ammo can condensation - concern?

[mountainpharm]

Just received 3 30-cal ammo cans from Bud's Gun Shop to store some of my reloaded rounds. The first thing I noticed when I opened two of the three cans is condensation on the interior. I have them open now to dry out. I'm going to take them home and clean them up, but the seals look good on a cursory inspection. The ammo to be stored in the cans will have dessicants inside as well. The exterior of the cans has some dirt and surface rust, but the interiors of all three look great. Is the moisture a function of poor storage and/transportation or is this something about which I should be more concerned?

 

[rondog]

Once they're closed and latched the only moisture the inside should ever see is what was already in there in the air. As long as the rubber seal is intact, that is. Dessicant packs should prevent any issues.

 

[Greg528iT]

there is a pretty good chance at one point they were open to the elements and a bit of moisture got in. Then being seal up, no place for the moisture to go. Dry them real good and put in your desiccant call it good.

 

[bigfatdave]

They probably got opened/closed last in a really humid area.

Use some dessicant and don't worry about it.

 

[Potatohead]

hey where do you guys get dessicant?

 

[rcmodel]

+1

Wherever the moisture came from, it didn't come from condensation on the inside of a sealed can.

Like said, they had water in them when the lid was latched shut and there was no way for it to get out.

Could be from rain, or it could be from the surplus dealer pressure washing them to get the red clay mud and spider webs out off of them.

rc

 

[mountainpharm]

RE: hey where do you guys get dessicant?

Bought mine from Amazon. They sell in package sizes ranging from 10 to 300 pieces in various sizes.

 

[Potatohead]

thx mountain. anyone know of a brick and mortar with it?

 

[Potatohead]

RC, this is maybe a dumb question to u guys but why cant u put your primers in a glass jar?

 

[mountainpharm]

thx mountain. anyone know of a brick and mortar with it?

I read that some folks make their own with a silica-based kitty litter and old pantyhose I think.

 

[rcmodel]

why cant u put your primers in a glass jar?

Because if you drop it on the floor and one primer goes off, they will all go off with a very powerful explosion.

The shrapnel effect would be about like a hand grenade going off between your legs.

rc

 

[Ranger Roberts]

=Potatohead thx mountain. anyone know of a brick and mortar with it?

Flower shops or craft stores. I buy it at "JoAnns Fabric & Crafts" in the fake flower section.

 

[TNBilly]

Dessicant - Walmart - Crystal Kitty Litter

 

[rcmodel]

The U.S. Military never used desiccant in sealed ammo cans.

So I don't either.

If there isn't moisture in the can when you snap the lid down, there never will be.

rc

 

[JTHunter]

Living in a humid area (at time) and being an "old Boy Scout", I'd rather take the precaution of using the dessicant and not needing it than having my ammo "sour" on me.

It's even more necessary for me as I have to store my ammo cans in an unheated polebarn that, despite being under cover, they do suffer from temperature fluctuations.

Twenty year old Winchester Wildcats (.22LR) still work.

 

[holdencm9]

Living in a humid area (at time) and being an "old Boy Scout", I'd rather take the precaution of using the dessicant and not needing it than having my ammo "sour" on me.

Agreed. For the 12 cents it costs, why not?

The U.S. Military never used "xxxx".

So I don't either.

(Edited to apply to anything.) Overall a good rule of thumb. But rules (especially of the thumb variety) are meant to be broken.

 

[Greg528iT]

A few of the outdoor shops, Gander Mnt, Cabellas sell rechargeable dessicant units. A window turns pink you plug in, it heats up and dries itself out. I use those in my gun safe. I don't want to drill a hole in the side.

For the size of an ammo can, it's way overkill. If you ever order something and as you unpack it, a little packet falls out. 1 or 2 of those would be perfect in there.. save some up,, bake them in the oven, 200 deg ish until nice and warm.. throw in your ammo can.

 

[BBQJOE]

Because if you drop it on the floor and one primer goes off, they will all go off with a very powerful explosion.

The shrapnel effect would be about like a hand grenade going off between your legs.

Son of a....
Add one more thing to my list of stuff to try.

 

[medalguy]

Joe, I see you're in Arizona. I'm next door in NM, and unless the monsoons are here, we don't need dessicant. This place is pretty well dessicated already.

 

[230RN]

Potatohead, the little trays primers come in are designed that way for a reason. It's to keep the primers relatively separated to prevent the very hand grenade effect rcmodel referred to.

You will notice not one manufacturer of primers packages them any other way.

There was a case in one of the government ammo plants long ago where a boy was carrying a bucket of primers from the drying house to the loading machines, "shaking it as he walked along." They went off in bulk. The boy was killed.

Terry, 230RN

 

[Moparnut]

You can buy dessicant bags at an auto parts store as well. Just ask for dessicant bag for a 2005 and up camry, 4runner. Or just about any other Toyota make/model.

 

[FROGO207]

Buy some quality beef jerky. After you eat it up the packet left that says "do not eat" is desiccant. Makes the ammo smell good after a while also.

 

[Deus Machina]

I work retail. Everything that may be affected by mold or moisture (which is most things) has little desiccant bags in the box. I collected about a shoebox full, way back when.

Have any friends that are managers at Wal-Mart or something, or own a business and receive a lot of stuff? Just ask them to hold onto a day's worth.

 

[alsaqr]

The U.S. Military never used desiccant in sealed ammo cans.

So I don't either.

If there isn't moisture in the can when you snap the lid down, there never will be.

Bingo:

i've opened a few hundred thousand US military small arms ammo cans in order to destroy the contents. Some of those cans had not been opened since WWI. Never saw any evidence of condensation.

 

[230RN]

^ Well, sort of "Bingo."

When the boxes are packed, they are hermetically sealed up with ambient air with some given relative humidity. If the boxes are stored in a place where the ambient temperature drops below the dew point for that given original relative humidity, condensation within the box will occur.

If the box is then brought back above the dew point, the moisture will then return to the air sealed within the box.

The thing is, the amount of air, and hence moisture, in the small box is very limited and the total amount of water is very tiny.

For example, a 100-rd cal .50 ammo box is approximately 11 x 6 x 7 inches, or about 460 cubic inches, call it 500 cubic inches, or 8200 cc., call that 8 liters or .008 cubic meters.

At a relative humidity of 50% (a typical value) at, say, 75 dF, a cubic meter of air will hold only about 12 grams of water. Thus the total amount of water in the ammo box will be only .008 x 12 = about 1/10 of a gram of water, call it one-tenth of a cc, or about three drops if all of it condenses.

So 1/10 of a cc of liquid water spread around the contents of the box when it hits the dew point of the air plus water vapor originally in the box, will be almost invisible.

But it will be there.

I doubt they were concerned with this when they designed the boxes, but rather about total immersion.

Precise values for the above variables may be used, but even a rough estimate, such as this, will suffice for conclusions to be made about humidity in the boxes, especially since the ammunition itself is well-sealed. (Assuming my arithmetic is correct.)

Terry, 230RN