Ammo can storage.

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Regular, not fat, .50's... and a smattering of .30's

As to how full they are... well... some are... some aren't. :evil:

Seriously, the little yellow tags you see are pieces of cardstock with the exact contents printed thereon. They're slipped into self-stick clear plastic sleeves (like you'd use to label the spine of a 3-ring inder) stuck to the cans.

The yellow dots signify cans of "range ammo" - i.e. cans that get opened from time to time as the ammo supply ebbs and flows. Non-dotted cans are left sealed (long term storage). All contain dessicant bags.

I should be good for a while...
 
So... I shouldn't mention the complete inventory kept in a spreadsheet on the computer... I guess.


Ummm .... No !



Just kidding!
 
I got tired of trying to read little labels that I put on the cans, and sometimes fell off, so I got a sheet of yellow vinyl letter and numbers from an office supply. I labeled each can with the letters/numbers and stuck a piece of that clear packaging tape over them so they wouldn't fall off.

The bright yellow letters stand out against the OD background and I can read them even in dim light. It really matters for me as I have to stack the heavy cans vertically, about 6 high. It's no fun getting at the bottom cans only to find out it's not what I was after.

:D
 
I slap a piece of duct tape on the can and write type and quantity on it with a fine point sharpie. I can take the ink off with a rag and some solvent. I ran out of silver duct tape and have used some aluminum tape recently that works pretty good.
 
Living in Kansas, stacking them in the garage or the barn isn't an option, (temperature swings are just too large). I'm not real comfortable with having an ammo dump in the basement, (the wife has a rather strong opinion also) so I have minimized the basement storage. I've also read the "fire marshall" posts about storing them on or near the floor.

I have a heated/cooled shop out in my barn, so I started out stacking them on the floor against three walls of the shop - the fourth wall isn't available. At about 30,00 rounds I ran out of "low storage" space. I have since used up a considerable amount of 2x4 and 3/4" plywood lumber to accommodate the overflow, but I do need to find some other space.
 
We all got that feeling when you ask a girl out and she says NO! And you heart just drops to the bottom of your stomach.. And you can feel the slow but solid thumps from your heart.

You can also feel a slight pulse in your ears as they get rose red:evil: Pa shooter I Hate you also:neener: You have a nice ammo rack. Man I need something like that. famous words from borat... "Very Niiiicce":D
 
PA nice little storage system. I don't have a basement and my crawl space is dirt floored; so I guess your approach is out for me. :)

I have to admit that I tend to open more than a couple ammo cans before I go out shooting. I even have them labeled. (Nothing fancy; duct tape and magic marker) Maybe I need to label by brand for 22LR? Right now it is all grouped together which sort of fits my filing system. Awkward at times....
 
mine just sit on the bottom of my reloading bench. holding it down, in our semi-finished basement. if nothing else, it should keep a tornado from getting the reloading stuff. at least as a whole lot. and i have no idea how you could ever get enough "gasses" out of an ammo can to be able to ignite anything !?!? we are not talking gasoiline vapors.
 
I built a sturdy shelf, roughly h4xw4xd2, it is way too small. PAShooter's setup is awesome. I am going to get some stencils and yellow paint for my ammo cans.
 
moooose102 said:
and i have no idea how you could ever get enough "gasses" out of an ammo can to be able to ignite anything !?!? we are not talking gasoiline vapors.
Click to expand...

It's the ignition of propellants inside cartridges inside a metal shell designed to resist force. The resulting gases have nowhere to go and rapidly overpressure the metal shell (think cans, safe, site project box) and result in beaucoup shrapnel, pronto.
 
i understand that if there was combustion inside of an ammo can, it would generate shrapnel, and a fine and ugly mess it would make! but how are the cartridges, or any fumes, vapors, gasses, whatever going to ignite? they are in ammo cans, designed to store ammunition, on battlefronts. unless the house catches on fire and there is enough heat to cause combustion. its not like the "gasses" or "fumes" would build up inside the cans and self ignite. there has to be an ignition source. besides that, i have had ammo in storage inside one of these for many years for many years. the most i have ever smelt was a faint odor of gunpowder. certainly not strong enough to ignite.
 
Of course there would have to be a source of ignition. Nobody is talking about spontaneous combustion from an accumulation of gases within any sort of closed metal storage device.
 
It is not remotely the same thing, but I remember making improvised claymore mines in my combat engineer training using old ammo cans, blocks of C4, leaves for wadding, and spent brass and rocks for shrapnel. for storage.. um.. I guess we buried those.
 
if your concerned about theft of ones in long term storage just loop a chain through all the handles and chain em to something immovable or at least very heavy
Click to expand...

A burglar could just open them and slide the tops off; they do come off quite easily. Granted, they'd be harder to carry that way.

I keep mine on a bookshelf my mother in law overbuilt years ago; it's holding up quite well.
 
woultnt the rubber oring seal in the lid give way first, ir the sides mushroon out along the top edge first? before it turns into shrapnal? i mean a lot of time and designing must have gone into these, along with worst case scenarios such as a fire in the armory...
 
i guess my point is this. you could have an open flame in front of a stack of ammo cans for 10 years, and there wouldnt be enough leakage of any kind to allow combustion or fire of anything other than the initial flame. #1) there just isnt much (if any) flamable gasses leaking, from either the cartridges themselves, or the ammo cans. #2) even if there was some leakage, it would not be enough to ignite (there has to be enough of a concentration percentage wise for combustion to work. #3) even if there was enough fumes escaping for ignition to occure, the flame front would not get back inside the ammo can to ignite the the "fumes" inside of the can, and #4 even if all the above could happen, the ammount of fumes would not be enough to make the ammo can an explosive device. these were designed for long term storage of ammunition, both in armories, and under battle conditions. if there was going to be danger of these things turning into bombs, with out someone purposly making them into bombs, they would have been redesigned so the danger was no longer a threat. it's just not going to happen! i hope we can put this to bed now. i am done with it.
 
There is no such thing as "ammo fumes."

A loaded ammo can tossed into a fire, or a can in the midst of a raging house fire is another matter entirely. But "fumes"?

Sheesh! :confused:
 
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