How do you store reloads (aka Joining the "zip-lock baggie" club)

[fotheringill]

Dewey-

Don't the rounds get all smelly when put into the blueberry and strawberry mix? Sooner or later the fruit is going to spoil.

 

[Dewey 68]

Dewey-

Don't the rounds get all smelly when put into the blueberry and strawberry mix? Sooner or later the fruit is going to spoil.

Ba-doom, tish! They ferment into a nice sangria-like mix that's very relaxing after your range session.

 

[markr6754]

This is a visual of my method. Behind the loaded ammo are more Berry’s boxes with processed and processed and primed cases for loading. I just got in an order of 50 round boxes, as the 100s are getting too heavy to transport in my range bag (bad back).

 

[entropy]

Since I am a dumpster diver (at the range only!) I have a good amount of original boxes that I store them in, sorted by caliber into ammo cans. I keep one ammo can "open" for range ammo. .223 goes on stripper clips, storage .223 in bandoleers, range fodder just stripper clips in a can. I ran out of boxes for .45 ACP , I have one loose .30 cal. can of that. Shotgun, about the same as Armored Farmer. Stored in flats (10 boxes/ case) and I have a large box full of folded shell boxes.

 

[alfsauve]

Those rounds that are special and few, .458SOCOM, .357 and .44mag hunting rounds, go in MTM cases. (I like the newer hinged cases btb. Stay opened.)

Everything else, zip-loc bags. I mean when you load 1,000 at a time and keep a couple thousand in stock it's just too much trouble to put them in all those boxes.

 

[DukeConnor]

If you’ve got a bunch a 5 gallon bucket works. Holds a lot more than an ammo can, not as easy to move around though.

View attachment 941715

i have been switching to 3 gallon buckets grom lowes. a lot lighter to haul around.

 

[Cannibul]

For long term storage of bulk ammo the GI cans are really hard to beat.

For range use I use these. https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1020688283?pid=730328

Every year during my birthday month I buy a couple dozen. They hold 400 rounds of 45 ACP and 700 rounds of 9mm. I forget how much 300 Blackout and 223 they hold but it's enough.

These smaller cans are much easier on my shoulders and back.

 

[bullseye308]

Definitely loving the harbor freight ammo cans at 2.99 and grab a few when I’m close to the store. I make labels for the cans and check off each step as it gets completed so I know where I’m at with each can. I load on a single stage and do everything in batches. For defense loads they go in mtm 100 round boxes.

 

[labnoti]

In moon-clips. I can store a few hundred rounds in clips and that's all the assembled ammo I really need to keep on-hand. I prefer to keep bulk quantities as components. But I also use MTM boxes for a few hunbred rifle cartridges and I've got about 700 more handgun rounds in MTM boxes.

I do use ziplock bags for cleaned, resized, and processed brass. Some of it primed and some not. The bags slow the tarnishing down compared to brass in open Akro bins. I put the bags in Akro bins. Another reloader I know puts his bags of brass in the clear plastic shoe boxes and stores them on those chrome-wire NSF racks. That's a good method especially where there are a lot of varieties. He has at least a shoebox of more than 50 different cartridges. For larger volumes of the same cartridge, plastic 5-gallon buckets would be my choice. I think that's what Miculek shows in his reloading videos. I only reload for two cartridges and have a few thousand pieces at most. Since my handgun brass lasts for more than 20 reloads, my largest quantities are for bullets, primers, and powder.

 

[Zendude]

For bulk ammo storage and empty brass, I use large tupperware containers from the dollar store. For range use, I use the Plano 50 or 100 round ammo boxes (they have an actual hinge instead of just a thin line of plastic).

 

[GE-Mini-Gun]

98% of everything I load for drops into an 50 cal. ammo can, the stuff gets placed in boxes, but they are few and far between…a proximity fuse ammo can will hold 3k 9mm +/- couple hundred. When going to the range I have Tupperware containers that are filled from the ammo cans, unless I’m going to a machinegun shoot then I take the cans.

 

[AJC1]

Cheap easy and very stackable. I like square containers best.

 

[Toprudder]

For loaded ammo, I primarily use the MTM (or equivalent) hinged boxes, either 50 or 100 rounds.

For brass, I mainly use the Sterilite clear bins.

But I just had to find a use for this - just because of the name.

When it comes to my hobby of handloading and gun collecting I behave like I have more money than Jeff Bezos.

Made me laugh - I can relate.

 

[buba68]

I've been on a tear loading up a bunch of .223 lately, and just realized I'm out of boxes to put them in... I definitely did NOT see this coming, but it looks like I'm going to have to join the "reloads in a zip-lock baggie" club after all

View attachment 941622

On a more serious note, what other creative ways do people store reloads when you run out of plastic MTM boxes, old factory ammo boxes, etc.? I store stuff long-term in ammo cans, but I'd like these in something handy to grab quickly while packing up for range trips.

Maybe it is an optical illusion but it looks like the cartridges in the plastic bags have bullets seated but no primers???

 

[hdbiker]

Surplus military ammo cans, have 17 of them mostly full by caliber. hdbiker

 

[jmr40]

Walmart sells small bins like these. I have several that I use to store brass in and to keep some loaded rounds. Cost is $2-$4 each depending on size. I like the locking lids and they are stackable if you buy all the same size.

 

[SlowFuse]

Maybe it is an optical illusion but it looks like the cartridges in the plastic bags have bullets seated but no primers???

I do hope its an illusion! But I see the same thing.

 

[cfullgraf]

If you’ve got a bunch a 5 gallon bucket works. Holds a lot more than an ammo can, not as easy to move around though.

I've got some fifty caliber ammo cans filled with ammunition that are difficult to move around.

 

[kelbro]

FoodSaver bags DO NOT work. I tried vac-sealing some 223 FMJ and something keeps puncturing the bags.

 

[cfullgraf]

I've drifted to putting ammunition in zip lock bags and then store them in metal military ammunition cans. Although I do have a couple plastic replica ammunition cans in use.

For the most part, I put 50 or 100 rounds in each bag. Sometimes there is a odd number of cartridges. I do re-use bags so I tend to not write on the bags themselves as they may find a use elsewhere.

Each bag has a card that references the load data in my records manual. Each card has lot number, date, cartridge, bullet and powder charge. Only one cartridge is stored in one particular ammunition can. Ammunition cans are labeled with cartridge stored within it. In some instances, I have multiple ammunition cans for a single cartridge such as 30-06, 45 ACP and 9x19.

I've gotten away from cartridge boxes as they are not very efficient on space. With zip loc bags, I can store more cartridges in an ammo can than when using boxes.

I'm happy with my system but by no means expect it to work for everyone or anyone.

 

[Bula]

Are these the new invisible Rem 7.5 Bench SR primers? I use zip bags for load development. I keep an index card in the bag, shoot them, make notes and place the brass back into the corresponding baggie. Makes for easy case inspection/load evaluation. Other wise 50/100 round ammo boxes or .30/.50 cal ammo cans. I don't keep that much bulk loaded stuff around. I have found the newer snack size bags work great, and they're reusable!

 

[Rembrandt]

OCD....(obsessive compulsive disorder)........haven't gotten to the point of having custom private labeled packaging yet, so it's possible I still possess a small amount of sanity.

 

[JO JO]

"reloads in a zip-lock baggie"

did you put the primers in upside down ?
forgot the primers ?
they dont look right ?

 

[hdwhit]

"...looks like I'm going to have to join the "reloads in a zip-lock baggie" club..."

Just before I had my first Multiple Sclerosis (MS) exacerbation, I had processed and stored 500 rounds of Norma 30 Carbine brass. Some was stored in plastic boxes where each round had its own compartment. Some was stored loosely. Some was stored in a Ziploc-style plastic bag. All of the brass was kept in a drawer in a garage in North Texas.

My MS kept me from that stored brass for essentially two decades.

Is this how long you intend to keep your brass? Probably not. But my experiences are nevertheless instructive as to how long brass can be kept under various conditions.

To begin with, ALL Rounds suffered corrosion to the point that I determined they needed to be discarded rather than reloaded and fired.

• Rounds stored in plastic boxes where each round had its own compartment and were stored in a sealed container suffered the lowest corrosion loss (by the way, this also applied to .25 ACP brass stored under similar conditions).
• Rounds stored in plastic boxes where each round had its own compartment, but they were not stored in a sealed container, suffered the next lowest corrosion loss .
  
• Rounds stored ziploc-style plastic bags, where each round was in galvanic contact with its neighbor suffered the highest corrosion loss.

Make of all this what you will. But, my MS caused me to accidentally conduct one of the longest, most comprehensive (same cases, same manufacturer, same batch, 20+ year timeframe) "studies" of case storage in various configurations over a time-span unprecedented except in most museums.

 

[Harriw]

Maybe it is an optical illusion but it looks like the cartridges in the plastic bags have bullets seated but no primers???

I do hope its an illusion! But I see the same thing.

Are these the new invisible Rem 7.5 Bench SR primers? I use zip bags for load development. I keep an index card in the bag, shoot them, make notes and place the brass back into the corresponding baggie. Makes for easy case inspection/load evaluation. Other wise 50/100 round ammo boxes or .30/.50 cal ammo cans. I don't keep that much bulk loaded stuff around. I have found the newer snack size bags work great, and they're reusable!

did you put the primers in upside down ?
forgot the primers ?
they dont look right ?

LOL sorry folks. Yes, the primers are there, and yes, they're inserted the right way. I mark them all with a black sharpie so they're easier to distinguish as my reloads when I pick the cases up off the ground after firing them (so I dont get them mixed up with other range pick-ups that are generally once-fired, and will need to be trimmed, primer pockets dealt with, flash holes demurred, etc.).

Loving all the input here though!