Do any of you put desiccant in your ammo cans for long term storage? I have never had an issue with ammo going bang, even if it was 30 years old, but it is stored in my basement right next to a dehumidifier to keep the moisture down in the summer months.

Did you mean a desiccant and a humidifier?

For longer term storage: The regular range ammo I just stack in the cases. Defensive ammo and/or more interesting stuff goes in a metal ammo can with desiccant. However, this is not inside a temperature controller house.

no

no issues ever (decades of storage)

mostly in ammo cans but some just in cardboard boxes

modern ammo is extremely stable

quality ammo stored in basement / garage / home conditions will be fine. basically -- you'll be having health issues way sooner than your ammo has ignition issues

------------------------------------

Nope. But I keep all my ammo cans in the "gun room" inside the house.

If I were storing them somewhere that wasn't climate controlled, like in a garage, shop, or storage building, then I'd probably put dessicant in each of the cans.

All my ammo goes into 50 cal or 30 cal ammo cans.
It stays quietly waiting in the corner of the closet.
No desiccant in the can.

No but I typically throw any I come across in the bottom of the safes.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
All my ammo goes into 50 cal or 30 cal ammo cans.
It stays quietly waiting in the corner of the closet.

I'm often surprised at how many of us do that. Poor Mike either has a warehouse size closet or is way low on ammo.

I store mine in brass tubes with lead or copper stoppers. It helps that its in the basement where the temp is better regulated than up here where my wife stores me. Go figure.

Ammo doesn't last forever. It just seems like that. In my youth I had WWI and WWII ammo, bought surplus and cheap. Still some of it around, along with some 22s that I maybe need to donate to the archeology department of the local leftist indoctrination money sink. In the 1950s, I particularly liked the Winchester-Western rounds with chrome or nickel plated cases and copper washed bullets. That's not really back from the age of fossils (except I'm a fossil). I think they were manufactured in the 1950s.

I was a damned fool and shot up the military 45 ACP stuff from WWI. I know, still in the issue boxes, too. It was probably corrosive so no matter.

After a long post, the short of it is that it lasts longer than we do, or will. With no special care to speak of.

All my ammo - range and SHTF - is in the original packing inside GI cans with one of these:

https://www.midwayusa.com/prod...014543923?pid=799452

Is it necessary? Probably not.

Does it hurt? Probably not.

Every three months I recharge all of them. It gives me something to do.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sigmund,

quote:

Poor Mike either has a warehouse size closet or is way low on ammo.

It is a huge closet, Mrs mike said it was the deciding factor, granted I’m in the smaller side of it but I’ve got a huge safe and a stack of ammo cans full to my waist and four feet wide...I’d like to think I have enough ammo to get a good rumble going!

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
All my ammo goes into 50 cal or 30 cal ammo cans.
It stays quietly waiting in the corner of the closet.
No desiccant in the can.

^^^ Same for me.

I have desiccant in the cans I store my primers in, but not ammo itself.

I just store it in whatever it comes in, normally paper boxes. At $8 per desiccant and can the price of the desiccant and can is 5-10% of the ammo cost (depends on caliber) in it, I can't see enough advantage for that.

I've consolidated guns/ammo over the past two years to make it easier to build up "panic proof" (if that's even possible) supplies for my main firearms.

So, 556 goes loose in .30 cal cans...about 600 rounds per...and 9mm goes in Fat 50s, either in 50 round manufacturer box or loose, if it came in larger than 50 round packs. I can fit 1200 rounds of 9mm in the 50 round boxes in a Fat 50 and limit loose rounds to 2k. 2k is a heavy can. Label maker label on front and top.

Everything else will go in either type of can, as needed.

No desiccant but my ammo cans are stored in my office closet, climate controlled.

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:

...At $8 per desiccant and can the price of the desiccant...

That's the current price at Midway, I got a bunch for (I think) $5 a few years ago. I just did a quick search and found some for $6 or 7.

I agree they're probably unncessary, but I'm happy using them.

I've got ammo cans stored in both conditions and notice no difference. They all like to go BANG!!

If dessicant acts at all like my dehumidifier crystals, I'd imagine it would be "used up" in about a month anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
and a stack of ammo cans full to my waist and four feet wide.

In many of these threads there is a tidbit of wisdom that might escape notice. In Mike's post he mentions the stack being waist high. Anyone know why that is?? Well, its because ammo is way heavy and its too heavy to lift over waist high. Just as a comment, its easier to lift .30s, but they don't hold enough.

Keep the ammo in the original boxes if you want, but most of us don't still have them. We reload. With pistol ammo, we just dump it right into the ammo can as we finish the reloading process. I think it'd be a pain to stick them back in cardboard. I did that for a while but got tired of it.

You also learn that 9mm is compact and a .50 cal can hold a ton of them. Its even kind of uncomfortable lifting them to waist height.

Now I wish I knew how many .45-70 are in a can full. Best answer I can come up with is pretty darn heavy.

Desiccant won’t hurt, but is not necessary. Don’t store your ammo under a dripping roof leak and you’ll be fine.

All of my ammo is kept inside the house in my walk-in closet. Most ammo stays in factory boxes. AR-15, AK-47, and .22LR ammo goes into ammo cans. I don’t use Desiccant since it is inside, but it wouldn’t hurt to do so.