How do you store/secure your ammunition?

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It is getting cramped in my gun safe(RSC for the nitpickers:D) and I need to come up with a cost effective way to store and moderately secure my ammunition. It's not that I have tons of the stuff but the weight of what I have on the unsupported shelves above my rifles concerns me and I'd rather have more accessories in there.

I don't really want to purchase another smaller safe to store ammo and was looking at some lockable cabinets I could reinforce and screw into wallstuds in a corner.

Any ideas or recommendations? Maybe old file cabinets?
 
I just keep my ammo in 30 & 50 cal and 40mm ammo cans in the closet. One can for each caliber. The excess is stacked on the kitchen counter, ready for the next range trip. Oh, FYI - No kids in the house.

You might watch Craigslist or Backpage for used 2 drawer file cabinets or other smaller cabinets or lockers..
 
Not sure why you'd even bother locking up ammo, anyone over 21 can buy the stuff and I can't imagine a smash and grab burgler would bother with it. The ammo I have is in the closet on a bookshelf, and it's rather bulky and heavy by price vs say my TV, xBox, laptops, or a bunch of other things a burgler would probably take.
 
40mm ammo cans. Just tonight I scored a bunch of HUGE - maybe 1 lb. each - desiccant bags. :) One for each can with a bunch left over!
 
I have mine in ammo cans in two 4 drawer filing cabinets for now. But with the value of my ammo I have been looking for a cheap gun sate (RSC) to store the ammo in. At today's prices the ammo I have is worth as much or more than the guns I own.
 
I use regular toolboxes. There are ones that can be padlocked if you wish. Cheap and sturdy enough if you buy good ones, and they come in a variety of sizes.
 
Surplus military (Hardigg) cases are good storage, but not all of them are lockable. Locking file cabinets and multi-drawer toolboxes that can be locked provide storage and a bit extra security.

John
 
Not sure why you'd even bother locking up ammo, anyone over 21 can buy the stuff
Click to expand...

I wish it was that easy to buy ammo these days. I don't normally put ammo in the safe but when the price of a brick of .22 went up to $90 I put all my rimfire in the safe along with all my ammo cams of various calibers or least all that would fit. I have a good bit of ammo in the wood storage crates that come with com-bloc ammo. I've accumulated a few over the years and I store all my 7.62 x 39 and a good bit of other ammo in them. I generally keep the bulk rimfire in them and I keep the good stuff in the same. Some of the .22 ammo I have cost over $200 a brick before the panic. Now even stuff like CCI SV costs a lot in certain places. I don't know how much it costs really because I don't buy from scalpers. I bought a good bit in anticipation of the panic anyway. I remembered what happened the first time Obama was elected and I figured it would be worse now that he doesn't have to be worried about being elected again.
 
Mostly .30 and .50 cal. ammo cans along with one very large and heavy 40 mm. ammo container. Stacked off the floor on wood supports and on metal shelving units in the basement.
 
Several years ago, I bought another safe which is larger than the one I was using. I then converted the smaller safe into an ammo safe and built strong shelving for the interior. I do have a few boxes of primary SD ammo in my larger safe but the bulk of my stash resides in my smaller converted safe.
 
Store/secure ammo

I built a shelf to store my ammo. More room in the safe for fun stuff.

As to security, a 45 or 12 gauge works fine.

Gary
 
Ammo storage

I got an old steel locker (like a school locker ) from a business that closed down. In my garage with as padlock on it. I keep my back up beer in there too. Gotta protect the valuables!
 
Ammo cans to store ammo. I have seen a locking device that you drill a hole into the cover flap and insert it then padlock it. Add a chain and padlock the chain to the ammo cans and there you are. I would just get an inexpensive firearms storage locker for stuff. Dicks sporting goods has 10 gun lockers for $100-$120 and they come ready to use. If you are that worried about your ammo then the cost should be no obstacle to you IMHO.:)
 
Fella's;

I strongly suggest getting your ammo out of the same container that has your guns in it. If a fire in the area gets hot enough to set off even one round, they all go. Then what might have been a scorched or melted stock becomes a total loss. The container gets filled with a cloud of incandescent gas, not good for anything, guns, scopes, papers, or other valuables. I've seen the results of this in my shop and it's not pretty.

Get a low-cost lockable cabinet of some sort & store the ammo in there. I'm using a double-door locker I got at a military surplus sale for $25.00 a few years ago. Ammo cans are fine also, just don't store the stuff where it'll damage your guns if the fire is big or the fire department is slow.

900F
 
Depends on what you mean by "secure." I no longer have kids at home, so I don't need to keep it "secure" from them. When the kids were still at home, ammo was kept in locked storage boxes. Didn't have as much then, as now, so that wasn't too difficult. But now I've got a lot. Most of it is kept in ammo cans, and most of those are in a locked storage room. But it isn't very secure in that the door could probably be busted open with a swift kick or too. The lock just keeps visitors or grandkids from casually opening the door to see what's behind it.

It isn't worth it, to me, to buy enough safes to keep it secure in that sense. But the storage room is inside the house, which is protected by a security alarm system, for whatever good that might do. I doubt anyone could cart it all off before the cops arrived, but if bold enough they could get some of it.

I don't really want to purchase another smaller safe to store ammo and was looking at some lockable cabinets I could reinforce and screw into wallstuds in a corner.

Any ideas or recommendations? Maybe old file cabinets?
Click to expand...
Who are you trying to keep it from? A prybar will likely bust open lockable cabinets easy enough. So that's not much security against a determined thief. If you are just trying to keep it out of the hands of children, it might be okay, if you don't have too much. In my storage room, I have ammo cans stacked 5-6 high, and old file cabinets would not hold up to that kind of weight. So the lock on the door keeps the casual visitor or child from mischief, the same way lockable cabinets might. Again, it is not worth it, to me, to invest in much more than that to keep ammo "secure."
 
I keep ammo in a steel cabinet, in ammunition boxes (plastic and military) and on shelves in the closet. If you want to get it off shelves or out of a safe, but really don't want to use ammo boxes, I would suggest you look at a steel contractors box which come in several sizes off the shelf at Home Depot and probably Lowes. You can lock them and they certainly provide "protection" in the event of a fire.
 
The bulk is stored in milsurp ammo cans with nifty homemade dessicant packs. Stacked and locked in the doomsday closet. Smaller amounts of ammo need to be handy, so there are a few hundred rounds at arms reach from their weapon of usage.

Anyone else keep a box in the glove compartment?
 
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