Vacuum sealing guns and ammo.

[castile]

I just bought a food sealer from Amazon. I RIGS greased and WD40 greased up my guns, and then put them in a seal a meal and took out all the air. WD has worked very well on every kind of weather and storage but one, that was corrosive shooting. In damp weather it does not clean corrosive ammo, hot water and soap was all that worked. I can not imagine vacuum sealing being a problem. Anyone ever sealed a gun and buried it for testing or ammo for that matter? I was thinking of sealing some 22lr and burring it for a year and then seeing if it shoots OK

 

[Greg528iT]

Be careful digging it up. A spade to a .22 rim might get exciting.

 

[buck1032]

I have never done that and don't really see the need to actually bury one. However a few years ago I read and article where someone did actually seal and bury a long gun. With that said I have thought about doing something along those lines to some safe queens I have. Ones that I don't really ever to shoot but have sentimental value that were passed down to me and will get passed down to my son or his kids.

 

[rcmodel]

Don't get old and forget where you buried them!!

rc

 

[230RN]

Supposition: Vacuum sealing probably wouldn't do any wooden parts much good. It would outgas all its moisture anyhow and probably shrink, to boot.

Opinions?

Further supposition: It might be better to just flood the packaging with easy-to-get welder's argon or maybe nitrogen if it's available.

Opinions?

Terry, 230RN

 

[rskent]

I understand sealing up some ammo if you think it might be susceptible to the elements.
I get long term storage. But why in the h___ would you want to bury it?
Do you keep money buried in the back yard too.

Where do you live? ..... Don't worry, I always carry a shovel with me.

 

[Reloadron]

While novel I see using a vacuum pack to store ammunition as somewhat overkill. Ammunition stored in standard ammunition cans with some descant works fine after 40 or 50 years. That assumes the cans are stored in a cool dry location. I would be careful using stuff like WD40, simply because I have seen petroleum based products have an adverse effect on polyethylene or other similar packaging material.

Where I worked prior to retiring we did quite a bit of vacuum packaging using 3 to 5 mil thick Green Poly. Mostly high end parts for the Government. The parts then went into metal containers. Anyway, for guns and or ammunition I just see it as overkill. For guns there is cosmoline and for ammunition there are cans.

I also do not see where using Argon, Nitrogen or other inert gas would hurt but don't see a need for it, especially if you want to vacuum pack things.

Just My Take
Ron

 

[bannockburn]

castile

A few years back I buried various types of ammo (rimfire, along with brass and steel cased rifle ammo), for a year. I placed some ammo in big Ziploc bags, trying to force out as much air as possible before I sealed them up. These in turn went into some sort of plastic container, which was finally placed into yet another larger plastic bag. Used duct tape to further seal up the bags. Did this from September to September, about 2 to 2 1/2 feet in the ground. Dug it all up and everything was fine, totally dry with no breaks or leakage with any of the bags. Ammo was as good to go as the day I bought it.

 

[HammsBeer]

I've read that vacuum sealing ammo might actually accelerate the outgassing of the powders, but that would be over many years. I think the wild temperature fluctuations of being buried outside would do more harm than good. Ammo likes to be dry and a stable cool temp. Air tight ammo cans with dessicant in a cool basement is perfect.

As far as guns, a vacuum wrapped all synthetic rifle (like an AR) with dessicant would probably be just fine, but wood stocks would shrink and crack. Wood needs 40-60% humidity.

 

[Alec]

I can't comment on vacuum sealing, but there are much more effective metal preservatives than WD-40.

 

[Scooter22]

Don't get old and forget where you buried them!!

rc

Thats where Pirate Maps came from.

 

[Ed Ames]

I've been bagging guns for over a decade now.

The obvious issues for firearms are that any sharp edge will create a stress/wear point on the bag, and the pattern on non-chamber sealer bags ( needed to allow the air out of the bag) transfers onto the bluing (I think through oil polymerization) leaving a pattern that must be cleaned off.

They are both solved by putting the firearm in a "bore store" type sleeve and vacuum bagging that.

The theoretical issue is that those bags may be oxygen permeable. I can't help thinking it would still be better than open air exposure, but it isn't necessarily a guaranteed long term rust stopper.

Using a bore store and a good vacuum bag, plus an outer case, I've had guns vacuum packed for 10 years come out of wraps looking/working as good as the day they were sealed. Including black powder guns.

I've bagged a lot of ammo, mostly to de-rattle the containers. Never had an issue beyond sharp edge punctures costing the seal. Ammo lasts forever either way so it is hard to claim it extends the service life, but it does keep the brass shinier.

I do not recommend that for the only protection on burial. You need an outer vault designed to deal with a water table, buoyancy, and all that jazz.

 

[Midwest]

But why in the h___ would you want to bury it?

In the 1990's people were buying PVC pipe and putting certain kind of rifles in them and then burying them in case there was some kind of 'gun confiscation scenario' during the 'Clinton years'. I don't see any reason to do that today. There are several YouTube videos on PVC/Bury Guns out there.'

Perhaps that is what our friends in Australia should have done, bury their firearms.

Anyway so that is where the burying of guns originated from....
.

 

[Rock185]

I've not buried any guns, but do use WD-40. I wonder if WD-40 would begin to dissolve a plastic vacuum seal bag over time and damage any firearm finish in direct contact? I don't think I'd store a firearm in direct contact with a plastic bag in any case. Maybe putting the gun in something like Bore Stores or similar, then in plastic might be the way to go for safe storage...

 

[rcmodel]

Treasure Maps?

Arrrr Matey!
You have shivered my timbers and belayed my best laid plan!!

Pristine buried Colt AR-15's and vac sealed 5.56 ammo will be the plunder of treasure hunters 200 years from now!!

Or, the gobermint satellites will be so good by then they can spot those buried & forgotten guns from space!!

Don't waste your time and money burying guns & ammo.
It's a paranoid fools errand.


rc

 

[Radagast]

Midwest:
Anecdotal tales abounded when California banned 'Assault rifles' of hardware stores selling out of 6 inch PVC pipe and end caps.
I was told that at the last gun show before the Australian confiscation that two tonnes of silicone desiccant were sold.
Personally I thought this was a bad idea. Keeping the shooting community and RKBA alive requires people to actually go shooting. I took my compensation money, bought new legal guns and taught people to shoot. Well over 1000 people tried hand gun shooting using ammo I purchased with that compensation.

Here is an old article about burying a gun:
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/wood115.html

A good reason for bagging guns is wilderness survival. I remember one account of a man caught in the back country in the 1998 Ice Storm. The farmer who's lands he was traveling through had shown him his caches of trail mix, chocolate and an air rifle. He was able to recover one of these caches and it kept him alive until the ice melted and he was able to drive out.

 

[Gravedigger56]

Never have seen a need to bury any of my guns and/or ammo. On the other hand, I do vacuum pack all of my unopened bottles of powder and boxes of primers until they are needed since my reloading room is in my basement.

 

[moxie]

In the Air Force we bagged aircraft weapon and gun components that might be susceptible to corrosion in storage.

What we did was make suitable sized "bags" out of barrier paper and heat-sealed them. Evacuated all the air with a vacuum cleaner. Blew in a bit of nitrogen to purge the air. Sealed the holes.

I've seen parts and components that were stored that way for many years in a very high humidity environment come out looking like new.

As far as ammo goes, just keep it on a plain old ammo can. Stays good forever, in really nasty environments.

Of course, none of this was ever buried underground. That's a bit much.

 

[Rembrandt]

Not into bagging and burying....that's for the undertaker. However there is a practical application when it comes to storing brass, sealed bags are convenient packaging.

 

[Longhunter1700]

WD40 will gum-up over time

 

[Sunray]

WD-40 is not grease and does not clean anything but electronic connectors. Cleaning after shooting corrosively primed ammo is done with plain hot tap water(soap is not needed and leaves a film) then a normal cleaning.
"...2 to 2 1/2 feet in the ground..." Where you are would matter. Two to 2 1/2 feet in the ground up here would not be below the frost line. Other places might get enough rain flooding to was some or all of the dirt away.
"...hardware stores selling..." There was a time when BATF meant Bury All Thine Firearms. There was a company(U.S., I think) that sold the ABS/PVC pipe and a post hole auger.

 

[bannockburn]

These are a couple of the plastic containers I used to store ammo in. The taller green one could hold 4 boxes of .22s (200 rounds), while the larger clear canister could hold over 1,000 rounds of .22 ammo.

 

[Sheepdog1968]

Backwoods home magazine has an article you can read on the web from someone who sealed up a mini-14 during Clinton's early years. He ventuallymdigs it up many years later. Worth reading. All was fine with rifle and ammo if in recall correctly.

Radagast post above has the link.

 

[GAF]

Not ammo or gun burial , look at the sealed steel containers pulled out of this flooded fallout shelter from the early 1960`s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrt4QSAng6I

https://www.google.com/search?q=flo...UMYINTQ1M:&usg=__fOzgcBi_2K5VD8514D_vIisRWTE=

 

[DSAPT9]

Although the way things have been going I understand why you want to bury ammo and firearms but a good number of years back I met a Holocaust survivor who told me “Son if you feel it is time to bury your firearms maybe it’s time to use them”.

Just food for thought.

I agree with others if you put ammo in an ammo can with a moisture absorber you are good to go for a very long time and as far as guns a silicone sock is better than WD40.