[readygirl]

Just curious how other people store their stockpile, im starting to build up quite a bit, and sometimes wonder "what if my house caught on fire" I would have to tell the fire dept about the thousands of round of ammo, would they just clear the area, and let it burn ? Im thinking about buying a bunch of those army surplus sealed ammo cans, and burying them outside, is that crazy ?

[Toll13]

Yes

Sent from a Droid...but not the one you are looking for, move along.

[c3shooter]

Ammo in a fire, unless tightly confined, does not mass detonate (one huge KABLOOEY is the technical term for that). It burns, will pop bullet out of casing- not going more than a few feet with no real energy.

Why would you bury ammo? The GI ammo can, when the rubber seal is intact, was MADE to store ammo. Keep it cool and dry, will last longer than you will.

PS- my ammo storage is 5 drawer filing cabinets. Now up to 5 of them. Shop in the stores that carry USED office furniture. They USED to make nice, HEAVY steel filing cabinets with great ball bearing rollers for the drawers. But not airtight, so does not produce confinement.

[kenhesr]

Don't know about your area but around here the fire code is mainly for black powder storage. I don't have any but I think you can have around 5 pounds before you need a special container.

As I am not in the business of selling small arms ammo I can have all I want for private use and be within code, no special storage rules. No special insurance rider.

Ammo cans for storage is a good idea. I would probably look into the fire codes before I'd bury my ammo. Its not a good idea to let it freeze.

My fireman friends say they are more worried about my aerosol cans & LP tanks than they are about loaded ammo - except for a round left in the chamber of a weapon cooking off.

[gutz47]

If you bury ammo put it in something waterproof and plastic. They make specific boxes for burying guns and ammo. Also if you live far enough north where you get a good ol frozen winter, bury it deep.

[JonM]

i vaccuum seal it then put in a ammo can if its long term storgage. i make my own so i gotta come up with my own packing.

i keep about 1000 rounds in loaded ar15 30 round mags in the gun safe.

i wouldnt bury it. the ground has an amazing ability to houdini open just about any packing device over time.

[readygirl]

Originally Posted by c3shooter

Ammo in a fire, unless tightly confined, does not mass detonate (one huge KABLOOEY is the technical term for that). It burns, will pop bullet out of casing- not going more than a few feet with no real energy.

Why would you bury ammo? The GI ammo can, when the rubber seal is intact, was MADE to store ammo. Keep it cool and dry, will last longer than you will.

PS- my ammo storage is 5 drawer filing cabinets. Now up to 5 of them. Shop in the stores that carry USED office furniture. They USED to make nice, HEAVY steel filing cabinets with great ball bearing rollers for the drawers. But not airtight, so does not produce confinement.

Thanks for the info, i keep it in big zip-loc bags, in filing cabinets, in the basement now, will just keep doing that.

[fireguy]

When our local meat locker went out of business I got one section of 4 drawer meat lockers. I gave it a coat of industrial gray paint to sort of match my gun safe and now I have a very nice mostly secure large ammo bin.
I have much of it in ammo cans, some is sealed in battle packs, some I sealed with the vac sealer. I intentionally didn't draw all of the air out of the packs I made with the vac sealer. I doubt that it would be an issue, but was concerned about having a higher pressure inside the cartridge than outside of the cartridge for a long time.
C3 is right about the fire hazard, not any more worry than ordinary cleaning product and paint cans exposed to heat if you have a fire.

[Txhillbilly]

I just keep all of mine stored in 50cal surplus ammo cans.That reminds me,I need to buy about 20 more.
My local fire chief knows I have a large amount of ammo,powders,primers just in case everything starts burning around here again.I'd rather have it all burn,and keep the firefighters safe.
That's what insurance policies are for!

[trip286]

In an underground cargo container. In combloc sealed cans (surplus 7.62x54r)