Bulk Long-Term Ammo Storage

Ten bucks for a steel ammo can lol i get them at harbor freight for 16-17 bucks

Cool.

A great place to get the new cans is harbor freight. Just picked up multiple .50 and .30 cans today. They have them on sale often and I have had great experience with them. I use some to keep tools and such in the back of my truck and they keep everything dry.

Do you bulk store FMJ or HP?

About 1985 had some 12g win XX that said. All new plastic. Ran many through a rem model 11. The were the best shells ive ever shot. They were in a file cabinet under in house conditions. Room temp.

Tractor supply co has the .50 cal cans for $10 and usually the same at harbor freight as well.

I like to individually vacuum seal each round with a very light coat of oil. Then every 5 rounds in another plastic box, where I vacuum seal it, and coat with a little oil. Then 10 of the 5 round boxes into another vacuum sealed box, lightly oiled.

I absolutely LOVE when people like you hoard ammo. Now I know EXACTLY where to get it when SHTF.

Great video! Question: For someone off grid with no power or ac for a cool dry area, how would one store ammo to keep from growing bad?

Does it help preserve it if I throw in some of those moisture absorbing packets in my cans?

that box with 18 loaded ar mags is clutch

I have a metal ammo box that I've had for at least 40 years, don't use it for ammo and seldom latch it so the seal has dried out but the can itself is still good so I bought 2 more recently to put my ammo in and I can get around 1500 rounds in them each in the boxes

I would advise against doing this and label them only by caliber, bullet type and weights. This is mixed ammo. Either mixing ammo from the different manufacturers or mixing ammo from the same manufacturer and product line with different lot number would result in accuracy problem since the bullets will end up all over the place when you shoot due to variance in bullet shape, weight and BC; variance in powder type, charge weight and humidity. If you should do this, buy ammo in bulk that would take over the same container, and mark the container with manufacturers and lot number also. You will at least end up having some ideas how those ammo shoot when you need to go through them. Another better way to do this would be to hand load all your ammo so you can have cans of the same ammo

i have 3 crates full of 556 cans and each can has about 840 rounds, not sure how many cans per crate but it's a lot. That's probably about 10k rounds per crate. I have 1 crate of 9mm hollow points.
I don't shoot these rounds. I usually buy new ammo and shoot them instead. It has been a hassle when moving. I don't plan on moving again.

After you have sufficient built rounds ready to go it is worth considering reloading, keeping your longterm prep ammo in their component form.
Advantages for the longterm areas follows: the powder can remain fresh in a factory sealed container, storage wise if there is a fire you will not have projectiles cooking off, theft wise a can of built .308 is more appealing then a sealed bag of bullets/cases needing presses and knowledge to assembly… plus of course you can hide component parts in different areas of your house making it harder to steal.

They were made to hold 30 you absolutely CAN store them full it will not degrade the spring. The only time a spring will wear down is from expansion. And contraction

If you’re the person that shows the world your ammo storage you’re basically an idiot.

For me, dumping boxes into ziplock bags and tearing off the info panel works best. If you are like most of us buying what you can when you can you end up with different brands, lots and types. I also use bulk reusable dessicant (orange dry/green moist) take a pill bottle and poke a few small holes, fill it up and toss in the can. Using that method i found that one of my cans werent sealing.
Hope that helps.

With stored magazines I go 50/50 1/2 loaded the other 1/2 unloaded. Just in case the spring tension does get effected. I like to stock 223 ( because I have AR and a CZ BA 223 9mm for carbine and pistols. 22lr. 30-06. Mostly 12g OO and rifled slugs. I store in military cans primarily.

How long will ammo keep?

I prefer the Metal cans simply because they don't flex under the weight of the ammo. The plastic can, especially the cheap ones, flex considerably and leaves me always concerned about the seal.

Brass will not rust on you! your 12ga shells are made of iron and brass coated.

I like the 40mm cans. Also dont forget if you store it loose without the box and theres a recall youre screwed. Not only can you not return it but now the crap is mixed with the good stuff

With great stockpile comes great responsibility.
While I envy your horde of ammo, you now get added responsibility of leading the revolt when it’s time to fight. After all, many of us are looking at bare shelves and endless “out of stock” labels every time we want to buy one measly box of ammo.
Again, thank you to all the ammo hoarders who have no intentions of fighting for our freedoms against a tyrannical government.

I started with plastic 30cal & 50cal cans either Plano or later Harbor Freight. About a year ago I got a few metal 50cal cans and did my own leak test, putting a tissue in both plastic and metal ones with enough weight to keep them submerged in a 5 gal bucket of water overnight. The plastic cans leaked, the metal ones did not. I've since replaced all of my cans with 50cal and 30cal metal cans, both milsurp and HF new. HF has some decent ones, or shop the net for used ones in A or B grade. I bag all my ammo in heavy-duty zip lock bags (4 mil) I purchased in 2 sizes for either 100rds of pistol caliber ammo (most of mine is 9mm) or 145rds 223/5.56 (ie 5 mags @ 29/mag). A couple of drypack moisture absorbers go in each bag along with a small label that has all purchase info on it. 30cal cans will JUST fit 1000rds of 9mm, 50cal cans will JUST fit 1000rds 223 packed this way. I am currently shooting some 9mm that I bought in late 2001 that was stored for at least 15 yrs just in a drawer in the box it came it. Zero malfunctions. While I don't expect my house to get flooded I DO live in FL so it's always a possibility. A recent video I saw showed that ammo with sealed primers (ie better than the typical range grade I buy) withstand water far better than the cheapest ammo you can buy (which is what I normally buy, just not remans or steel). BTW I've shot several cases of reman both 9mm & 223 and had no issues, the main thing for me now (2023) is the price difference is negligible. When I bought it (early 2020), reman 223 was literally half the price of new 223 brass cased. Watch for sales, I bought 10 30cal metal cans from Sportsman's Guide for $7/ea,. HF puts their cans on sale about every 3 months. Being a member of either helps but not necessary (for SG it gets you free shipping which saves a lot, but their membership price has gone up since I had one). Hope this helps.

100% agree with the whats the point of having empty mags laying around. I have wall mount mag racks filled with loaded magazines. Just saw Harbor Freight has a sale this weekend on ammo cans. I load 200 rounds into ziploc bags and store them in ammo cans. I am going to look into vaccum sealing loose ammo.

Thanks for the packs link. Good video. I like having it locked away from prying eyes.

The only thing I don't like about dumping 1000 rounds of 9mm or whatever into a can is if we get into a serous SHTF situation and that can got dropped just right and busted, now you have a serious problem to deal with. If you're in a situation that's needing to get the hell outta town and you have 1000 rounds all over the driveway, the choice is take the time to sweep all that up or grab as much as you can and run. I have my stuff (hand loaded) in 50 round boxes, 6 boxes to a can, each box wrapped in clear packing tape, so this can and it's contents could survive a drop off the roof and still not be scattered much.

I've always had problems with the big plastic ammo cans you cant fill them more than halfway because the sides begin to bow, especially when you pick them up the smaller plastic ones are okay to fill because you cant fit as much weight but i would only use metal cans if you wanna fill the ammo cans up with loose ammo im actually having to buy all new ammo cans because of this reason

As long as you keep it in an ammo can inside a climate-controlled house it's fine for pretty much as long as you'll be around to shoot it I shot stuff that God only knows where it's been and it's 70 years old and it ran fine

Could buy more guns for the price of all that ammo and cns

Where are you getting these ammo cans at such a cheap price? Any that I look for are $50++

ammo is so much more expensive now in 2024 than it was just 2 years ago

How can anyone afford to buy enough ammo to store the price per round is getting crazier

I love those mtm plastic containers

I keep my ammo in 5 gallon buckets with lids and mags in another I also put defecant bottles with tiny holes in the lids

an unloaded Magazine is like a 4X4 with no gas.... Basically just a pretty piece of metal, but no functionality.

You can get those steel ammo cans at the GI surplus around army bases for super cheap

Zombie appocalypse hoarder😂

Look at 1000 per firearm type minimum I have 12 9mm handguns so that I keep 6000 rounds . 556 keep several thousand, 308 several thousand, 45 at least 1000, shotgun 1000. Have to think in terms of several family members or friends/neighbors that would need ammo

Im always in fear of a fire.

Your "stockpile" is SO cute 😍 😂

Very informative video, thanks for posting this!

Desiccant is cheap and you can fill them up in cheap hemp bags with a string tie.

How much and what types you guys have? I have “enough” I feel

Thank you!!

Caution: there are military surplus ammo cans and then there are military style ammo cans that look similar but are not necessarily identical in usability function. In Anchorage, surplus ammo cans were going for $5 a few years back. Should’ve bought a thrift store suitcase and stuffed it full for my flight back home to the lower 48! .