Gunny G

I have many ammo can's full of factory grade ammo. They all have moisture absorbing dessicant. I may even fill em with ether vapor. I moved them to the upper level of my house. It is usually a few degrees warmer upstairs because heat naturally rises. Do you think it will make a big difference long term storage? Maybe they should go back down to the cooler parts of the home?

What do you guys think?

RugerFan

Won't make a bit of difference, IMO. I have ammo that I've had stored in ammo cans, minus the dessicant, though, that I have toted around for over 20 years. Sometimes it's in the basement, sometimes it's on the main floor. When I decide to break some out and use it, it looks like it did when I bought and never fails to fire.

james

Wouldn't humidity be a problem?
More so than temperature.
Can't say I have kept ammo for any great length of time.
So I am in the dark.....

tx gun runner

+1 ............... Most of my ammo I sealed in ammo cans over 30 yrs ago and I have NEVER had a problem with the ammo .

Gunny G

They are sealed tight. As long as I pack em in low humidity, that's how they'll stay. The dessicant absorbs any tiny bits of moisture left. I am conscious of this when I pack them also. They are excellent quality surplus that I recieved from the US military.

I think I'm good in that respect James, I was just wondering about the heat even though it's not real excessive. I didn't think there would be a problem but I have a lot of money tied up in my ammo stocks.

More of a concern than the money is the purpose for an ammo storage. If stocks do run low because of global depression or other crazy unforeseen events, I'll have enough on hand to hunt and such.

Nutty Ned

The only way you might have a problem is if you moved the cans into an un airconditioned attic,

Gunny G

Yep, my thoughts exactly. Because of the extreme temperature swings. condensation could form in the cans.

I used to fire and train with old WWII .50 cal ammo that was kept in ammo bunkers since the 40's. This was during the 1980's and 90's. The USMC wanted to expend it because it had been there so long. The stuff was pristine and shot like our lives depended on it.

(.50 Cal ammo can)
I buried some ammo in 2001 in an ammo can on my property as an experiment. about 12 inches down under a tree. Thought about it for 9-10 years. Dug it up recently and fired it.

It was like the day I buried it. I presumed the temperature would remain almost constant underground. My concern was rust and corrosion as there is a lot of clay and very moist soil where I am. There was very minimal surface rust. The cans the military gets the ammo in are darn good!

I think that my main concern might be temp swings. I should try to avoid them.

303Lithgow

I have ammo from WWII and it all shoots perfect except for some 303 British. I get a lot of hang fires from it but all of the 30 Carbine, 45ACP and 30.06 shoots. I have a friend in the Army and he said they still shoot 50 cal from the 40's, 50's and 60's.

Gunny G

Can you imagine how much .50Cal they must have cranked out in production during the 1940's? There must have been massive stores!

All that ammo is like treasure.

303Lithgow

What is really amazing is it all still shoots. Glad its not corrosive. All my 303 is and its a pain to clean the rifles after shootin'.

Terry_P

Interesting stuff here. I roll my own so I keep 200-300 rounds for each caliber, go shoot it off and make more.

303Lithgow

I tend to load 5,000 rounds at a time.

go army

I'm sending you my brass to reload

go army

That's it, big temp variences can cause a little condensation {under the right/wrong conditions} but the dessicant should take care of that. The old steel military ammo cans are what I use and if you get a good seal on them and not open them every other week they keep ammo shootable longer than I'll likely live.

303Lithgow

No problem, don't forget to send the powdfer, primers and bullets too. Don't worry about a return address as I won't be needing it.