quote:

What is the estimated total weight of the ammo and containers?

Thanks to all my SF friends who commented.

Just to let you know, I checked some YT videos last night after I posted. One was titled “Hot to move guns and ammo”—he was from a moving company said, guns, no ammo. Waste of time.
Another was “The secret to transporting ammo”. His answer was to label his obvious huge ammo cans as “tire rim weights:; so he not not committed fraud but boasted of it on YT.

To answer the monkey’s question: pretty sure it’s < 900 pounds, which is the net weight capacity of the minivan. In terms of space, only about 1/3 the inner space with middle seats removed.

I will do some weighing of ammo cases and make a good estimate from that. I have to break the load down into units I can move around with my aged back—or hire some help through U-Haul.

Biggest hassle at this point is convincing my wife it’s OK to drive 500 miles with a load of ammo. I told her the biggest risk is driving in a car with gasoline. BTW we’ve done this trip repeatedly in one day. In taking up the guns we stopped half way, but now we know we don’t have to. That would be the biggest risk—being seen unloading something very heavy into a hotel room, or leaving it overnight in a parking lot.

Once again, thanks for the advice!

I was a long haul over the road driver for PODS for 12 years. Only time I ever heard of a theft was if someone left a pod container unattended in front of their house or on the street. Once it's in PODS possession, it is put on the truck with doors facing other POD and in the warehouse they are stacked up to five high and the doors are not accessible. Dept of AG in California and Border Patrol could not even access when we went thru checkpoints.

Another example, lets say the place you are moving to is not ready for some reason. Your stuff sits in the warehouse until you tell them to deliver. You are not stuck with a loaded rental truck that needs to be unloaded. I have seen bed buggers (slang for movers) repacking and combining loads on the side of the road and in truck stops, so if I were moving PODS is the only one I would trust.

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Originally posted by newtoSig765:
You could put the valuables at the end of the pod farthest from the door, stack the rest of your goodies on top and around them, nobody will be the wiser since they don't unpack the pod, just deliver it for you.

Check with them.

You don't want to put all the weight on one end, they use forklifts in the warehouse and they will be unbalanced and they might have you come in to repack.

Nhtagmember has made me an offer I can’t refuse—unless the missus says otherwise.
Thanks about 12,000, Greg!

I’ve done it. I guess you could say it was risky but I didn’t think so. I just put my plastic ammo cans (bought in bulk) in containers with locks. Movers didn’t say anything. And I spread the ammo out in the containers. I didn’t stack my ammo full in the containers, filling them up. Each container would have 50% ammo, then I’d jam in blankets, other items, etc. But the caveat was I didn’t have the amount of ammo I have now. The amount I have now, I will have to move it myself in a rented U-Haul van when I go rural. The 18 wheeler folk also moved my car and my motorcycles, either of could catch fire, so I wasn’t real worried about a couple thousand rounds of ammo.

Uline sells these heavy duty shipping crates that should work.
You could easily load them yourself and then go from there.
https://www.uline.com/Product/...let?keywords=S-18247

Don’t declare but realize that anything goes sideways it’s on you. Friend moved from CA to TX. His motorcycle caught fire somewhere in route. Don’t remember what happened but it was in the shipper. Insurance covered but shit happens.

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movers won’t knowingly take it

That's easily managed. Don't tell them.

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Grok also says would void insurance if there were a fire

A better source than artificial 'intelligence' here would be your home insurance agent(s). You would want your own coverage for all your stuff being moved anyway - firearms related as well as everything else- whether from continuing your San Diego home insurance or starting your new house's coverage early.

Call them and see what your least-cost options are to arrange your own loss and liability coverage for your stuff during the move.

I would consider loading primers, powder, and bullets onto the truck. Store them in small brass containers.

When I moved from Alabama to Missouri, I rented a small U-Haul trailer to haul my guns, ammo, and other things that I didn't want to trust to the movers. A small trailer is quite cheap.

I wouldn't expect properly packed ammo to be any kind of fire or explosion hazard other than if the vehicle caught fire some other way.

We've used local muscle a number of times to pack up for moving or to move heavy things around inside the house. If you rent a truck or even use your own vehicle, it is simple to find local help packing or unpacking.

If you drive yourself, be aware of any local laws or restrictions on anything you are transporting.

I moved earlier this year. Movers show up and said no ammo . So pissed I had to carry 15-20k rounds out of a full basement. that was not fun. my intown move still ended up costing 4500k

Many thanks to my friend nhtagmember who offered to drive from Tucson to SD, take up our ammo to northern Cal, and asked nothing in return.

I was motivated to estimate the total weight of my ammo cache. I now know it weighs <500 lbs. in Ridgid Pro Gear 2.0 resin tool boxes. It will all fit in two stacks of rolling tool box + 4-5 small attachable boxes in each stack. I can divide it up so no unit will weigh more than ca. 40 lbs.

The total weight is easily within the capacity of the Honda Odyssey. More important, the missus is now OK with doing this. We'll either make a separate trip up before the move, or take it with us on our ultimate move.

As advised above, help is available if needed through U-Haul, and we've done this before.

I appreciate everyone's advice, and am overwhelmed by Greg's generosity.

I moved locally 35 years ago and a local company wouldn't take ammo or powder. I only had to move it 6 blocks, so it wasn't a big problem.

^^^ Greg is a stand up guy! But given his recent episode in Canada, maybe he shouldn't be lifting too much. You know best, Doc.

I made two long distance moves with a lot of ammo and guns. In both cases, I had to stay overnight on the road and took bins of guns into the hotel with me. I left the ammo in the locked trailer and everything was fine. I stayed in low key, well lit nicer places. Thankfully no issues.

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maybe he shouldn't be lifting too much.

Well, there's always my 121-pound, 81 year old wife to do the heavy lifting while we drink beer and criticize her lifting technique.

Ha!

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Originally posted by sjtill:...
Well, there's always my 121-pound, 81 year old wife to do the heavy lifting while we drink beer and criticize her lifting technique.

FYI

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posted by 6guns: I made two long distance moves with a lot of ammo and guns. In both cases, I had to stay overnight on the road ...

I slept in the van when I moved with my guns.