Food Saving your ammo?

[clipse]

Has anyone else done this? I got a food saver for Christmas last year. I have used it for my ammo that I keep stored for extended periods of time. It sucks out most of the air and seals it real tight. Just curious if anyone else does it?

Edited to add:In case some of you don't know what I'm talking about. here are some pictures.

This is the food saver, the plastic material that will turn into the bag, and the ammo. I have one full box of WWB .45acp 230gr. JHP and one partially full box of the same.

Here is where I started to measure out where to cut the plastic material.

And here is the final product. I changed my mind and decided to stack the boxes instead of them lying flat. You can see how well it sucks the air out because it crushed the box some where there are no cartridges.

Now the rounds should be fresh for quite some time. They are very airtight. I could also have put descant in with the ammo but I don't have any on hand.



clipse

 

[Preacherman]

Do you put them in the freezer afterwards?

 

[GRB]

I don't bother sealing my ammo like that because I keep a lot of it in military ammo boxes. That keeps it dry because I buy ones with good gaskets. The other stuff is kpet in an old WWII foot locker. It stays dry just cause it is not in an ara where it would get wet. Sure it gets humid a bit in the summer in my basement where most of it is stored, then I use a dehumidifier. I would use it regardless of whether or not I had ammo stored so there is no added expense. I have stored ammo, with no special conditions, just dry and fairly cool, for up to 20 years and it is still as good as the day I got it and, back then it was already at least 4-5 years old.

The whole plastic bag thing with the vacuum seal looks like it would keep it in great condition for a long time, but, I don't see the need to bother. Of course if you are going to bury it to stash it, well that would be another thing.

All the best,
Glenn B

 

[Zaire]

The last picture looks like someone dribbled some pee near the front of your cabinet.

I have thought about this for burying ammo somewhere. How thick are the bags, and would it help more to double seal them? Thanks for the info!

 

[Ringer]

Funny you post this now. I just asked my wife the other night about her food saver and what size bags she had on hand. Was thinking about sealing up some bulk ammo for long term storage. Never used one before so not sure if it would work on loose rounds, say 20 - 30.

This would be the second "QVC" item I have found in her "bought it and hardly used it" pile and now resides in the gun room. The first was a steamer which has been a big help removing cosmo from milsurps.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Homemade battlepacks!

 

[Azrael256]

I don't have a foodsaver, but I wish I did. This GP11 ammo comes in 10-packs, but the magazine only holds 6. That means 4 rounds rattling around in my pack. I put them in ziplock bags, but those sealed bags look even better for it. It would also save me a whole lot of hassle with .22 ammo rolling around everywhere. When you open a box, you destroy the little tab that keeps it closed, so if you don't finish the box, it will invariably come open in your pack and dump ~20 rounds out into the mix. Sealing it up tight like that would be really nice.

 

[Dionysusigma]

Been wanting one for some time now, for just that purpose. Maybe toss in some fresh or recharged (decharged?) silica gel packs to be sure. Might be good for complete rifles, too. Just think! No more cosmo! Also sounds good for storing spare bits.

How much do these and the bags cost?

 

[Azrael256]

Also sounds good for storing spare bits.

Yeah, sure... I can see coming to your place and finding everything sealed in plastic.

 

[R.H. Lee]

It's probably some dried egg yolk. That would be good for longterm storage; you could then seal the 'battlepacks' into large diameter pvc pipe, dig a deep hole and cover it with cement so metal detectors couldn't find it.

 

[clipse]

No not dried yolk. The counter has yellow spots that are supposed to be there. I think its ugly but its expensive to replace a counter.

clipse

 

[garrettwc]

Like the idea. I've been thinking of trying that myself.

One thought, don't you get trapped air and moisture inside the cartons like that?

Have you thought of taking out all the packaging and shrinkwrapping just the loose rounds? Seems like you could store more ammo in the same space, and be more sure the humid air is out.

 

[armedandsafe]

I would still put a small bag of silica gel in each pack. Those are not powerful enough to strip out all the air and there will be a little bit left in there.

I use this method when packing stuff for boating/canoeing trips. Works quite well, except for the extra trash which must be packed out. That is not a big deal unless you are backpacking.

Pops

 

[Lone_Gunman]

I think you just fixed a problem that does not exist!

Assuming you are keeping your ammo inside some type of shelter, and not just laying around outside in the yard, then I dont think hermetically sealing it in plastic is necessary.

 

[Taurus 66]

I never understood the need for an air tight seal on ammunition. And why keep the boxes, if air tight is what you want to achieve? Just put the live ammo in the plastic without the box.

 

[afasano]

After the ban you can take your "lost gun" apart and put it in something and it won't rust. Just kidding.

 

[Nimitz]

whats the point?....

unless you throw your ammo in salt water or something.

ammo lasts forever...basically. have had vietnam surplus that fired just fine....

and have heard about 100yr old ammo working just great to.

Chad

 

[Sunray]

"...put them in the freezer afterwards..." No, but I do keep cast bullets in the fridge. Keeps the lube from oozing about.

 

[rock jock]

I live along the Texas Gulf Coast, in one of the most humid environs in the U.S. I leave all my ammo in the garage, where all my steel tools rust in a matter of days. None of ammo has suffered any ill effects yet, and some of it has been stored in there for upwards of 3 years.

 

[itgoesboom]

I have seen Wolf ammo corrode to where it's not shootable. Some of it was mine, and some of it was a friends.

I.G.B.

 

[berettashotgun]

A few years ago I read about Lucent Technologies had invented a special plastic that absorbed free electrons- the main cause of corrosion on aluminum alloys and the active catalyst in rust on ferrous materials/parts. It was developed for parts storage and was cheap, very cheap, yet have never heard about it again. The food storage bag is an excellent application for long term storage-BUT- a small nick in the plastic, in a very humid enviroment, would enhance the introduction of moisture into areas that are normally "safe" by static pressure. I still will try it- methinks it is an excellent idea.Besides, you cannot be too prepared/cautious/wary of potential hazards (and I don't mean Bo or Luke~ but maybe Daisy )

 

[Azrael256]

Lucent Technologies had invented a special plastic

VCI plastic, perhaps?

 

[444]

I have thought about doing that for years. I just never knew exactly where to get the machine.
I thought about putting away a SHTF can of ammo (.223) not to be used for anything else and ready to go. The ammo would be handloaded and would use premium bullets (not that GI crap). I would put the loaded ammo in stripper clips (10 rounds each) and then put three stripper clips in one plastic bag. This would make one magazine's worth of ammo as small as possible and stored together so that you grab one package and have enough ammo to load one magazine. The fact that it might be waterproof would be an added bonus although that didn't really enter into my thinking.
I presently put the vast majority of my handloads into zip lock bags. The zip lock bags are fairly weak, the zip lock tends to fail, and the ammo isn't really organized into any specific amount (one bag might have 637 rounds, another might have 126 rounds). So, I thought about using one of those sealers to make 100 (or whatever) round bags that were easier to store and less likely to break open and spill all over my truck or behind the shelves etc. Again, the fact that they might be waterproof isn't the issue for me (I live in Nevada: water, humitity, moisture etc are things we only dream about).

 

[Mannlicher]

I do a bit of reloading. I usually vacuum seal my reloads. One of my friends at work recently gave me a large amount of 30-30 once fired brass. I now have 380 rounds of 170 grain Speer FP ammo loaded and ready for hunting. It is all sealed in vacuum bags now.

 

[Ringer]

OK, found the wife's food saver and did a couple trial runs. The bags seem pretty durable. Loose ammo (rifle) does better with rounds all pointed one way. I tried opposing every other one but it made the points of the rounds stick out more. I just did 20 round packs and they fit perfectly into a 30 caliber ammo can. I'm sure you could double stack them if you wanted more per pack or you could do larger bulk packs if you just piled them in.

I need to poke around more for sources for bags. For the ones I did it took about 5" length (includes an inch or so of unavoidable waste) of an 11" wide roll. Cost being somewhere between $.05 and $.20 per 5" length depening on the type of roll.

While the neeed for this is debatable, I think it's a great way to organize rounds.

Thanks for starting the thread clipse.

Not the greatest pics, but you get the idea.