 00, about the same of slugs, some goose loads,turkey loads,small game loads and a widely varying amount of target stuff.
 
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