Silica gel packets. Save and use for gun/ammo storage?

[Crosshair]

I have been thinking about this for awhile and I need your opinion. We all know that you can buy those Silica gel things for using in your gun case/ammo boxes. I am wondering if one can take the Silica gel packets you get in nearly everything today and use them as a water absorber for ammo/gun storage. I work in retail and throw away ALOT of Silica Gel packets every day, some are quite large. I was thinking about using some small loose weave cotton bags to have it in, then when it gets "full' I dump it out into a pan and dry it out in the oven, put back into the bags, and reuse. Sure I can get small ones at Cabelas for $5, but that adds up when you buy alot of them so I was hoping I could do this to have a good supply of drying agent for "free". Is this a good idea or am I being too cheap?

 

[rangerruck]

every piece of electronics hardware has those packs in them, I work for a company that installs p.o.s. systems, cash registers, dvr video security, etc. I keep those packets, and yes they work quite well.

 

[bakert]

I keep and use them too. They seem to work fine and are FREE.

 

[Crosshair]

Sweet, I'll start saving them right away.

 

[TrapperReady]

Whenever I get a silica gel packet in some package, I put it into a gallon-sized Ziplock bag for future use. Then, whenever some piece of electronics gets wet (my oldest son's IPOD nano has been through the washer twice), I put the item in the bag for a few days. So far, I've had very good luck getting things working again.

As far as guns go, I used some big bags of silica gel (sold by Browning IIRC) to absorb moisture in my safe. They worked, but needed recharging (by drying in the oven for several hours) too frequently. After I had a little rust develop on a .22, I switched to using a Goldenrod and it seems to work better with no maintenance.

 

[hso]

TR,

If you just put the offended electronic device in a dry place for a few day with good air circulation you'd get the same benefit.

You've got to refresh the little silicas packs by drying in the oven every now and then. There was a thread a while back about using one of the Fresh Step cat litters and it turned out it was almost all silica gel that could be used to keep things free of moisture. Good thread.http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=213942&highlight=Fresh+Step

 

[Erebus]

Can buy them fairly cheap too

http://www.silicagelpackets.com/

 

[BigV]

I work in the printing industry and once in a while we get new equipment from over seas. They come with LOTS of large Silica packets. I saved about 20 or so and my lovely wife got some denim material and made tubes out of it. I filled them with the silica and she sewed the ends closed. The tubes are about 10” in diameter and 18” long. I have 5 of them in my safe. I pull them out every 6 months and treat them to 180 Degrees F for about 8 hours. Never had one speck of rust on any of my guns.

 

[Sheldon J]

I've lucked out

I work at a food factory and they ship 3-4 large bags of the stuff in quite a few different ingredients, especially vitamins, N they just toss them out. When ever I want 5 or 10 pounds of the stuff I just ask and they save them for me, can you say FREEBIE

 

[MD_Willington]

I hang onto them, (silica pouches) we get them all the time with test equipment... about a 3x3x1.5 pouch. Used to also use them in our vehicles in the fall to keep the moisture out.

 

[entropy]

I get 'em from work, too. Have a couple of the larger ones in my safe, and the little one that come in jars, tool boxes, etc., I put in the ammo cans.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Yes you can, I have saved dozens of them. However, another cheap alternative is the new type of Silaca Gel cat litter. My wife found some unscented pure silica gel litter that I fill socks with. I'm going to try it in my popup camper this fall to see if it will help the condensation problem in there too.

 

[No_Warning]

Another use for them is to put them in a little bit of water...they freak out and pop...haha.

 

[thebaldguy]

I throw the silica packets in my ammo cans and in a dish in my safe. I have a goldenrod as well in the safe. It works well. I get another silica packet every month when my girlfriend opens another pack of birth control pills. Talk about protection and prevention!

 

[Juna]

I'm an idiot... I never thought about using these things to keep my guns dry. Doh! Gonna have to start holding on to those things when I get 'em.

 

[Wesker]

I asked this question to my local gunsmith and he said to be careful. Since you can't tell how much moisture those packets have in them already putting them in your gun case can actually put moisture in the air. A better product to keep in big gun safes for this purpose would be DampRid products.

Besides, unless you live under the ocean typical moisture and condensation won't do anything to guns that are taken care of.

 

[Green Lantern]

I work in a pharmacy.

Thus, I think that anyone who pays money for a silica gel packet is a sucker!

You could not imagine the number of those things we throw away on any given day.

If you ask your local pharmacy to save you some, you don't even have to tell them what it's for. Or tell a "half-truth" like me and just say they're for your comic book collection (which I do use them for as well).

 

[Wesker]

Just preference I guess. I prefer being able to open up a damprid can and watch as water fills it's compartment in 5 minutes. That way I know theres not water being put back into the air by over-saturated silica packets that aren't designed to handle a lot of moisture absorbtion.

 

[Crosshair]

Thanks Green Lantern, I think I'll have a much easier time getting that stuff now.

 

[Doggieman]

or if you go to Home Depot you can get a little bag of .. I forget the name but you put it in damp areas to keep away mildew. Not silica, much more powerful. I used it to dry.. um.. "herbs" back in college and it would suck the moisture right out of anything. Works great and after a month or so you just dump it out and use some more. Cheap too. Would be fantastic for ammo.

 

[Green Lantern]

I can't find Damp-rid around anymore. CVS/pharmacy used to carry both buckets and hanging bags, but not anymore. There's a similar product at Wal-mart, but only in the small buckets...