New to guns. Is there any reason why I shouldn't store ammo in large plastic bins with a desiccant?
Seems like the cheapest and easiest way.
New to guns. Is there any reason why I shouldn't store ammo in large plastic bins with a desiccant?
New to guns. Is there any reason why I shouldn't store ammo in large plastic bins with a desiccant?
Seems like the cheapest and easiest way.
Unless you're storing it somewhere with no HVAC even the dessicant is overthinking things.
why would you need desiccant?
ammo comes in cardboard boxes from the factory and doesn't even have desiccant in it, gunpowder is not hygroscopic, and there's no way for water to get past the primer or bullet crimp on the casing
My brother if you have enough money to buy the amount of ammo to fill up totes then you have enough money to buy a proper storage solution. To your question I assume it's perfectly fine to store ammo in them. I personally don't like my ammo in plastic though.
>I personally don't like my ammo in plastic though.
why?
Xenoestrogens
if that's your real answer, you are spending too much time on the internet
They are turning the bullets gay. I need my bullets straight.
Alien b***hes ain't queef in your Tupperware, homes.
any way I can change that?
asking for a friend
Would
>not turning the people you shoot into trannies so they won't procreate if they survive in the first place
ngmi
Black person your fingers are touching a keyboard
>anon doesn't type on stainless
See you when you're literally a troony at 40 plasticbro. I bet you drink out of too. Maybe even wear it.
There are far better options. Totes are terrible for efficient storage and organization of solid material. No matter the brand they're not sturdy enough to be relied on with the weight of ammo. Water and elements can still get inside them even more so if they're stacked. The plastics used in most totes aren't friends with the materials used in ammunition. I simply don't want to trust a tote with hundreds of dollars of ammunition. I hardly trust them with old magazines and pillows.
you just need to use something designed for the purpose, not college dorm totes from target
I use MTM ammo cans and they work perfectly
Muh man.
i have those cans and they fricking suck compared to metal ones
I didn't know these things existed, they look like a shitty alternative to surplus metal ammo cans.
But regardless....does anyone know what the "N" means in pic related?
>shitty alternative to surplus metal ammo cans.
they don't smell weird, they won't rust, they won't scratch hardwood, and they're lightweight. unless you really need the battlefield durability offered by milsurp cans I can't think of any downsides
>I can't think of any downsides
you pick it up fully loaded and the handle break off/feels like its about to fail
I fill mine to the brim and it feels just fine. I wouldn't slam it onto concrete but I think for 95% of shooters that's not going to be an issue
brim haha
nice joke
for your purposes plastic is fine but when you are fitting 35-50 lbs of ammo that plastic shit does not inspire confidence at all.
this post made me curious, so I tested a bigger one out at 35lbs
seems fine tbh
>packed-n-case-gard
It's a play on words of "packed in case" and using their line of case-gard boxes to finish the pun.
>does anyone know what the "N" means in pic related?
Oh I think you know
I posted this gif on the WhatsApp at work and some uppity Black person got butthurt
Nice
>no you gotta buy the candy bar bag carrying bag! you cant just buy regular bags!
Candies don't usually have the potential to cause serious injury or death if stored improperly.
Anon if your ammo is stored indoors its already properly stores, just as long as its not underneath your magnifying glass collection
I like to store mine in the oven so it stays nice and warm.
I have these for calibers I don't buy much of but for .223 and 9mm which makes up the bulk of my most used ammo, the weight and security is nowhere near as good as metal cans which I keep putting off buying.
get^^^^^ they are awesome if you desire portability get the small set so you can grab and go I have 2 that way and it is sane weight but the 30 cal can set is stupid heavy when full.
ammo is fricking heavy and the second you try to move it the plastic warps or fails
Those totes are just the biggest fricking garbage trust me. I store a lot of junk in them and they're good for stuffed animals and halloween costumes. Nothing with weight. Nothing with hard edges. Nothing that can't be stacked cleanly (like random glassware and dishes). They're garbage at UV resistance. They're garbage at heat resistance. They crack or fold in on themselves when they have weight on top of them in the form of another tote or someone leaning on them. The lids are so poorly secured that you put a heavy tote on the one below on it and the lips of the bottom tote flare upwards and the center dips exposing it to air and bugs. They are good for VERY specific uses. Ammo is much heavier than you think. Find a local surplus store and buy surplus metal ammo cans for like $10-20 depending on size. They will last a literal lifetime and they can be stacked or put under a bed easily. They come in many sizes and the smallest "30 cal" cans are small enough for things you don't have a lot of but big enough to fit it. If you can't find one that isn't dirty or doesn't smell "clean" enough, you throw that thing in the tub, coat it in spray dawn, use a cheap dish rag from Walmart to wipe it clean under hot water, rinse it off with hot water, and set it outside for several weeks, open, and it will smell totally clean. I have a couple sitting outside that some moron put mothballs in.
It WILL become brittle at some point or crack under stress at some point. It's a gamble. I personally don't want to have 15 pounds of .22lr spill out of a plastic ammo can because I paid $5 more for a plastic one rather than a thinner surplus metal one that stores more ammo. They also don't stack IIRC.
>They also don't stack IIRC
they do
Frick anon I meant to remove that; you're right. I was picturing a partially rounded top on some model for some reason. I looked up some pics and got distracted by the podcast I was watching. Is that MTM? I think their plastic stuff is just about the only plastic products I'd buy; I know an older guy with some MTM gun rests, a gun vise, etc. I think the rest is 80s. I've owned a couple of their older reloading ammo cases (the grid snap close ones) I got free before.
Frick, "the rest" as in the gun rest, the shooting rest. I didn't realize how that sounded until I just read it.
No.
But then again, where's the cool on that?! You NEED to spend more for expensive and overengineered ammo boxes from questionable companies or you'll not fit into gun society!
Me? I just store my ammo on those boxes with a couple of silica gel satchels inside. Pic related.
Nother shout out to ammo cans.
Buy them at a brick and mortar surplus store to get them super cheap. Most will have iffy rubber seals but I have some that are non-existent and they have been keep my ammo perfectly dry
I went to the trouble of testing a variety of surplus and new production cans that I had with humidity testing strips. The wonderfully toxic pigment compound changes color when exposed to humidity. The control I placed outside was saturated within several hours, while the test cans which contained desiccant remained completely dry for multiple years. However I learned that the cardboard containing ammo can store a significant amount of moisture, and may require rotating desiccant packets.
Pro tip they’re great for storing handguns.
I also degreased some unfinished steel and tested it in a similar fashion.
The conclusion I came to is that the metal cans perform remarkably well and hold water and air tightness for years, even when exposed to temperature swings and direct contact with water (rain).
Ammo boxes aren’t much more expensive than those worthless crappy bins. As a bonus the ammo boxes are water tight.
You can’t stack those bins with anything heavy in them or the lid breaks. And an ammo can full of ammo is heavy, that plastic bin full of ammo is going to be really heavy.
For bigger cartridges like 12 gauge or whatever the surplus 40mm grenade boxes work well.
I have a few empty ammo boxes but for some reason they randomly "bing" every so often
Like a change in the temperature or something causes the metal frame to distort and make a noise or something, that's what I assume
So I keep them in the basement because the noise shocks/annoys me whenever I hear it. Thus I don't really use them for ammo and just stack ammo cardboard boxes on a shelf.
Anon I have a couple wet taxidermy preserves in a room (inedible squirrels due to disease, squirrel hearts and stuff for reference to have when new hunters ask how small of a target an (insert animal) heart is) and the Ball Jar lids "bing" every now and then. Ditto old TVs; I grew up with tube TVs so I'm just used to the house, the TV, or whatever clicking, cracking, thumping, or binging as things settle or containers swell or shrink. Never had an ammo can do that though, lol wtf? How loud is that? The jars are loud! I can't imagine an ammo can going CLUNK.
not that anon but have same experience. I live out in the country, no neighbors, very quiet, so when the cans go CLUNK its quite alarming. The full cans seem to not do it as much, the can I have as a makeshift safe/important document container does it much more frequently
So it's an air volume thing, interesting. I wonder if my jars that tink are mostly the ones with only like 2" of alcohol in them or are for dry things like leaves and forest floor junk like pine needles for taxidermy mounts.
yeah its definitely an air volume thing. I'd bet if you had a piece of form fitted styrofoam inside one it would basically never pop
You could get just one of these boxes for hauling ammo to and from the range or hunting trip or whatever, and then keep the rest of your ammo safe and dry in your basement in whatever inexpensive storage solution you come up with.
I take them out and put them in bags, then into boxes sometimes if I want to save space.
for taking some to the range these are fine, but realistically these are expensive as hell compared to plastic bins you can get for cheap that are much bigger.
pfff, just use an old paint bucket, you can get those for free and they seal air tight and no one will look at it twice
It doesn't really matter what you store ammo in. I've got ammo in metal ammo cans, plastic bags, cardboard boxes, etc. They're all stored indoors so the chances are near 100% they'll all go bang when I need them to. What I really need to do is put it all into stripper clips, at least my 5.56mm ammo.
ammo cans aren't that expensive and are miles sturdier and more reliant against the elements than a plastic thingamajig
Ammo is heavy and those type of boxes will buckle with not even 1/10 full.
if you fill that with ammo it will be like 300 pounds and break if you are able to lift it anyhow. The metal .30 cal cans are best option, though .50's are good when you have ammo from companies who use larger than necessary cardboard boxes that dont stack well in the .30's
Pretty much what everyone else said. You can store ammo in whatever you want as long as it's in a cool and dry place, but just get surplus ammo cans. They aren't that expensive, are water tight, and won't get ridiculously heavy and break.
If you're buying any ammo in bulk that's military caliber, it'll often come in an ammo can if you buy that option. As stated, if you can afford enough ammo to fill a bin you can afford a few ammo cans. It'll help can that organized.
Plastic bins are crap at ammo storage (case gard is purpose built and I use their stuff for reloading) but excellent at storing and sorting spent brass. Get some clear 1-2 gallon bins, label them caliber and "clean" "dirty" "sized" and "primed" and know at a glance what's filling up and what to work on next.
Horror Freight for me. They probably aren't as good, but they're good enough and I have no milsurp store nearby.
i just leave my ammo in the ups box it came in and leave it on my bedroom floor. PrepHole law states that i am the most based because i put in the least effort
Alright. Here's what you need to know about ammo storage: Anything that's airtight and dry is a good start. After that, the big considerations are ease of handling and durability in rough situations.. Ammo is fricking HEAVY. It's also fairly useless not in magazines ready to sell into your weapon.. You can't really go wrong with Army ammo cans in good shape designed for what caliber you have gobtons of. For example: 5.56NATO. Get the cans for it and enough clipper strips for all it. Get all the ammo in the clipper strips. I put Velcro on the loading tabs, at least 2 per can and Velcro them to the inside of the lid. It makes loading a bunch of mags fast a breeze without adding an insane amount of weight per can. Cans full of loaded mags won't get you as far as this setup.. You're not carrying much ammo on your back. These cans are for loading and unloading quickly into vehicles. From a dirt bike to a tractor trailer rig and everything in-between. Never fricking store more ammo in one spot than what you can move into your getaway vehicle inside of 5 minutes. That's right, this is all about LOGISTICS. Try moving 100 fully loaded ammo cans and you quickly see the issues. Those fricking plastic totes? They'll fall apart from the weight even if you never move them. Try to move them and you'll induce a tragic comedy of stupidity. You're not just new to guns. You're new to violence and war. Tell you what. Get a dead motorcycle battery that doesn't leak. Take it with you as if was as important as your cellphone. Carry it like that in your normal day for two days. Or, get an ammo can, put the proper weight in it and do the same. You'll start to see the problems. If you ain't worried about violence, just keep them in strong cardboard boxes in the packaging you bought them in, they'll be fine.
Ammunition should be stored with as much care as pickled mayonnaise, it can easily become discoloured, tarnished, dirty in appearance, and once that happens it's basically trash and should be discarded immediately.
Here's what i'm doing;
>A basic ammo stash, all kept in original boxes, inside of metal ammo cans.
2x.30cans for 3000rds 22lr(1500x2) (~$225/can) (~15lbs/can)
2x.30cans for 1000rds 5.56 (500x2) (~$400/can) (~17lbs/can)
1x.30can for 400rds Handgun (~$240/can) (~14lbs/can)
2x.50cans for 350rds 12ga (175x2) (~$200/can) (~23lbs/can)
1x.30can for 200rds .308 (~$300/can) (~14lbs/can)
>-----------(~5000rds/total)-------(~$2200/total)
>I'm avoiding .50cans for most calibers due to excessive weight, i made an exception for 12ga mostly because its so bulky and the boxes dont fit nice in a .30.
>You may be able to fit more or less in the cans depending on the dimensions of your ammo's packaging.
Toss a desiccant pack in to each can to control moisture.
To help maintain the integrity of your cans gaskets; Treat them with rubber protectant, Do Not stack too much weight on top of the cans.
>Do Not indtroduce dirty ammo into you cans, a single rotten ammo spoils the whole barrel, lightly tarnished ammo should be washed in the sink with soap and water, more heavily soiled ammo should be destroyed with extreme prejudice.
Apologies, $ values are in canadian funny money.
>avoiding 50cans due to excessive weight
my brother in Christ I upgraded to 60mm cans because the 50's weren't light enough.
>Anon lifts so when God sends his toughest battles he has enough ammo to handle them
Hello, based department?
Dyel?
I've been storing my ammo in the following:
plastic ammo cans
metal ammo cans
the basic ass cardboard box it was shipped in
unless you are leaving it in a rainstorm or some shit, there is no practical difference.
Perfectly fine.
I use the conveniantly stackable kind to store shit and toolboxed to take it to the range.
But any box works.
steel cans are supposed to grenade sort of when on fire, idk though, because i watched a stack burn down and it just melted
was a massive fire, but w/e
You fill that plastic tote with ammo, and it will break when you try to move it
IF you can pick it up.