How do you store/secure your ammunition?

[FROGO207]

Yep sure do, three MAGS full and a long gun and ammo for it behind the truck seat as well.

 

[oneounceload]

If you want to hide it in plain sight, go to Lowes or HD and buy brand new empty paint cans in whatever size you need and place on the shelf with some paint supplies - no one is going to bother messing with what appears to be some leftover paint

 

[M2 Carbine]

I store most of my ammo in 30 and 50 cal, and a few larger surplus ammo boxes.
I'd tell you where it's secured, but then I'd have to kill you.



My shop burned down in 1995.
Best guess is I only had 23,000 rounds but it was an interesting day.
Still the steel ammo cans are a good way to store ammo.

 

[CB900F]

M2;

Thanks for the pictures of that. Did the insurance company cover the ammo loss? Was there any evidence that bullets presented any danger to the fire department? How did the fire department, if one was involved, handle it? Do you have any pictures of the immediate area of the ammo boxes? In other words, that cloud of incandescent gas I referred to earlier in the thread line. If there was significant burn evidence in the area, can you imagine what it would have been like had the ammo been enclosed in an RSC or (worse) a safe?

900F

 

[r1derbike]

3 small gun safes in a big, immovable (well, without power tools and a lot of time) gun safe.

 

[M2 Carbine]

M2;

Thanks for the pictures of that. Did the insurance company cover the ammo loss? Was there any evidence that bullets presented any danger to the fire department? How did the fire department, if one was involved, handle it? Do you have any pictures of the immediate area of the ammo boxes? In other words, that cloud of incandescent gas I referred to earlier in the thread line. If there was significant burn evidence in the area, can you imagine what it would have been like had the ammo been enclosed in an RSC or (worse) a safe?

Yes, the insurance company covered everything, including the shop and 7 guns, at replacement cost, as part of the personal property insurance.
Actually I made money. They replaced a inexpensive Montgomery Ward shed with a $5,200 Morgan building.

As you can see, bullets went through the steel cans and there were bullet holes in the shed walls, and other stuff.
I found a M1 Carbine bullet in my house roof, about 35 yards away. (none of the 7 guns were loaded)

We like to say that ammo in a fire isn't a danger (no use giving the anti gun people more info) but, as you can see, ammo in a fire can be an interesting experience.

The shop was past burned to the ground, there was also cans of gun powder, primers and such as WD40, so I can't say what all took place, except it was "interesting".


.

 

[Doc7]

Yes, the insurance company covered everything, including the shop and 7 guns, at replacement cost, as part of the personal property insurance.
Actually I made money. They replaced a inexpensive Montgomery Ward shed with a $5,200 Morgan building.

As you can see, bullets went through the steel cans and there were bullet holes in the shed walls, and other stuff.
I found a M1 Carbine bullet in my house roof, about 35 yards away. (none of the 7 guns were loaded)

We like to say that ammo in a fire isn't a danger (no use giving the anti gun people more info) but, as you can see, ammo in a fire can be an interesting experience.

The shop was past burned to the ground, there was also cans of gun powder, primers and such as WD40, so I say what all took place, except it was "interesting".

Wow... Quite different than what I was led to believe, even from a video I believe is Stickied on this or another major gun forum.

 

[oneounceload]

Ammo in a fire goes pffffft, ammo in a tightly sealed can becomes a bomb because the pressure has nowhere to go

 

[M2 Carbine]

ammo in a tightly sealed can becomes a bomb because the pressure has nowhere to go

The ammo acted in a number of different ways, no doubt from how it was confined, how it was heated, etc. The fire was hot enough to melt glass bottles.

No steel ammo cans actually exploded in one bang. It appears that from one round to some number of rounds "fired" at once, several times in the 50 cal cans.
It's interesting that a 50 cal can about half full of Russian AK ammmo didn't have one hole in the can although the can was half full of "shrapnel" from the burst rounds.

I actually only heard three real explosions. I believe they were the two cans of Black Powder (right) and the can of WD40 (top left). The smokeless powder cans did their job of just popping at the top or bottom and the powder just burning.

Note the bullet holes in the center powder cans.
Those bullets had to go through, at least the side of the ammo can and no telling what else before hitting the powder cans.





This can full of 9mm rounds, in plastic boxes, wasn't actually in the fire but got so hot the paint burned.
Only about 35-40 rounds in one box "exploded" but it was enough to blow a fist size hole in the bottom of the box. (You wouldn't want to be close to that box when it blew. Of course you wouldn't be there because of the heat.)

I eventually shot all the remaining 9mm ammo. It fired normally, even though most of it had gotten pretty hot.




.

 

[CSG]

It's in the same safe as my guns but I'd like to move it. Unfortunately, I've got no better place to move it into. I suppose it's a risk in a major fire but one I'll have to take for the time being.

 

[119er]

I'm looking at some shorter locking supply cabinets that I can screw into the walls in the corner of a closet. I may install a bar down the center to resist prying.

My decision to lock up ammo comes from when I bought my safe. At that time I had plenty of room and little ammo. Now things have grown to the point that it is crowded. Ammunition is valuable to me and the likelyhood that it would be stolen in a burglary may be low but is ultimately up to a would be thief. There was a day where my guns were stored standing up in a closet. I bought a safe to protect them. I now seek similar (lower level) protection for my ammo as much for organization as for security. It is double stacked deep in ammo cans and I am having to move a lot of ammo around to get at what I may need.

Thanks for the input.

 

[boatmanschneider]

In the pantry. Next to the beans and rice.

 

[BigN]

I keep the loaded boxes on a shelf beneath my reloading bench.

 

[Manny]

I have an old office supplies cabinet, 36"x18" with a lock on the door. I need to set up some shelving inside to make the most of the space, but it works well. My gun room is also my office, still a work in process. The cabinet, filing cabinet and work desk are what you can see through the open door, the safe sits behind the door. My hope is to eventually get it set up so other than the safe nothing denotes what's in there. Low profile is a good approach to keep from attracting interest in the first place.

 

[Chevelle SS]

Shoe boxes and ammo cans in the basement.

 

[sota]

folks... if you think ammo is dangerous...

http://youtu.be/3SlOXowwC4c

clif's notes... ammo is dangerous when used in the appropriate firearms (that's the whole point after all!) but in a fire it's not as dangerous as some think. it's "scary" sounding but note some interesting observations... the fragments aren't pentrating the standard turnout gear for firemen, and the cookoff rate drops DRAMATICALLY upon inital application of fire suppression.

 

[jim243]

Locking up ammo seems pointless

Not if you have small children or it is required by state of local ordinances. Garage sales are good places to find used cabinets that you can put a lock on with little trouble. Plywood sheets can be cut down to make doors for book shelves that a lock can be applied to. You can change the door handles on closet doors to locking ones and use an interior closet for your secure ammo storage. Or build yourself a wooden box from scrap lumber that you can put a hasp lock on to secure.

Many options out there.
Jim

 

[Deltaboy1984]

50 cal ammo boxes all over the house.

 

[ridgerunner1965]

i like the paint can idea a lot! currently i store in ammo cans and thick styrofoam coolers.the coolers just sit on a shelf looking like styrofoam coolers.not much of a target for thieves. the ammo cans have labels on them saying things like, 3/8 in bolts or garden seeds. again a bit of misdirection.

one thing i also do is store it all widely seperated in 4 different buildings.in case of fire or theft i wont lose it all.

 

[longshot7.62x51]

vacuum sealed in plastic stored in 2 pelican cases. one small with go ammo for emergency hunting and shooting trips and one large on wheels for every thing else. factory boxes are also vacuum sealed reloads are sealed in just bags 50 per with lot cards and load info

 

[Life During Wartime]

Depending on how much ammunitions you have it might be cost effective to buy old surplus ammo cans or 1 or two or more toolboxes. The benefit of the toolbox is that many of them are made with a hole so you can lock them with a combination lock like you would use for a PE locker or a fence gate. That to me is the best way to store it. I recently however got an old filing card box from a garage sale. It locks (in theory) but did not come with a key so it wont lock for me. It's big enough to store two 1911's and I haven't tried it yet but also I am thinking a box of 50 in the middle. Or you could just fill the whole thing up with ammo, which is what I would do if I had that many boxes. If you can find something like that, it would be really cheap to buy, mine was a dollar. I like it because it has a strong hinge system that opens with authority in a style reminiscent of the surplus ammo cans.

 

[browningguy]

Mine just sits in the closet, actually in two closets, this is one.