Vaccum seal ammo? OK to do?

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melikesguns

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OK, I have a fresh saver food vaccum sealer. I have purchased a lot of ammo lately. Is it safe to vaccum seal? Will it be beneficial to do so?( shelf life extended)? I was thinking of leaving it the 50 or 100 round factory boxes to seal it. Anyone see a reason not to do it?

Thanks
 
I should have clarified. I am talking about 300-400 rounds to be stored in my car, just in case the SHTF. I always have my Glock and Mossberg 12ga. in the car.
 
I don't really see the point. Ammo is really, really stable even in pretty harsh environments (way more harsh than you'll find in your car during any weather). And it just adds more packaging you'll have to rip through in the event of an emergency.

I mean, go for it if you want to. Just seems a little extreme imho.
 
I should have clarified. I am talking about 300-400 rounds to be stored in my car, just in case the SHTF. I always have my Glock and Mossberg 12ga. in the car.
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Yeah you gotta be prepared for those zombie attacks... I'm not trying to be a jerk, but... I understand the idea of a handgun in a car for protection but a handgun, a shotgun AND 400 rounds? What happens if you get pulled over someday and a cop finds all that? It's not illegal but they'd definitely find it suspicious
 
Don't expect the plastic to remain 100% waterproof/elements proof sitting in the trunk of your car. The plastic will wear and degrade depending on heat, cold and exposures to chemicals like gasoline and solvents.

A metal ammo can with a pack of desiccant thrown into it is probably a better method of long-term storage in a car (or anywhere else).
 
I did some years ago. I put them bulk of 100 rounds in a package and threw in some of those shoe box silica packages in for moisture control. They are about 10 years old and bright and shiny still. Maybe over kill but I have a peace of mind that they will be fresh when I decide to use them. Is it needed may be not.
 
Use 30 cal ammo cans with desicant. Just make sure the gasket is in good shape. That's a more durable and more easily transported way than vacuum sealing. Too easy to poke a small hole in the plastic bag.
 
LOL...

I did the same thing with 1200 rounds of SS197 5.7x28mm. I keep it in the safe along with about 3000 rounds of the same ammo not sealed. I did it beacuse it will add some protection to the ammo and 5.7 might be very hard to find in 10-15 years.

BTW I have and shoot .303 British from the 1940s and I can tell you that ammo was not stored with preservation in mind. So it most likely does not matter if it is sealed or not but for $10 at Wal-Mart it makes me feel better.
 
I've got an opened tin of 1951 Lake City 30 Carbine ammo that works just fine. My short range coyote loads are 3" paper-hulled 4 buck, they shoot just fine (and smell so good after firing). They were probably made in the fifties. All this ammo is in a cabinet or a drawer, no special storage.

I bought a large lot of 1973 RWS large rifle primers at a garage sale many years ago. I'm still using them and I've never had a misfire.

Vacuum seal your food. Put your ammo in a dry place and don't worry about it.
 
handgun, a shotgun AND 400 rounds? What happens if you get pulled over someday and a cop finds all that? It's not illegal but they'd definitely find it suspicious
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Back when I had my last supercab 1/2 ton truck I would have been considered suspicious. I traded that truck in on a regular cab Ford Ranger (my dad was the salesman) and I took out of the back seat 3 shotguns, 2 pistols, 2 rifles that I knew were there, when I drug the other stuff out I found another that was in there I'd forgot about. I think between the shotgun shells and other ammo there was near 1200 rounds in the truck. This was in the middle of the somewhere nowhere near a hunting season.
 
I've wondered about that. I reload in my garage shop, not a/c, and I noticed that my Winchester large pistol primers are tarnishing or corroding after only 6 months out in the garage. This is central Florida, it gets hot and is kind of humid I guess, but not what I would have called extreme.

I've since moved the primers inside into a safe with a desiccant pack in it, to keep them more dry. A 50 cal ammo can with stuff in it and a dessicant thing sounds prudent to me, and if I wanted to store something longer term, I'd think about doing what you're doing with the vacuum sealer. Sounds like it ought to work...
 
Yeah you gotta be prepared for those zombie attacks... I'm not trying to be a jerk, but... I understand the idea of a handgun in a car for protection but a handgun, a shotgun AND 400 rounds? What happens if you get pulled over someday and a cop finds all that? It's not illegal but they'd definitely find it suspicious
Click to expand...

Not to change the subject, but my next arm purchase is for a "trunk monkey". It'll be a bullpup in .308 Winchester. In Oklahoma, it's OK to have a long gun in your vehicle that is magazine loaded but not chamber loaded if you have a CHL. If you don't have a CHL, the long gun must not be loaded in any fashion.

Back to the subject, just keeping your ammo dry is all you need to worry about.

Woody
 
Ammo lasts a looooong time just kept dry and stationary.

Extreme cycles in temperature can break down the powder over a long period of time. Quite a few years for that to be significant. Cycles of condensation and drying can cause spot corrosion, weakening the case, but that also takes a long time.

I'm still loading 30-06 with primers I bought in 1964. They work fine. I do buy new to load for hunting or when I teach a class. I'm not worried about the possibility of a dud or hang fire, but a student needn't be exposed to any possibility of malfunction that can be avoided.

Pops
 
The extra weight will cost you more in gas!!

LOL, heck, I say do it. I used to get .308 ammo in battlepacks.

Posters above are right its going to be fine anyway, but if u got the vacuum sealer, why not.

Addtly, UV light, not heat and cold is going the be the biggest enemy of that plastic, so it should be fine in the trunk.

Take a pic and post it for us after you do it, willya?
 
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