Bulk Ammo Storage and Fire Hazards

[Cosmoline]

I've been using a big steel chest (not sealed) for much of arms & ammo storage lately. I know smokeless rounds will "cook off" if there's enough heat such as a house on fire, but is there any greater or lesser danger with storing them together in a box vs. storing them randomly around. My understanding is that when cooked off the bullet goes a few feet and the primer is the only thing with enough power to penetrate skin. So if they're all kept in a steel box they'll just make noise. I've never heard of them going off en masse like munitions or high explosives, but maybe I'm wrong about this. I thought I'd get the collective wisdom here.

 

[hso]

You're not wrong.

Black powder goes BOOM! Ammo goes pop!

 

[hotpig]

I just got back to my station after a housefire. I had some ammo cooking off but nothing exciting. Did save his guns and lap dog but the house is damaged enough that the insurance company will buy it.

 

[Roccobro]

Sorry to hear that Hotpig. We've had some lousy times with fires here in Socal the last four years.

As for cookoff, I remember reading that in testing wooden and metal ammo containers, the wood contained most of the projectiles (the brass) and the metal contained it all. Remember the brass weighs less than the bullet and will be what gets moved more.

Last week there was one day where a bunch of the reporters covering homes on fire said they could hear "popping and hissing, probably ammunition in this mountain area where homes are owned by hunters and woodsmen" It wasn't too funny, but they were trying to add some spice to a sad situation. Wood and home construction materials never pop when burning! -Yes they are idiots.

Justin

 

[Soybomb]

I've always wondered if my ammo indoors is better stored in sealed ammo cans or loose. It seems like the seal on the ammo can might actually make it worse.

 

[J_L_A]

I've got mine stored in a heavy safe. I hope thats good enough because that's the reason that I bought the safe in the first place.

 

[Millwright]

To be truely 'safe' ammo, like powders, ought to be stored in a properly constructed and vented "powder safe". A structure which provides both ballistic/intrusion security as well as a level of heat protection. It should also be vented to direct gases in a safe direction in case of ignition. Any commonly available gun safe will do most of this with the proper venting mods, IMO. >MW

 

[blackhawk2000]

I'm an electrician, and we do a lot of insurance work. Many times we are the next ones in after the Firemen. The best advice I can give for storage of ammo is to keep it as low as possible, and in something waterproof. In my experience 18" is the difference between paint on the walls blistering, and Hershey's kisses NOT melting. Even a wooden dresser offers some protection. One house we were at the outside of the dresser was charred, but the stuff inside was fine.

 

[hotpig]

This fire that I went to this am was pretty classic. Everything from Shoulder height and above was damaged by heat. Stuff below that other than in the room of the fire origin is just smoke stained.

http://www.thetelegraph.com/articles/fire_7398___article.html/house_story.html

 

[silverlance]

hotpig, thanks for your service. im sure the gun owner was VERY glad that you chose to save his guns as opposed to cordoning off the house and letting it burn like many other fire departments do these days when there are guns and ammo in the house.

 

[def4pos8]

I had to bug out of my house one day due to a chimney fire. The fire company captain was happy that I had my bulk ammo, cannister powder and primers in metal ammo cans -- not necessarily for heat protection but to make it easily portable. I had everything out in less than three minutes (two trips).

Prior posts are correct. Cooked bullets don't go far. The greatest hazard is unrestrained brass. Low storage in metal or wood will often be enough to prevent things flying about.

My son was trying to sleep in his AAV-7 while draped over several cases of 40mm grenades when five, 155mm artillery shells detonated at his feet. The black powder fuses of the grenades failed to shock ignite. He escaped the ensuing fire three minutes later. The grenades failed to cook off for five minutes or so, with several hundred gallons of JP-8 warming their cases.

I use metal and plastic storage boxes, all of which are on or very near the cellar floor.

 

[22-rimfire]

You all make a good point about the brass being ligher than lead and offering a higher potential for injury. I have ammo stored all over the place. Maybe I need to keep it in the garage or mostly in the garage.

 

[Cosmoline]

This fire that I went to this am was pretty classic. Everything from Shoulder height and above was damaged by heat. Stuff below that other than in the room of the fire origin is just smoke stained.

Of course, it's the other way around if there's a flood (I'm in the basement). So I guess I'll have to choose water or fire damage.

 

[def4pos8]

Cosmoline

I also bag 50- to 100-round batches of ammo in ziploc freezer bags inside those water resistant boxes. . . . The floods at St Louis in the early '90s taught me THAT lesson.