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Ammo Storage

4K views 43 replies 31 participants last post by  Wilbur Gibson 
#1 ·
Do you store your ammo in an ammo box loose or in the cardboard box? Thanks
 
#3 ·
If store bought in the containers they were shipped or packaged, reloads I store loose in ammo cans or plastic Tupperware type containers that have a rubber seal. When I go to the range I just put them in plastic ammo boxes .
 
#5 ·
Loaded centerfire ammo by me is stored in MTM ammo boxes and the ammo boxes are stored in U.S. military surplus ammo cans of various sizes with desiccant in the ammo cans. I also store my gunpowders, primers, bullets and virgin or shot and resized cartridge cases in U.S. ammo cans with desiccant in them. All the ammo cans are labeled as to their contents.
 
#8 ·
Largely MTM or that type plastic box in 20, 50 or 100 round count. Rifles are mostly 20 or 50, revolvers are 50 or 100. Semi-auto ammo is in the factory container as are shotshells.
 
#9 ·
If and when I buy factory ammunition, I leave it in it's original packaging. I keep it in my garage which stays between 70 and 85 degrees year round. I load the bulk of my ammunition and store them in zip lock bags with moisture Dessicant packs. Each bag of ammo has an ID tag.
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#11 ·
I keep almost all of my reloaded ammo in the original boxes it came in from the factory. back in the early 80s i didn't reload for all the calibers i owned but i saved the boxes and the brass, so i still use those boxes. All other reloaded ammo is in green boxes, All the 22 ammo is in it's original boxes, except for the rounds my wife keeps finding in between the couch cushions.:oops:
 
#13 ·
Most of mine are stored in 50 cal steel ammo cans in original boxes or plastic MTM boxes. I have over 250 MTM plastic boxes in 50 and 100 count, I buy them on sale usually from Natchez and scored about 60 of them used for .50 each. I also have a several 50 cal MTM plastic cans. I don't use any desiccant packs in any of them but they are in a temp controlled environment.
 
#15 ·
Desiccant can purchased from Grainger or ULINE. I get the clear silica glass beads as when they are totally clear they have no moisture absorbed. When or if they turn opaque they need to be recharged by spreading the beads on a lager cookie sheet and in the eletric oven at 125°F-150°F for about an hour or until they are clear again. My loading equipment I keep in a 25 gallon Rubbermaid tote with a rubber gasket with several glass spice jars with hole drill into the screw on cap filled with desiccant. The ammo cans have 2.5”x4” heavy mill ziplock bags with holes in the bags filled with desiccant as the bags take up less space.
 
#16 ·
I keep the ammo in the proper boxes to make it easy to identify.
The exception is a bottle of .22's (pill or vitamin) that sits in my handgun cabinet.
Slides into my pocket for some impromptu plinking.
I live on 5 acres so plinking is out my door to a rimfire target.
The new economy has me doing a lot more plinking lately.
 
#17 ·
I store my ammo in the boxes it came in. Or spam can it came in.
I have enough that I keep it out in the barn in case of a house fire. In my county, the fire dept will back off and let the house burn if more than a few rounds cook off. It happened to a man that lives not far from me.
Some is in USGI ammo cans, but frankly I also have a 5 drawer filing cabinet full. And an old kitchen wall cabinet saved from a remodel job.
I haven't had to worry about ammo availability in stores since Obama first took office.
 
#18 ·
Except for 223/556 which are in food saver bags mostly, my reloads go entirely into "primo" factory boxes stuffed tight in 50 caliber ammo cans, what I mean by primo is different manufacturers look at the storage or interstices differently. Sellier and Bellot and PMC are good (small) ones, Fiochhi is pretty good, Blazer, Federal and most others run in the huge category, factory boxes from Midway plumb stink. The guys at the shooting range laugh at me for dumpster diving!
I did a count/comparison once I think it was with 9mm packed into a 50 cal can (w/a descant always, I even wear nitriles to keep my skin oil off the nice clean brass to reduce the tarnish), bear in mind it's been a while, but the results went something like the "Bummer Boxes" two, to three of the "primo boxes", I think the numbers looked like 900 versus 1250.
Space is a commodity! :)

I just ain't got nothin better to do!
 
#22 ·
The only factory ammo I have is .22's. I get SGS Magazine in cans of 500 that I decant into empty CCI boxes of 100 each. Everything else I reload and keep in plastic boxes of 50.

Police have told me how many rounds of each caliber I can have on hand. 3 k .22's, 600 each of .223, .243, and .357. I forget how many .45-70 I can have on hand. It's on my license.

Shotgun shells are in their original packaging.
 
#24 · (Edited)
Life was so simple before I started hand loads in 2014. Everything was in original packaging.
Today,,,how I store it now depends on what stage of load development I'm at with any given cartridge of the 19 different types I reload for now.

I really love the MTM Ammo storage system for smaller caliber rifle and pistol.


My development loads, primers, etc are in a cupboard with individual boxes (lots of notes in my reloading manual, so I can remember where I was a year ago, and what the rifle/pistols likes)


My other 3 locations carry "Everything else specialty loads" from 25ACP ammo to 38-55 BP/ Smokeless, to 45-70 BP /smokeless, and shotgun ammo. Kinda covered in these 3 cabinets but there is a lot more than shown. I'm close to 15,000 rounds of 19 calibers, from 22 High Power to 45-70. Not all ammo is shown. 25% is in the SHTF fall out shelter
My most rounds stored is .223 (3000 rds, rookie level) My least stored is 22 HP (50 rds., but hey, its a 1915 Cartridge!)





 
#25 ·
I use MTM clear or blue see-thru ammo boxes. I bought a bunch of Uline wide mouth clear plastic jars, for .223, 9mm, and .38spl. A piece of paper w/caliber, bullet, powder, Stoney Point OAL depth.
In the case of 9mm a taper crimp of .003" is added. 6.5crdmr, .25-06, are in MTM boxes(I found the Cabela's brand similar to the MTM to be flimsy and hinges broke when I dropped one on the linoleum tile floor.) Since, I have several rifle of the same caliber I seat to the most conservative depth and use that for all of the rifles.
For me, rimmed cartridges get a roll crimp, straight wall pistol and .45-70 a tapered crimp, and bottle neck cases - .223, 5.56, 6.5, and .25-06 are never crimped. The LC brass for the AR provides enough neck tension to hold the bullets in place. All others are bolt rifles, and again crimping is not an issue. My experiment w/crimp vs. no crimp on the 5.56, showed me that crimping was detriment to accuracy.
I do not have any factory boxes. Those boxes fell apart 25 years ago from over use. Actually, when I reload now, I usually load 50 for the MTM boxes, and 75 of .223 for the Uline plastic jars. Typically, about 300 5.56 are done at a time and I fill 4 of the Uline jars.
If I'm loading 12ga, they go into a 2 or 5 gallon bucket. The 5 gallon bucket only get filled half way.
Clays or 700x, 1-1/8oz shot, at 1150 to 1170fps is fine for trap or sporting clays.
 
#29 ·
ALL my reloads are in plastic boxes of one form or another, the general MTM type plastic box. The ONLY thing that is in the factory box is factory ammo. If I need another plastic box I will buy one, never put my reloads in a factory box, if for some reason I get hit by a truck I don't want someone shooting my reloads thinking they are factory. Not like it would matter to me at that stage, just the way I am wired.

I do have loose steel cased 223 in the "normal" military cans, and have for decades. One thing I will say is that by the time these cans get to us it is likely the seals are not quite up to snuff, so don't count on the rubber seal to be all that great.
 
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