Ammo in a gun safe?

Storing them somewhere else in your house would be safer in a fire? If they cook off, doing it inside a gun safe would probably be the best place...

Depends on the fire rating of your gun safe......with little to no fire protection might be a problem, yet those with a higher fire rating shouldn't be an issue.

Read an article in rifleman where they burned ammo in a fire training burn house (house piped with gas to train fire fighters in structure fires) Other than adding fule to the fire the ammo did nothing when it burst, the ammo can some rounds were stored in wasn't even dented, remember that throwing .22 in a camp fire that the case is more dangerous than the bullet.

So the only reason it would "explode" was you were storing powder in an unvented location. but really why would you care, if the ammo is hot enough to cook off all your guns are toast, in charcoal stock and twisted metal.

The danger to firefighters was weapons with a chambered round, If it wasn't severly damaged by the magazine cooking off (happens first) the gun would fire the chambered round once it got hot enough.

I hope it isn't a problem, I've got a ton holding my safe down.

I do not see it as being an issue. As was stated it would cook off and not fire unless the firearms themselves were loaded. Then it would travel with force. In the event of a small fire any safe would give some additional protection and a fire safe would give more. To me ammo adds weight to my safe and helps make it heaver to move not to mention if I were robed then I would not lose any ammo.

A quick search would have turned up many threads on this exact subject.

People have room in their safes for ammo?

You guys need more guns!

Storing ammunition in a gun safe should not be a problem. In the event of a fire, if it gets hot enough for the ammo to cook off, your guns are probably doomed anyway. Ammunition does not explode.

A good choice for ammo storage is a metal contractor's storage box which are sold at Home Depot and Lowes. Should there be a fire, the box will probably contain all of the ammo that is cooking off. You can lock it if that is important to you.

People have room in their safes for ammo?

You guys need more guns!

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Exactly! I wish I had room for ammo in my safe!

People have room in their safes for ammo?

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+1 ....... note safes plural

I keep my ammo in a seperate safe than my guns. Also store some mags in there too as they are expensive to replace if someone were to break in.

Good catch oldgold.

Myth Busters did some ammo cook off tests a few years back, the brass did more damage flying around than the bullets did, but the stuff could not even dent it's way out of an old oven.....

Well, it's just a matter of physics...the casing is lighter than the bullet...thus the casing pushes off from the bullet, becoming the projectile.
In the case of a chambered round...the casing has nowhere to go, so the bullet pushes off from the immobile casing.

If your house is on fire, the least of your troubles will ammo. Ammo doesn't explode in a fire anyway. Firemen worry more about CRT TV's than ammo.

Being a firefighter for 34 years the only time that this was an issue was when training in a condemned house we were to burn down. A few ,22 rounds popping off it was no big deal. Did no damage to anything anyway and no one was hurt. That thing on mythbusters is on utube now.

I took the ammo out of the gun safe, put it in another small safe. Filled the recovered gun safe space with, what else, guns!

My local fire inspector inspected my ammo storage and declared that it met all requirements. My spare ammo is stored in thirty-two .50 cal surplus ammo cans and each can holds 600 rounds of boxed(.40 cal) or more depending on the caliber of course. These cans are placed in a steel OSHA approved paint cabinet along with my shotgun ammo. I believe that only guns go in the "Gun Safe"

Hello friends and neighbors// +1 for chambered round being most dangerous

No problems for ammo in safe // I do place boxes with bullet facing down , just in case.

Fire caused "pop off" is more of a danger with revolver (I would not leave empty chamber) , or with chambered semi-auto, lying on side in night stand .

Small quantities of ammo should not be a problem, but large quantities can certainly be a problem.

Large quantities of ammo packed tightly can certainly explode if enough pressure can build up. Many people do not realize that steel ammo cans are actually designed to vent pressure in this event. Your safe is not. This is why ammo dumps and manufacturing facilities explode.

The manufacturers of these safes also claim that the interior temperatures will rise to 350 degrees, even though I think their estimates are low. Regardless, 350 degrees is hot enough to ignite ammo. If you have a chambered firearm inside a normal gun safe, it will easily shoot though the safe.

Smaller quantities are OK. Storing ammo at the bottom of the safe is best. Large quantites of ammo are best kept in a sheet metal cabinet that is heavy enough to contain loose flying ammo, but light enough to vent itself in the event of a sudden pressue build up.

chuckusaret said:

My local fire inspector inspected my ammo storage and declared that it met all requirements. My spare ammo is stored in thirty-two .50 cal surplus ammo cans and each can holds 600 rounds of boxed(.40 cal) or more depending on the caliber of course. These cans are placed in a steel OSHA approved paint cabinet along with my shotgun ammo. I believe that only guns go in the "Gun Safe"

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Why?

Why?

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I requested that the fire inspector inspect my ammo storage. In the event of a fire, hopefully I never have a home fire, I wanted to make sure that if I did have a fire the fire department was well aware of what I have stored in my house and that it would not present a danger to the firemen in the event of a fire..

1500 rds. of .22LR, 500 rds. of .380, 1000 rds. of 9mm, 700 rds. of .40 and 180 rds. of .223 reside in my safe.

If there was room I would have all my 12 ga. shells in there also.

I have 2 ammo cans full of the 9mm and the .40, the extras are placed so that I can put my long guns between the boxes.

The AR's are actually sitting on top of a couple of boxes that will be used as range ammo in the future.

The .223 are loaded into 6 mags (not counting my son's) and placed on top of some of the handgun ammo boxes.

Ammo is too expensive and in short supply to leave out for some thief to try and get at it.

bummer--

i was counting on the rounds poping off to keep the firemen back.
the last thing i want is a bunch of 1/2 burnt stuff to clean up and fight with the ins.co. about if it is a total or not.

i am very well insured, true essential documents are in fire safes, the rest i would prefure to buy new to put in the new house.