Ammo Storage Question

[Full MeTal Jack]

I have some 30-06 Austrian dated 1958. It won't eject from my 03A3. Brass has some discoloration and corrosion. The SC's extractor maybe defective. Clean ammo OK.
Question, what is or what have you found to a way to store ammo? This was stored in original cardboard boxes and kept in file drawer in my closet. (now ya know where I keep it).
Any thoughts?
Whats a good method for long term storage?
kkb

[sum1_special]

darn glad you asked. i am a little paranoid when it comes to storing ammo so i used to do alot of research about it when i first got a crate of 1000 rounds.

I store the boxes of ammo in a cool, dry place in the wooden crate it came in, not the tin. the best way to kill ammo is to leave it where its hot and moist. i keep mine in an old closet where, for some reason, its always cold(even in the summer when it's 100 degrees outside) and the air is stale and bone dry. anyway, after you find a good place to store it go to your wife's closet and dig in her old shoe boxes or coat pockets and get about 5 of those white silica gel packets, they work as a dehumidifier and suck the moisture out of the air. go downstairs and put them in the oven, yes, the oven. heat them to 350 degrees for about 2-5 minutes, to drive out the moisture in the pores and recharge them(lord knows how long they've been in those boxes ), careful not to burn the paper. let them cool and then throw them in the crate, box or wherever your storing the ammo. then wrap everything in an airtight garbage bag to seal the air in.

there, fresh for eternity , or until you need them.

[NorCalAshnjikov]

Originally Posted by sum1_special

go downstairs and put them in the oven, yes, the oven. heat them to 350 degrees for about 2-5

That sounds so disgusting :/ I'd rather let'em bake in the sun for an hour,
or better yet, just buy some new ones

[sum1_special]

disgusting? how so?

they're those little clear beads wrapped in paper. you find them in the box when you buy pepperoni.

[Full MeTal Jack]

Going to tumble 300 rounds to clean em up. Guess I need some dessecant.

[Big Dog]

Being ex-GI, I use the tried and true GI ammo cans. I keep them in a relatively cool dry closet too. Of course, it's anybody's guess what they were subjected to before we got 'em.

[Dale]

I've stored my ammo in military ammo cans and in my ambient hot storage/work shed and I've never had any problems with it.

In fact we just fired some 9MM and shotgun that I had marked were reloaded back in 1993 and every one shot fine.

All this surplus ammo 'we' are buying...do you really think anyone has had the forethought to say, "Hey, let's store this chit where it's absolutely dry and where it's cool so when we sell it fifty years from now............."????

I don't put much stock in the strict dry and cool storage idea.

[Big Dog]

Yep, some of the El Salvadoran 7.62X51 I bought (100 rounds loose per box, various dates in each box) looks like it sat in rusty water for awhile! Others range from bright and clean to pretty grungy. Amazingly, all has fired well, and it's very accurate! My Chopo loves the stuff!
That's good - I got plenty to keep me shooting, and I can keep my clean Aussie packed safely away - in it's ammo can. :right:

[sum1_special]

Have you ever compared ammo stored in damp, warm conditions vs ammo stored dry and cool for the last 40-50 years? chances are if you haven't stored it properly you end up with what Full MeTal Jack has.

old warehouses are usually cool and dry and surplus ammo is usually tightly sealed with desiccant, why do you think your still able to shoot ammo thats over 50 years old?

ammunition degrades over time, the faster it degrades depends on how you store and take care of it. The shelf life of commercial ammo is, IIRC, about 10 years but if stored can last over 40 years.

[sum1_special]

Full Metal jack, did ya figure out what to do with all that ammo

[Shaun]

simple put it in the closet I use rubbermaind stoage bins to keep all the ammo sorted

[inuyasha]

if you want to see something kind of interesting put some loose lead and brass *both used* in a AIRTIGHT container with a lot of water... found an ammo can that was open when it rained, and someone sealed it up... looked rather moldy and nasty when found. my poor collection of large cal. brass, slugs, and chrome -_-

[Full MeTal Jack]

Thanks guys.

[Otter]

I use GI ammo cans, I've seen loaded magizines that were stored over thirty years preform flawlessly.

[Oxford]

I've recently come in possession of around 100 of the silica gel packets. Several were put inside my gun cabinet and the others, after reading this thread , will be to put in my military surplus ammo steel containers, where I keep all my ammunitation. :right:

[Dale]

Ox...you sure you didn't come across someone's cocaine stash???

"Them are some awfully big 'packet's to be drying packets, son!"

Ya know, Ox...with each packet being right at 2 kilos a package ought to have given you a clue.

[gunssb]

Originally Posted by Dale

Ox...you sure you didn't come across someone's cocaine stash???

This is exactly what I was thinking - he sure was acting funny on chat yesterday :nod: :guitar:

[Oxford]

Ok...bear with me. Here's exactly how I came across all those silica gel packets.

My Rotary Club just completed a project of collecting childrens shoes for orphans. My club's goal was 1,000 pairs of new children's shoes...but we overshot our goal because we ended up with 1,120 pairs. Thanks to several donars who definitely made a difference, such as The American Red Cross, who gave us 230 pairs of Nike Sneakers, one member did a car bash netting enough cash to buy around 150 pairs, one local high school donated 36 pair, another high school donated 254 pair, and Rotary members donated enough cash to buy the additional shoes.

Well...what's the connection between shoes and those silica bags? Siimple. Many of the shoe boxes had either one or two silica bags inside. As I removed shoes from boxes in order to reduce bulk when we shipped the shoes, I saved at least 100 of those silly little bags...thinking maybe they'd be good to reduce humidity in my gun cabinet. Hmmmm! So...they were hard earned litle bags, not what you've kidded me about above. BTW, my Rotary district collected over 20,000 pairs of childrens shoes and the other three Rotary districts in MO collected additional shoes giving a grand total of 70,000+ pairs of childrens shoes we collected for the needs of orphans around the world. This is the fourth year for participating in this project. Four years we collected 61 pair, the next year 200, last year 400 and this year 1,120. Not too bad for a small Rotary club of 37 members.

So...now you know the rest of the story. :nod:

[gunssb]

Way to go Ox :right:

[Oxford]

My main role in the "shoes" project was to be the official buyer for my club, especially since I'm retired and take on additional projects. So...I bought probably 95% our 1,120 pairs of shoes (with donated funds), other than what was donated by The American Red Cross.

Now why did the ARC give us shoes? Ok...here's why. An individual here in K.C., who had gone in the shoe business out of his basement, decided to go out of business for whatever reason...who knows? Regardless, the individual gave his complete inventory to the ARC. Ok...so the ARC has emergencies all over the U.S. to respond to for all kinds of assistance, probably including shoes occasionally. But...I was told they'd stored those 230 pairs of Nike Air sneakers on their shelves for over seven years and had not found it possible, in an emergency setting, to distribute them. Nearly every pair of the shoes was of a different style, size, etc. and it would have taken one complete panal truck to go on an emergency run just to carry those shoes. Then, to find the exact size, for someone would have been a nightmare...so they decided that it just wasn't practical for them to hang on to the 230 pairs of shoes, and that our project would be a worthwhile purpose. Of course, we were glad to help them dispose of their shoe inventory. :right:

Next...where did most the shoes come from that I bought? For those of you who enjoy bashing Wal-Mart...you won't want to read further. Wal-Mart in Gladstone, MO reduced their children's shoe prices down from $20 and under to $3.00 for the majority of the shoes that I bought and the rest down to $3.50. So...over a period of around six weeks I rolled out at least 15 of their shopping carts full of childrens shoes to the cashier from the shoe department. One time I was pushing one cart while pulling another, and three other employees were following me as I caravaned toward the cashier up front. Needless to say, many of the store customers who saw this were standing in amazement asking what's going on. :guitar: Then while I was handing one shoe box after another to the cashier some customers wanted to buy shoes off of my shopping baskets. Had to run them off.

So...that's even more of the rest of the story about the "shoes" project. :nod: :right: