ammo storage?

[thefamcnaj]

I made my first bulk ammo purchace. It was 1000 rounds of 115gr Remington umc 9mm. Seemed like a good deal at 230 dollars at my local academy. Anyway onto my question.
it came in a plastic bag inside a box.
I was wondering if I should buy an ammo can like one of the surplus cans and just dump in one of those. I don't know how long it will take me to shoot it all. Is there a propper way to store loose ammo. The ammo can I saw at walmart said it was air tight. I think it was made by black hawk.
Would a simple tupperware bowl with a lid work. Thanks for any advice.

 

[W.E.G.]

Anything convenient will do.

You can stock up on real ammo cans when you have enough ammo to justify it.

 

[Jaxondog]

I would not waste money on a can for 1000 round's. I would have that shot up in a couple of days.

 

[bobinoregon]

1000 rounds makes a good weekend, what are you going to save?

 

[thefamcnaj]

Real ammocan?
So as long as its in a container that keeps moisture off of it anything around the house will do?
wow I completely over thought that one

 

[RickRandom]

I like the plastic "50 cal" ammo cans. They're airtight and don't rust.

 

[Gaucho Gringo]

I bought 30 of the plastic Plano ammo cans for less than $5.00 each from Rural King when they had free shipping at various times over the past few years. And yes almost all of them are full. Going to have to get a few more of them next time they offer free shipping. Also have 10 of the military metal ones but the plastic ones seem to do the job.

 

[InkEd]

Surplus .50BMG ammo can.

 

[thefamcnaj]

Thanks guys. I have a couple Plano plastic cans. I always put the box of ammo down in them. This was the first loose ammo ive ever bought. I was just making sure it was ok to dump them in the plastic Plano can or if a metal one was needed.
I hope to be reloading by the new year and this 1000 rounds killed two birds with one stone. Plenty of ammo to shoot as well as having some brass by the time I get set up to reload.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

For convenience, I'd recommend getting some ziplock freezer sandwich baggies and bagging the ammo up in convenient 50 or 100 round lots. Grabbing a bag or two is so much easier than scooping loose rounds for a variety of reasons. Maybe you only want to take a couple hundred rounds to the range...toting an entire box of 1,000 is quite a bit of weight and inconvenience.

Freezer baggies are stronger than regular sandwich baggies and far less prone to puncture or tearing. They're a little more expensive...but well worth the extra cost.

Then drop them in an ammo can (or other convenient air-tight box/container). I like the metal ammo cans better than the plastic ones for a couple reasons: They're metter at neatly stacking, in my opinion, because of their shape and they're far more sturdy than the plastic ones.

A full ammo can weighs quite a bit...and I've seen more than one handle/latch fail on plastic ones that my buddies have. I've yet to see a latch or handle fail on the metal ammo cans.

But that's my experience...other people like the plastic ones, so more power to them if they serve them well.

 

[556by45guy]

Some might think it overkill and/or unnecessary, but I make my own desiccant packs and toss one in each air tight storage can or sealed bag.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Yep, I think desiccant packs are unnecessary in an air tight container.

 

[jmr40]

I buy these at Walmart. They sell 3-4 sizes with the smaller ones about $1.50. I keep my sorted brass in them as well as some bulk ammo. They are designed to stack and don't take up a lot of room. With loaded ammo they fit in a range bag without a lot of wasted space.

 

[MattShlock]

I would put that box of ammo...
...in the closet.

 

[Lex Luthier]

I happen to have a few of those 1k cans stacked up. Like some others here, I have a bunch of desiccant packs and put one in each can for long term storage.

 

[Midwest]

Harbor Freight has plastic ammo boxes on sale this month for $6.99 each. (Ammo not included....)

 

[M2 Carbine]

Mostly I use the steel 50 cal, and bigger, military ammo cans.

If the ammo is in factory boxes I usually leave it boxed.







My reloads are loose in the steel boxes.






For reload amounts of less than about 1,000 rounds, many times I just use air tight glass jars. Especially if it's ammo that may be quickly used.

 

[Grmlin]

WOW!! M2 Carbine that's a lot of candy!

I use the metal cans, I have the larger ones but they are very heavy, ammo I use/transport is in the 50 cal or smaller cans. Just not sure about the plastic cans and I use silica packets and hand warmers.

 

[556by45guy]

I thought I had a lot of ammo.

 

[M2 Carbine]

WOW!! M2 Carbine that's a lot of candy!

Yeah, I like a lot of ammo.

I have a couple home ranges where friend's shoot and where I help shooters and sometimes teach new shooters.
Since the shortage started I've given away about 10,000 rounds.
So, sometimes it can go pretty fast.

Just this morning a lady rancher came over for me to teach her how to shoot semi auto pistols. She had a good time, caught on quickly and did very well. Ladies like her always do good.

For practice I ran her through the Texas CHL shooting qualification. She shot 249 out of 250. That's great but I gave her a hard time about dropping that one shot.


Got to go.
Going to shoot the Beretta Nano and Kel Tec KSG in the back yard.

.

 

[Warp]

A regular old metal .30 GI style ammo can will hold right about 1,200 rounds of loose packed 9mm 115gr FMJ.

As for how long ammo lasts...I have shot 930 rounds through my Glock 26 in the past 3 months. And then there's the other firearms I've been shooting recently.

Ammo prices suck.

Yep, I think desiccant packs are unnecessary in an air tight container.

Desiccant packs are not necessary in a non-airtight container.

Yeah, I like a lot of ammo.

I have a couple home ranges where friend's shoot and where I help shooters and sometimes teach new shooters.
Since the shortage started I've given away about 10,000 rounds.
So, sometimes it can go pretty fast.

Just this morning a lady rancher came over for me to teach her how to shoot semi auto pistols. She had a good time, caught on quickly and did very well. Ladies like her always do good.

For practice I ran her through the Texas CHL shooting qualification. She shot 249 out of 250. That's great but I gave her a hard time about dropping that one shot.


Got to go.
Going to shoot the Beretta Nano and Kel Tec KSG in the back yard.

.

In my experience the demographic that is the most difficult to instruct/teach is the middle age male who has been shooting for years/his whole life, who thinks he knows what he is doing, and even thinks he is a good shot...except his groups are not very good, and they aren't getting better, and he isn't taking any of the advice/instruction that is being given.

The females do tend to do better. They listen. They aren't too macho to admit that they could learn a thing or two. And they haven't spent years reinforcing bad habits.

 

[CB900F]

Fella's;

Taking the question from a bit different viewpoint, here's my take.

Don't store ammo in your gunsafe. Don't do it! If the safe's thermal protective level is ever exceeded, the ammo tends to go off. Your chances of getting anything usable out of the container after that go steeply down.

Store your ammo someplace that doesn't overheat in the summer or freeze in the winter. There's a broad range in the category of stable temperatures, but do try not to go to either extreme. Properly stored ammo will last a very long time.

900F

 

[M1GarandDeerHunter]

Steel or plastic ammo cans rock in my world. Nice pics carbine. A guy should always be ammo heavy. Amazing how fast it goes too.

 

[Jackal]

You dont need anything to store them in unless they are going to be exposed to water. The boxes do just fine sitting on a shelf.