Poll How do you store your ammo?

Buy it cheap and stack it deep! But how or where? (multiple answers allowed)

  • In original boxes, stacked on a shelf / closet / drawer.

    Votes: 7 46.7%

  • In original boxes, inside ammo cans.

    Votes: 10 66.7%

  • Loose (in bulk) in ammo cans (or other container).

    Votes: 7 46.7%

  • A couple of boxes in my sock drawer.

    Votes: 2 13.3%

  • Barney Fife style with a single "boolit" in my shirt pocket.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • By the crate on pallets in my secret SHTF lair!

    Votes: 1 6.7%
  • Total voters
    15
Racer88

Racer88

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What is your approach to ammo storage?
 
I feel like a redneck for picking 4 and almost picking the crate answer. Some of my cases are on pallet like things but I don't call it a SHTF lair ;)

One more answer should be "loaded in magazines, speed loaders, etc".
 
Mostly in metal USGI ammo boxes marked with blue painter's tape listing the contents, date and "HEAVY". Many of the boxes were picked up over the years when you could get one for a song and a dollar bill. Now junkers are going for over $10... :(

Bunch of ammo "waiting for the range" sitting on a shelf. Some is waiting to be put in an ammo box.

As an aside, be sure to check the seal of cheapie HF plastic boxes before you buy them as the last time I bought a couple (on sale for $3ea), I went through nearly a dozen before I found two that were acceptable. :rolleyes:
 
So, my friend that was a Test Director at Aberdeen told me that USGI ammo in ammo cans have a storage life of 150 years if unopened. once opened, 75 years. The cans are purged of oxygen with CO2 when packed.
Back in 1999 when I was on the State Rifle Team, at Camp Perry, the ammo issued for the M1 Match was TW57. (Twin Cities Arsenal 1957)
The ammo looked brand new, and shot very well even after 40+ years of storage.
 
There's a NRA fact book put out around 1990. Wishing to confirm the findings in book, a few of us set out to test some theories.
Yes, lead melts 1st in a open fire. Then the exposed powder, lastly the primer with a small phhfftttt. No big deal.
NOW! Some badly tarnished and questionable rounds of various calibers thrown in a metal ammo can, say 50rounds +/-. Thats a grenade and we never did that again. Granted it wasnt as bad as the 5000 sparklers ducktape together that ended up forming a multi stage rocket. But bad enough.
Mix of metal and plastic ammo cans/crates. The stuff Im into alot gets put in plastic cans in the house. It gets broken down from crate to metal can to plastic case to can. Squirrels havent got into any metal containers yet.

I purchased a couple of those 303 Enfeilds they dug up in the 80s, with ammo. 1945 dateish. Shot a very tight group at 100yds in late 90s with stuff buried in a desert for 50yrs.
 
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If you read Hather's Notebook, he demonstrated to whatever the organization at the time was called that promoted fire safety, that ammo outside the chamber was not as depicted in the movies and cartoons with bullets whizzing everywhere. Even canisters of smokeless powder and primers are safer than you would think if kept in their factory packaging.
 
This movie is a tragedy with 100s of 1000s of casualties. Not for the weak of heart... :( ;) VIDEO

casualties.JPG
 
no4mk1t said:
Back in 1999 when I was on the State Rifle Team, at Camp Perry, the ammo issued for the M1 Match was TW57.
Click to expand...
I had/have some '52? vintage mil-surp 30.06 in clips and bandoliers. Hadn't been stored in a can but was in good condition. Used it to test-fire a M1917 US "Enfield" sporterized by my uncle back in the late 50s and not shot since then. As he is my namesake (died in a sportscar crash in 1960) both our initials are engraved on the mag plate. :) This was around 2017, shooting a 100yo rifle with 65yo ammo that hadn't been fired in over 55 years. :D Gun shot wonderfully although the period "BB gun" sized scope on it left a bit to be desired. ;) The bore is beautiful as this one escaped ceremony duty. Later specimens were not so fortunate.

1917peashooter.jpg
 
Most of my ammo is in the original boxes which are stored in ammo cans.
 
Original boxes in plastic ammo containers. I put those moisture absorbing packs that come in shoe boxes in the ammo cans too. I doubt that does much of anything though.
Does ammo expire? I have some shotgun shells that are coming up on 20 years old.
 
Dave said:
Does ammo expire?
Click to expand...
Pretty much, no. No expiration. If it's kept dry, it's good for many decades. There are folks who have bought WW2 surplus ammo and all of it goes bang.
 
The last time I shot the John C. Garand match at Perry in 1999, the Army issued M2 Ball ammo. The head stamp was TW 57. Twin Cities Arsenal, 1957. Looked brand new coming out of the ammo cans. Shot really good too. Better than LC 69 that we had been getting from CMP.
Store your ammo for long term in USGI ammo cans in a temperature controlled environment, and it will last longer than you will.
 
I keep factory ammo in the original cardboard boxes. My reloads are stored in RepackIt boxes I bought on Amazon. Almost all of it is located in a climate controlled room so it remains cool and dry.

Ammo storage.jpg
 
My ammo should remain in good shape well beyond my lifetime.
 
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