[PennsyPlinker]

Here's one I haven't seen anything on yet. Maybe I should search the archives some more, but I am wondering how people store their boxes and boxes of ammunition. As my collection of guns grows, so do the various types of bullets for them, .22, .380, 9mm, .357 mag, .40 S&W, .44 mag, and so on.

I'm interested to hear, (or see if someone has the inclination to post some pictures), how you store your bullets, and how you handle those partial boxes. I'd alo be interested in ideas on how to build something specific for this purpose. I have some tools and a little experience... :cool:

I hope to see some replies.

Thanks.

[Hawken50]

the cabinets that came out of my kitchen when we redid it went straight to the basement. one caliber per shelf, divided by loads. at least that was the plan, now everything just scattered around and i can't find anything.

[Car Knocker]

I store bullets in the boxes they come in. Cases go in large plastic containers. These are stored under my bench. Primers and powder, of course, stay in their original containers and are stored in separate metal cabinets. Bulk reloads go into ammo cans to be later transferred into plastic ammo boxes before going shooting.

[grislyatoms]

Factory ammo I keep in a large toolbox.

Brass:

I got sick of always searching through coffee cans, old ammo boxes, paper and plastic grocery bags, etc, for brass to reload.

I got a bunch of sturdy blue plastic parts bins from Grainger to hold my brass in and got rid of all the above laying around.

Works great!

I have one all purpose bin I throw brass in right when I get home from the range, to be sorted and cleaned later.

[KINGMAX]

I store mine by caliber in an ammo box w/ a chain and lock on each ammo box.

[doncameron]

30 cal ammo cans for rifle ammo and 50 cal ammo cans for pistol ammo
Yes, I shoot handguns more.
each ammo can for each caliber, boxes standing on end so I can
read them.

[trickyasafox]

second shelf of my reloading bench. i have my bench marked for different calibers and i color code it. black boxes mean 223, red is 40sw camo is 9mm blue is 45acp etc etc.

[Dr.Rob]

In a locked room on sturdy industrial shelves by caliber... loaded ammo in one section of shelves, reloading supplies in another.

I do keep rifle and handgun seperate, and stack the 22's with the rifle ammo.

[kennedy]

in .30 army boxes, in the locked lower part of my gun cabinet. I put paper labels on the ends with the caliber marked so if I need 9mm, go to that box, pull it out of the cabinet and open the lid.

[sm]

I use a 50 rd box of .22 ammo for a paperweight on the computer desk here, over "there" a 5 pk of slugs has a page in a book marked, and there is a full mag of 9mm ammo marking a spot in another textbook on the floor.

In the bedroom there is another mag acting as weight for something I am using epoxy on to fix, and the 20 rd box of some kind of ammo, I'd have to look, is acting as a door stop to keep door knob from hitting wall...the springy thingy is broken.

Truck is supposed to have some ammo in the toolbox...I think.

Other than that, I am in the "dig and get surprised what I found" camp.

I at one time was organized, but I quit, after seeing what a fire, a tornado and a flood does to really nice and organized ammo, guns, and whatever else.


I might again some day...just not that big of a deal and don't care anymore.

Yeah it was kinda nice having a area to work off of - like a table - for bit, but them 30 cases of Shotgun slugs - finally the person came by to get them...that also meant I had to vacuum that part of the carpet again too...

Lady friend has a room with her shooting stuff, she too has been organized, but went thru a bad deal or two. Her theory is " I am in the if the blue helmets show up or the gun grabbers, they are gonna trip over this stuff and then their butts are mine" camp.

Works for us.

:)

[DWARREN123]

I use insulated coolers.

[XDforever]

I just started this handgun shooting thing two weeks ago with my XD9mm. My wife bought a Bersa Thunder 380 today at the Ft. Worth gunshow. We stopped off at Walmart after the show and bought her some ammo.

Right now my system is those 100 round plastic boxes in red for her 380 rounds and in blue for my 9mm rounds.

Works for now. We'll see what happens if/when we buy another caliber handgun.

Joe

[possum]

I use the big green ammo cans that come from cabelas the dry stogage boxes i think they are called. I got three or four of them from all the ammo i have bought from them over the years, and they throw those in with the purchase. i divide it up in Rifle ammo, pistol ammo, and that is about it. the boxes are labled. I leave everything in the original boxes except fpr my .223 which goes on stripper clips and in bandaliers. ready to rock and roll!

[normbal]

50 cal ammo cans you buy at gunshows for $4 ten at a time. You'll use them.

I have several filled with 9mm para bellum, .38 S&W, .357 Mag, .22 LR, .45 acp, .223 Rem, .308 Win, .30-06, .375 H&H, .458 Win mag, .44 mag and more.

They're parked in the basement in a row about ten wide and four high. Takes up little wall space, cans are sealed, (I added oxygen and water absorbers to cans I KNOW I won't shoot for a year or ten), temp against wall runs around 45 F year round.

Keep your wife involved in your gun collecting. You may have children you want to put through college someday, or make up a retirement plan, or take a vacation once or twice a year.

-nb

[MNgoldenbear]

Most of the ammo is in labeled ammo cans (".30" and ".50" cal sizes, whatever was available at the time).

Loading components are "in a box somewhere", as we've recently moved. When set up, the powders are on a shelf sorted by main application (target pistol/shotgun, mag. pistol, rifle). The bullets are also sorted by caliber, weight, and application, but I also need to make something that will help organize those boxes better (some sort of shelf/racking system). I think something along the lines of a set of wooden compartments, like a mailroom sorter/mailbox, would be good. If you could make it so that the vertical dividers could slide but still be steady, that would give you extra flexibility in terms of the size of the slots available for each bullet type. Might try some lexan if not too costly, in case the back of the sorter was hard to see if opaque, but that might compromise strength (those boxes add up weight quickly). Hmm. Got me thinking now, as I have to get things organized in our new home.

I switched to keeping most brass in clear plastic tubs with lids. They go on sale at WalMart/Target/etc sometimes, and come in a variety of sizes, stack well, and you can see the contents as well as looking at the label. I have to fight my wife for these sometimes though, since she also thinks they're handy containers.

[jeepmor]

Have filled it once or twice, then emptied it. Good fun. Once it's full, I usually stop reloading until half of it's contents have been sent downrange. It can get rather heavy.

jeepmor

[Coronach]

50 cal ammo cans you buy at gunshows for $4 ten at a time. You'll use them.Bingo. I make it a point to buy at least one load of "how many can I comfortably carry to the car at once?" per gunshow. Put 30s inside the 50s. They have a million and one uses besides storing ammo, and the one time I had a water leak in my basement I had a lot of wet cans, but no wet ammo.

On the plus side too, if you have all of your ammo and components in cans, you can label the cans and be able to find stuff.

Mike

[Lennyjoe]

As a military member I have access to ammo cans. I use several for dirty brass and each reloading caliber gets its own dedicated can for fresh ammo. Each can is then stored in the house at the bottom floor of the gun safe.

[nhhillbilly]

Preacher man had a great set up. I believe you can find it with a search.

[PennsyPlinker]

Thanks for the responses everyone! I am working on a solution for factory stuff as well as reloading supplies, and a lot of posts addressed both of those issues. Of course, my own current storage system is very much like that described by sm. :eek:

[TIMC]

I had a walkin vault built in my home. I have shelves above the rifle and handgun racks with ammo in factory boxes according to caliber.

[Texas Colt]

One more vote for ammo cans. 30 cal. cans for rifle ammo and 50 cal. ammo cans for pistol ammo. One can per caliber... or in the case of 45 ACP, many cans :D

[106rr]

I keep mine in a deep, locking four drawer file cabinet. Empties and magazines on the top, 32 ACP/ 38 Special,/ 9MM in second, 357 Mag/40/41 Mag/45/ and rifle ammo in the third, 22 rimfire and shotgun in the bottom. It worked until recently when I made a large purchase that won't fit.

[leadcounsel]

Military ammo cans work well. Some ammo I dump loose out of their individual boxes, others I don't.

Black marker to label the front of each box. These could all be secured together with a long cable or chain if needed through the front or handles.

I just used an old blanket spread across and over these cans to make them concealed to the casual observer.

[Dr.Rob]

Ammo cans are useful but when full they do weigh a ton, you need very sturdy shelving to handle ammo and reloading components. They are cheap though.

I also have a bunch of 3 gallon and 5 gallon 'super bubble' bubblegum plastic tubs for brass and cleaning and polishing media. The lids are airtight and they are sturdy plastic. I also have facory boxes I re-use as well as a ton of midway plastic boxes. (Which truthfully some of them get brittle over time, esp the 50 rd rifle boxes)

[Seancass]

i have a decent sized tackle box that holds 1000 22's and a couple hundred of the other stuff, plus all the gear i may need out shootin. i just grab it and whatever firearms i choose and i'm on my way, no looking around for misc. stuff.

[Ben Shepherd]

I store mine in either 30 or 50 caliber army cans, depending on how much I bought or loaded at the time.

ALWAYS date and label if you go this way though.

[keystone hog hunter]

sever years ago got mad when the gun i pulled out of the safe ..had no ammo.. so i made a list of guns and calibers i could not do without... sold off the excess...guess what new reason to go buy more guns..

[Vitamin G]

http://www.ikea.com/PIAimages/28292_PE114917_S4.jpg

The Ikea special... was $19.99. Now $29.
Reloading components aren't the only thing going up in price! (If primers took a 50% jump, we'd all scream bloody murder)

[ROCKSHUND]

My 3 full cases of 7.62x51 Portuguese live in their battlepacks in the original cases, and I don't open them up (did an initial inspection, and then reclosed the cases). Also have an unopened battlepack.

All the rimfire in the original factory boxes, in its own full 20mm ammocan (heavy).

Pistol ammo in original factory boxes, each caliber in its own ammocan, 50 cal or larger.

Each sporting rifle caliber...in factory boxes in each caliber's own 50 cal can. My handloads are in those cans too, either in plastic 20 or 50 round slip boxes, or stickered factory boxes.

Also have another 20mm can full of 7.62x51 packed on strippers in bandoliers.

Powders live in original canisters in a plastic toolbox and an ammocan. Primers have their own ammocan.

All of the above live in my closet, for climate control reasons. It's a good thing that it's a walk-in closet.

Brass & bullets in my workshop.

I'm so far back in the sticks that my lane just got signage this summer, and the name on it isn't even fully correct!!

It's on my list of things to do, to get on the stick about "dispersing" some of my ammo stocks.

You know that it's getting bad when you see Port 7.62x51 surplus doubling in value when it pops up in private sales nowadays.

-FNR.

[JohnBT]

Organize?

I have 10 or 11 ammo cans, 2 large Rubbermaid tubs under the bed, a couple of copier paper boxes, 2 or 3 canvas ammo bags, a case of .45 Match wadcutters, some old bricks of junk .22s I use for doorstops, 2+ cases of Wolf .22, a pile of Fiocchi .12 ga. and assorted 28 ga. on the desk upstairs that I haven't put away yet, plus whatever I have at my parents for our regular trips to the range.

My favorite is the copier paper box that's nearly full of 28 ga. shells, mostly AAHS. I wonder if I'll ever have enough ammo to devote a box to each caliber/gauge?

I know I've missed something, but I like surprises when I'm rooting around looking for something.

Oh, and a whole bunch of 12 ga. Hevi-Shot in my blind bag in the closet. Come to think of it, I believe I left 5 or 6 boxes at the river with my buddy the guide.

John

[Ditchtiger]

I've taken the guts and tube out of an old console TV,put plywood on the back and a locking door on the front. I can get 25 or 30 GI ammo cans inside.

[Archie]

I use the 100 round boxes for my 'formal' target ammunition - for Bullseye and PPC competition. For High Power Rifle, I have 50 round boxes for .308 Win. It's easy to see I have the proper load out of ammunition for a specific match.

For other shooting, I bulk pack ammo in plastic storage containers I find at the Dollar store. However, you want to buy a pile of them all the same, that way they stack neatly.

For component storage I use ammo cans. For some calibers I shoot (.22-250, .257 Roberts and .32-20) all my brass and bullets will fit into one .50 caliber ammo can. For my 'bulk' calibers, (.38 Special, .45 ACP, .30 Carbine, .308 Win) I use .50 or .30 caliber ammo cans with brass sorted by headstamp. I also have one fuse can full of mixed commercial 9x19 brass. Similarly, I keep jacketed rifle bullets in original boxes, and keep those together in an ammo can of suitable size. All the .30 caliber bullets in one, and so on. I buy .38 caliber 148 grains HBWC and .452 caliber 185-200 grain SWC bullets in bulk; they go in individual cans.

I buy self sticking labels and use my computer (or a magic marker) to label the cans.

For storage of ammo or components, I suggest Gorilla Rack. http://www.gorillarack.com/

They are easy to assemble, beastly strong and modular - so one can build them up as needed for number of shelves and shelf height. Okay, they are a bit more expensive than the plastic shelves one finds at the hardware store - they are brute strong and stable. And they last. And, one can fasten them to the studs in the wall for added stability. If one is really motivated, one can add studs and doors to the front and make a cabinet arrangement out of it.

My last reloading room I attempted to build conventional shelving. You know, those little stamped metal 'L' brackets and pine boards? No, no. Trust your uncle Archie on this one; Gorilla Rack.

No; I have no financial interest in the company.

I don't mind being stupid; I've gotten used to the idea. But I hate looking stupid.

[lwrnc1963]

I mostly use 30 and 50 cal ammo cans. I also have 2 cases of South African 7.62 surplus in the original metal 1200 round cans. All of it is kept under my bed (my cabin is small and I use space as efficiantly as possible).

[mstirton]

My walk-in closet is now just a closet.

[Dienekes]

Another vote for .30 and .50 caliber ammo cans. They should be on a list somewhere of the most useful inventions of the 20th century.

The square 2 gallon plastic bulk laundry soap buckets are good for brass, and even 5 gallon snap lid ones for large quantities.

[erict]

I'm CRAMPED for room in my safe. I think I'm gonna pick up a smaller one just for ammo.

I have around 8,000 rounds sitting in various places in the safe and it's gettiing to be a nuisance. Here is just some of it.

[Border]

I have a walk-in cedar closet with shelves that hold the ammo in stacks with boxws of shotgun shells as well. It also has my gun safe and clothes rod where I hang most of my hunting clothes, supplis and a few treestands. It's getting a little crowded so I am expanding my ammo and hunting room into the downstairs bedroom-priorities after all! :)

[Run&Shoot]

Several .50 ammo cans, a couple of large tool boxes, several sportman dry boxes, and some boxes in shelving above the loading bench.

Ammo cans and dry boxes are handy (if 40 lbs can be handy) for going to the range. The large tool boxes are for larger capacity storage.

.50 cans are nice because they will last forever, not too heavy to move around, can store a fair amount, and stack nicely. I would need about 20 more though...

[kevin387]

Here's one not already posted. I use all sizes of ammo cans especially if it will be a while before I shoot it. For the more often used I keep it in the original boxes but stack it in milk crates. They are heavy duty can be stacked and take up a small footprint in the garage. One draw back is they are heavy when they need to be moved to get to a lower crate.

[Huddog]

Another vote for factory boxes if new, plastic boxes if reloads and stored in Ammo Cans in the cabinets from a friends kitchen remodel.

[Gunrnr]

Mostly in MTM plastic boxes inside of military ammo cans. I still have many of the ones that followed me home 30 yrs ago when I was in. I have all of them labeled, which makes it easy for me when I go to the range. 30 and 50 cal cans are the perfect size for ammo or reloading components and their size keeps them from getting too heavy, as well. The ones I have for bullets are the heaviest, at 40 - 43 lbs., but most of the ones used for ammo are no more than 20 lbs.

[dtalley]

++ for the MTM type 50 round boxes kept in either Sportsman Dry Boxes or 50 Cal. ammo cans stacked in a closet. Dry boxes and ammo cans contain only one caliber and are labeled so.

[JJE]

I have factory ammo and handloading components piled in a corner of a large closet (powder & primers in a small cooler). I have much less handloaded ammo in MTM 100-rd flip-top cases, in the same pile.

My secret is a spreadsheet where I religiously mark down all the ammo I buy or load, and take off the stuff I shoot, basically organized by caliber so I immediately know what I have, what I need, and what I shouldn't buy for a while, even if it goes on sale. Same for powder, primers, bullets and brass.

Then, I just need to dig through the pile to get what I want.

[MR.G]

I use military ammo cans, labeled on the outside with the caliber and type of round.. Some of the ammo is in factory boxes, but most of the ammo cans contain loose ammo. They hold more that way.

[22-rimfire]

I also use military ammo cans (30, 223 or 50 cal). I make sure the rubber gasket is still intact and seal them up. Caliber is marked on outside of can. The empty brass is the biggest pain as I don't reload (yet). Selected calibers are stored in original box and basically arranged in a larger box.