Water... sigh.

So my kitchen sink leaked a couple months back, didn't think much of it (leaky drain that I fixed the night my wife noticed it).

Was going through my ammo tonight...

... know where this is going?

Yup, ran down the wall on to the shelves where my ammo is stored. Boxes noticeably water damaged (had to tear some open to inspect). About 500 rounds of 9mm in their original paperboard boxes (S&B RangeSafe) soaked thoroughly, some other stuff (mostly the bottom row of each pistol caliber on my pistol caliber shelf...). Probably 40 boxes of pistol ammo in all soaked up water.

The S&B looks the worst, by far.. noticeable corrosion around the case heads. The ammo which is packed with more "air space" (winchester white box, remington, etc) were fine.

The worst of it was 200 rounds of 7.5 swiss (reloadable) which were soaked. Those were packed 20 per box with cardboard spacers, got nice and fugly.

I'm sure it'll all still shoot; even the S&B which took the worst hit are sealed with red sealant. Looks like crap, though.

Don't really have another spot to put my ammo, but I'm rigging up a catch basin where the pipes are so if it leaks again in the future, it'll run harmlessly down to the floor.

All of the ammo that was stored in plastic MTM boxes (my reloads) and 50 cal ammo cans was fine. Some rust spots on the floor where the 50 cal cans were. Everything inside was pristine.

The only ammo affected was factory ammo in original packaging. Stuff that was double boxed (unopened cases of ammo in the heavy cardboard shipping boxes) wasn't really affected; the outer cardboard worked as a "sponge" and spread it out, where it apparently dried out before soaking the inner boxes.

It only hit the ammo in the back corner where I can't see the damn stuff. I was rearranging my ammo tonight (by ascending caliber power factor.. I'm bored) when I found boxes sticking to the 3/4" plywood shelves I built.

I could park a car on those shelves, they show some signs of water damage but otherwise are still holding up to 4,000 pounds of ammunition just fine.

Figures, though, I take the time to build these kick ass shelves 5 years ago to keep my ammo up off the basement floor and it still gets wet.

I've got two tumblers.

And yes, I need to shoot more. Problem is with a stressful job and 5 children it's tough to find time.

On the bright side, I found some 50 BMG I didn't know I had. The 50 cal can was labeled 223, but opened it up to find 40 brown tip tracers, 18 spotter tracer, and 4 blue tip incendiary.

(Of course with today's market I'd rather it was packed full of 223..)

The most embarrassing thing is this is the THIRD time I've had water hit those shelves.

First, was when the junction of the sink drain meets the drain from the washer & dryer failed. Whoever originally ran the plumbing didn't use enough glue or something. That was pretty mild, had it repaired (my hands were too big to fit in there to repair it myself, had to call a plumber.)

Second water incident was after a subsequent leak formed on the hot water pipe where it goes through the floor. There was no visible signs of leakage and my ammo didn't get wet this time, as my kitchen floor absorbed all of the water from the leak and heaved. I noticed ripples in the linoleum one night, got curious, and cut the linoleum open with a knife - to find soaked floorboards. NO visible signs of water damage prior to that.

Insurance wouldn't cover it (gotta love State Farm), and it cost me $14,000 to have my floors in the kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room torn up. Scrapped the linoleum and went with Italian porcelain tile and this concrete composite subflooring. Hey, if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it the way I want!

The flooring job went off without a hitch.. however the water incident occurred while the contractor was doing the grout. He dumped water on the floor to start sponging the grout... and it ran right down the cut drain hole where the kitchen sink used to be, and saturated my ammo a second time.

So this is the THIRD time it's happened. This time my installation of the kitchen sink was to blame; after the flooring job was completed I rebuilt the kitchen cabinets and installed a new sink. The sink drain I installed worked it's way loose at the S pipe (boxes of cleaning crap under the sink kept bumping the thing when my wife would get them out). Anyway, after 8 months it finally worked it's way loose. Wife drained the sink after doing dishes and ... ammo got wet again.

I fixed the drain but didn't even think of checking the ammo, since it didn't appear any water had got through the floor and she was quick to throw a towel down where the pipe meets the floor. I didn't even think that it might have been leaking slowly every time she drained the sink for awhile; the amount of water damage I saw indicated it was NOT a single-time occurence....

Anyway, I should have learned my lesson the FIRST time.. now that it's happened THREE times.. I really feel like an idiot.

Anyway I'm installing gutters under ALL of the drain and water pipes with 1/2" plastic hose ran down to strategic points on the floor, so any FUTURE water leaks will be noticeable by safe puddles in the middle of the floor, instead of raining down on stuff I'm storing.

In addition I'm hardening the ammo a little better than before. Any bulk ammo will be wrapped in seran wrap to give it a barrier layer of plastic. Not water PROOF but surely splash resistant, and quick to do. Also will allow a visual count of ammo without having to open or move containers individually.

(Thankfully it hit the ammo, which was resilient, and not something like my AK-47 / G3 / Sten parts kits, which would have rusted to oblivion)

In the top right of the pic you can see where the "splash" of water dripping stained the wall. I've rearranged the ammo but still need to add a gutter so it redirects any water away from the ammo.

Note, I only put steel cases (or crates containing metal sealed tins) directly on the floor. Due to the design of our home it's impossible for more than 2" of water to accumulate in the basement (flush grade on back).

So far, I've had one dud on a box of S&B 9mm on the "worst" looking box I could find. On those the head of the cases were corroded fairly bad.

Could be coincidence, but I've shot a lot of S&B 9mm and hadn't ever had a dud until now.

Guess it'll give me some failure to fire practice if it keeps up.

Yeah, the floor under my ammo cans is stained now from rust.

Regarding the spider thing, rubber band and cheesecloth on the ends of the drain hose should solve that.

Oh, and the storage area was "I have 7 2x4's in the garage that are warped, one sheet of 3/4" particle board, and a box of screws. Let's build something that'll hold 2,000+ pounds of ammo."

Minimalistic design.

Grassman said:

That is an impressive stockpile sir.

Click to expand...

You should see the other side of the room.