Posted: 1/14/2008 3:49:20 PM EDT
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Today I took inventory of my ammo. I had a rough idea of how much I had, but found out I was below in some counts and above in others. Good to be clear on what I have now. I need to build up more ammo in certain caliber's. I also decided to start breaking cases of ammo down and distributing it around the house. I would like it better if I had some places away from my house to store it, but don't. So I'll make the best of bad situation and do the best with what I got. Most people don't have duplicate caches of their stock and if the 'one and only' hoard gets taken, lost or damaged they are out of biz. I'm using green ammo boxes from Cabelas for $15. I'm still working it out, but one box can hold: 300 rd 5.56 60 rd AP 5.56 100 rd 38 SP 200 rd 9 mm 1100 rd 22LR 100 rd 12 Ga shot 25 rd 12 Ga slugs Am making up 3 or 4 duplicate boxes in addition to my main ammo cache. V |
I had a shop fire in 98 that burned up around 10k rounds of ammo. About 3k 223 were in the ammo cans. They ballooned, but did not breach. What really woke everyone up was the 7 or 8 propane tanks going off. The explosions were heard about 20 miles away. Our fire even made it to a fire department trading card.... |
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ETA: the FD wouldn't like me to much either, yet another reason to squirrel away a few things, makes a possible structure fire less likely to to cause harm too or be explosive/lethal too, those trying to extinguish it... i too have been thinking about doing this, just to allieviate some strage space. however my thought was more along the lines of a couple 6"x2-3?' pvc pipes with either glued-on endcaps, or with one end glued-on and the other with one of the endcaps like on a mossberg j.i.c. container. each filled with: a small supply of each caliber that i stock, a b.o.k., a decent sheath-knife and multitool, "surefire style" cheapy AAA or AA flashlight with extra batteries, etc. "put away" in a couple different seemingly safe locations... |
It may not be 'exactly' AP, it is termed steel core penetrator. I just call it AP. Found some at a show. But you can find it online. |
I also plan on putting a pistol in 2 of the cases. If I had more money would have a back up pistol in each of the 4 ammo box. Wife complains about gun expense, so have to make due. Funny thing, it was her idea to put the pistol in the cases, so at last she is 'thinking about' some of this stuff. |
I've talked with a few survivalist and storage space and money seem to be big issues with them as well as me. I've freed up some room over the last month by working on trashing or selling some of the unneeded clutter around the garage and house. I also reorganized some items I do need to free up space. I store my survival gear all round the house and the garage, so it is spread out. While good for diversification and security I do it from a design need as well since I can only free up small spaces here and there. Money? Well, I buy lotto tickets and each month buy survival gear as my budget allows. |
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Lots of folks here use ammo cans to hold a selection of ammo for their firearms instead of all one caliber in one ammo can. I have some small ammo cans that hold 10 fal mags pretty well and then I have some others where I had some extra space so I put some 22lr and 45acp in there as well. As far as fires go, ammo is pretty low on the list of worries for a fire dept as long as the ammo is not chambered in a firearm. Spray cans of stuff, like automotive cleaners or some of the bathroom cleaners or even hairspray can be nasty when they go off. As mentioned propane tanks are very serious. Depending on how laid back your local fire dept is it can be interesting to swing by and talk to them for a while. |
LOL = Only on ARFcom!!! 
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All of my ammo supply at my home is centrally located. I love 50 cal cans. I store cans by caliber, but I do have a few cans with mixed contents. These have 200 rds of 9mm JHP boxed, three bandolieers of 5.56mm (360 rds), four loaded 30 rd AR magazines, and a couple of hundred rds of 22lr. I keep two of these cans in front of the stack of cans in my "ammo closet" as grab and go cans. I don't spread my ammo around my house for security. I prefer to keep it in one central and secure location. But I have been making up a couple of these mixed cans and storing them at relatives houses, potential BO locations, ect away from my home. Anyplace I might have to BO to. It would be nice to have some supplies waiting for you, in case you ended up traveling on foot. |
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I seem to be the only one who worries about theft of my ammo stash. I have several times more $ in ammo than I do in weapons. I have three safes filled top to bottom with ammo. They are incredibly heavy making them very hard to steal without out opening them and emptying their contents. They are also attached to the floor and wall. Two safes are at my BOL, and the third safe is at my house. I keep all ammo in 50-cal ammo cans, one caliber per can. For grab and go, I ALWAYS have my CCW G19 on me. I also have a spare magazine on top of the safe for when I am heading out. In addition to that, I keep two more pistol mags in each vehicle. For major SHTF grab and go, I keep two chest rigs with 6 mags each next to each BOB (wife and mine). I also keep 1 bandolier of 210 rounds each for the two packs. Things would really have to get bad for me to grab these, and is why the G19 is always much more available and mags are where I need them most. |
If someone steals my ammo, I'd love to see the bumper of that car trying to get down my hill.  Tj |
Why waste more money on safes when I could be buying more ammo with that money? I keep a 50 cal can with a SHTF loadout of a mix of 5.56 mags and pistol mags in case I have to grab and go. It is right beside my chest rig and back pack. I also keep a small stash in the vehicle in case I decide to do some shooting on a whim. I use the Cabelas dry boxed to store my 22LR ammo. I can fit 12 of the Federal 550 value packs perfectly in there. I keep all other ammo in USGI ammo cans. I don't trust those dry boxes with much weight in them. The rubber seals on the metal ammo cans are better too. I have three locations with ammo. My residence is my primary stockpile though. I don't plan on running too far. 
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I am doing the math on the ammo in the safe thing. Am I missing something about having the ammo getting hot and burning in an enclosed container? Ammo in a fire burns and only pops. This could turn into a potential huge bomb with the shapel in the form of the bullets. Am I right here? |
| At the risk of a hijack how many have extra weapons and ammo stored at a friend or family member's house? The idea being if your house is broken into; you weapons are confiscated after a home defense shooting; you are visiting friends out of state and SHTF (for those that don't travel "heavy"), etc. |
If the fire has gotten so hot to heat through the fire resistant safe, then hot enough to heat throught he 50-cal metal ammo cans, to the point to ignighting the primer, the house had probably already burned to the ground. |
The safes only cost $300 each (Sentry on sale). The ammo add up to about $6000 in each safe. Seems like a small amount of money for the safe to protect the high cost of the ammo. With this amount of ammo in the safe, I can still fit about 3 rifles and 3 pistols in each one. |
| I do not care for the Cabela's plastic ammo cans. I have had the handle pull off one after being filled with .22LR and I had one crack when it took a tumble in the field. For $15 I can buy two (or more) of the "fat" or "tall" USGI .50cal metal ammo cans that hold about as much ammo but are virtually indestructable. The standard .50 is my choice for storage and stashing. |
It may not have to burn through the safe to get the ammo up to ignition point. A safe is stronger than a ammo can. Plus larger. Fire starts when you are not at your middle of nowhere BOL fire burns down house house on fire collapses into basement safe heats causing ammo to start to burn burning gas has nowhere to go and pressure inside safe rises (except tiny hole in safe for wire) higher pressure means higher temp (compressing a gas causes temps to increase) pressures and temperatures continue to rise till something gives way Note - does ammo need oxygen to burn? You have contained a low end explosive in a contained container with shrapnel. TJ and others weigh in on this.... |
Im not so sure about distibution. I like to keep my ammo mostly together, where it can easily be loaded into the jeeps, and separate caches in each car. That way I can gaze upon the wall of ammo and go  eta: I like to use military ammo cans for all ammo storage.. theres a store locally that sells no rust cans with the seals in great shape for $5 each. |
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I keep most of my ammo stash at various locations. If I got raided and my stash confiscated, it probably wouldn't make the news! Well, unless I brought it all home! I keep about 4,000 rds. of .223 at my BOL. All of it is M855 ball, which is the penetrator core stuff the OP was talking about. Incase he doesn't know, its as common as water. I have close to 10,000 rds of it. I hope he didn't pay $1 each for them from a bad dealer. I keep several thousand rds. of .22 lr, 45acp, 9mm, and 500 rds. of 12 ga. #6 shot for hunting birds. I also keep an AR and some basic survival gear. |
| I have been at fires with ammo, while relatively safe I don't want to take the chance. Last fire had thousands of rounds, I think he was a EBR owner and a doctor as well, nice house, well was. Some guys had seen shrapnel hitting stuff. One guy even had one fall into his lap, showed me it, half a rifle round brass. While the force created by these going off is low, out of the thousands of rounds that many people have I don't want to take the chance of somthing happening, especially the loaded guns cooking off. |
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Instead of having a grab-n-go ammo can, I have a couple of these Rifle Bug Out Bags. www.onesourcetactical.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=453 They hold 7 AR or AK mags, 4 pistol mags, a pistol, a 32 oz. Nalgene bottle, a knife or two and a blow out kit. If the SHTF, I can sling the strap over my shoulder, grab my AR and take the fight to whomever. This seems more practical to me than an ammo can. YMMV. |
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While I don't own a safe to store ammunition in, I have a rather large closet in the unfinished basement. The solid door has a hasp and pad lock on it. I store my 50 cal cans on the floor, stacked 4 tall (about 45 cans total). I keep various stuff on the shelves, single boxes of ammo, ect. This is secure enough for me. Any ammo cans I store at locations other than my house, then I really trust the individual (and am related to all but one) and am only storing at most, two cans. These are "hidden" at the location by being concealed under a layer of "Junk", such as Christmas lights, ect. The guy with the safes for ammo is correct, it is easy, especially in today's market, to own an ammo stash that is worth alot of money. |
 unfortunately I didn't get pics of the ammo cans |