Posted: 6/27/2011 7:05:02 PM EDT
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If a person were so inclined to purchase a "jobsite" storage box or two (like I have seen recommended here) to store his ammo in, would you recommend that he put casters on the bottom to make moving them around a bit easier? Or would that simply make it easier for a would-be thief to move things around? Casters - yes or no?
Thanks. |
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I would just because it would be such a hassle to move them. You could always lock them in place some how. Imagine you decide to move things around in your garage to re organize it. Do you want to spend 2 days breaking your back moving ammo?
Then again if you can find a pallet jack on craigslist or rent one to move them .... That would be a choice idea. |
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Quoted: Wheels.I would just because it would be such a hassle to move them. You could always lock them in place some how. Imagine you decide to move things around in your garage to re organize it. Do you want to spend 2 days breaking your back moving ammo? Then again if you can find a pallet jack on craigslist or rent one to move them .... That would be a choice idea. By the time you fill a job box up, you're not lifting it up a ramp with anything less than a forklift anyway. You can fill up much of the non-ammo space with cinderblocks or bricks just to keep the weight up. If you want to keep rolling to a minimum - drill a hole in the wheel webbing close to the solid 'tire' and lock a padlock around it. If I'm going to use a winch in the truck to haul a wheeled unit up a ramp, I can use the same winch to haul a flat bottomed box up the ramp. |
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Quoted:
This topic is relevant to my interests. How much do these boxes cost? Also, how much space do they have? A standard size is 24"x24"x48" and a quality one from Greenlee will run ~$300 new. Many can be found on Craigslist for dirtcheap but make sure it is in good condition and that it didn't previously hold anything nasty like lawn/pool chemicals or dead hookers. Lowes sells a house brand that is a little cheaper but seems kinda flimsy. |
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Folks that think one of these things will be easy to steal either with or without casters when full of ammo don't have much of a stash.
Ammo is heavy. And moving it requires equipment or serious muscle to manhandle very much of it, plus it is much easier to overload a vehicle with ammo than you would think. If you really want to keep your ammo non transportable, you need to get rid of ammo cans. Yeah, that is what I said. Cans were designed to move ammo by hand, which is what you are trying to avoid, correct? The more loosely it is packaged, the more difficult it is too move. So loose or small packages of ammo (20-100 rd in a box, max) in a big box such as a job box would be the most secure, but the most hassle for the owner too. The least secure way is all your ammo in nice factory cases or ammo cans, ready to be picked up by hand and loaded into a waiting vehicle. Either make your stash so big it can't be moved without equipment or so dispersed that it is very time consuming to move in any quantity. |
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My 48" greenlee crushed the Greenlee casters that were purchased as an accessory, from Greenlee.
No wheels, unless you go for ultra high capacity, like from a commercial dumpster. Be sure to use layers of pine or something else for added ventilation in between the layers of ammo. look for a job site that is about to finish, ask the contractors if they want to sell a few. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
This topic is relevant to my interests. How much do these boxes cost? Also, how much space do they have? A standard size is 24"x24"x48" and a quality one from Greenlee will run ~$300 new. Many can be found on Craigslist for dirtcheap but make sure it is in good condition and that it didn't previously hold anything nasty like lawn/pool chemicals or dead hookers. Lowes sells a house brand that is a little cheaper but seems kinda flimsy. Are they known to have held dead hookers? Is this a common use? What about pimps? Is OK if it held a pimp and not a hooker? 
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Quoted:
Folks that think one of these things will be easy to steal either with or without casters when full of ammo don't have much of a stash. Ammo is heavy. And moving it requires equipment or serious muscle to manhandle very much of it, plus it is much easier to overload a vehicle with ammo than you would think. If you really want to keep your ammo non transportable, you need to get rid of ammo cans. Yeah, that is what I said. Cans were designed to move ammo by hand, which is what you are trying to avoid, correct? The more loosely it is packaged, the more difficult it is too move. So loose or small packages of ammo (20-100 rd in a box, max) in a big box such as a job box would be the most secure, but the most hassle for the owner too. The least secure way is all your ammo in nice factory cases or ammo cans, ready to be picked up by hand and loaded into a waiting vehicle. Either make your stash so big it can't be moved without equipment or so dispersed that it is very time consuming to move in any quantity. A lot of good points there. Many of us have ammo in quantities that is way above what can be secured in any sort of stand-alone container. No way in hell I could make a job box or something like that work- too much ammo, too many variations of ammo, etc- I'd be packing and unpacking it every time I wanted to shoot. All of mine is in ammo cans, for functionality reasons for me. So rather than try to secure the ammo, I put effort into securing the place where the ammo is. |
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Quoted:
I would just because it would be such a hassle to move them. You could always lock them in place some how. Imagine you decide to move things around in your garage to re organize it. Do you want to spend 2 days breaking your back moving ammo? Then again if you can find a pallet jack on craigslist or rent one to move them .... That would be a choice idea. 2 days of breaking your back moving ammo! You have that much ammo? You are the man! OP I would bolt the box down to help prevent theft and skip the wheels. If you want to move it a dolly or pallet jack would be the way to go. Also once its in place where you want it you probably wont move it anyway. |
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A standard size is 24"x24"x48" and a quality one from Greenlee will run ~$300 new. Many can be found on Craigslist for dirtcheap but make sure it is in good condition and that it didn't previously hold anything nasty like lawn/pool chemicals or dead hookers. Lowes sells a house brand that is a little cheaper but seems kinda flimsy. [/quote] Ha and if it was used to store dead hookers, make sure the bastard at least power washed it clean. I don't want brains or fap fap juice on my ammoz. 
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Quoted:
My 48" greenlee crushed the Greenlee casters that were purchased as an accessory, from Greenlee. No wheels, unless you go for ultra high capacity, like from a commercial dumpster. Be sure to use layers of pine or something else for added ventilation in between the layers of ammo. look for a job site that is about to finish, ask the contractors if they want to sell a few. If this is going in a garage, and depending on humidity, OP might consider putting down some polyethelene on the (concrete?) floor and then some 1"x2" pine runners to keep the job box just enough off of the floor so air can circulate. |
| Depends on where it's stored. Upstairs? Downstairs? Outside? Personally, I wouldn't store ammo in a garage unless it was climate controlled, even though I've read of ammo stored in those conditions for long periods that functioned just fine. I think I would look into smaller "Job Boxes" that could be moved by two adults (by hand) when fully loaded. |
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One of the guys who works for me lost the keys to his job box. It had heavy "Master" brand lock embedded on each end. He drilled the lock out in a few minutes and had it open. I'd do some lock research before just grabbing a lock. Who knows, they may be the best available.
Most of the boxes that I have seen over the last 25 or 30 years have used these same Master locks. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
My 48" greenlee crushed the Greenlee casters that were purchased as an accessory, from Greenlee. No wheels, unless you go for ultra high capacity, like from a commercial dumpster. Be sure to use layers of pine or something else for added ventilation in between the layers of ammo. look for a job site that is about to finish, ask the contractors if they want to sell a few. If this is going in a garage, and depending on humidity, OP might consider putting down some polyethelene on the (concrete?) floor and then some 1"x2" pine runners to keep the job box just enough off of the floor so air can circulate. The two I have owned, had a 5 X 6 aprox. spacer built in (unit is 5 inches off the floor) , newer stuff may be different. I ran a dehumidifier June-September, no problems. ALSO, Greenlee had a small tray built in to the top rear, near the hinges, excellent place to store related items , spoons,stripper clips, speedloaders, cleaning rods. |
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Thanks for the replies.
1. Ridgid, Klein, Knaack, JOBOX, Kobalt are all very similar and accomplish the same goal. 2. I agree that the security of the space such a box is stored in is an even more important factor than what type of container the ammo is stored in. 3. They hold a shitload of ammo, by any standard. 4. When they are full, they are heavy beyond belief. 5. Casters or not, nobody will move a full one easily, especially from a reasonably secure are, and even more especially if the box is somewhat tethered. The one big concern I have is, God forbid, if there ever was a fire, and if the fire reached a storage area where ammo was stored in such a box...see where I'm going with this? Organizing such a box is not a concern, and I do believe ammo cans stored inside are an efficient method for organizing one, especially if they are labeled. |
| I have two of the blue boxes from Lowe's, both are filled with ammo in ammo boxes and magazines. Mine are not on rollers and they can not be moved by human power. I keep heavy padlocks on them. They make it a pain to get acess to your ammo but I worry alot less about someone stealing thousands of dollars of my ammo. |
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Put 2-3 layers of the fire retardant drywall on all sides and the top, you just made a fireproof safe that should last long enough for the fire to burn out.
Oh, and no casters. Er, keep the casters for when you move, but only attach them when the box is empty.. |
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Shit, if you have a bigger yard, you can get Conex shipping containers for 2000 - 3000 bucks. 10' x 10' x 40'. Bury the motherfucker if you really want to do it right.
The problem with these big boxes are they usually aren't climate controlled. I don't care to even store my ammo in my garage. So I end up storing items that are temperature sensitive inside in an unfinished room that I have. I have some boxes that I store ammo in like this: 
This box is so fucking heavy that no one could move it. You can't even get a dolly under it because there is no lip. It weighs approximately 600 - 700 pounds. There are 90 550 Federal 22lr bricks in it, plus the box itself weighs about 75 lbs. If you want it, you have to haul all the bullets out one brick at a time. For my reloads that I have on hand, I have about 15k in 9mm loaded. I have them in both 30 and 50 caliber ammo cans. They're fairly easy to move, but you get worn out quick. The cans weigh approximately 35 lbs for the 30 caliber cans, and about 90 lbs for the 50 caliber cans. I 50 caliber cans with 45acp loaded, they weigh about 75 lbs each. If you want to steal them, you're going to have to work for them. I like the ammo cans because I can haul them by hand, and load them into my truck relatively easily if needed. Ammo is seriously heavy. I have enough to squat out my 3500's leaft springs. It's enough to take several hours to load into a truck, even if you have two guys doing it. Even if you have a cheap box locked up, most likely they'll just cut the hinges off, or the pad lock tab. If it isn't hidden from view, or secured to the point that you'd have to bring heavy duty hardware to cut open a quality safe, your best bet is to just make it very inconvenient to steal. |
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Quoted:
Thanks for the replies. 1. Ridgid, Klein, Knaack, JOBOX, Kobalt are all very similar and accomplish the same goal. 2. I agree that the security of the space such a box is stored in is an even more important factor than what type of container the ammo is stored in. 3. They hold a shitload of ammo, by any standard. 4. When they are full, they are heavy beyond belief. 5. Casters or not, nobody will move a full one easily, especially from a reasonably secure are, and even more especially if the box is somewhat tethered. The one big concern I have is, God forbid, if there ever was a fire, and if the fire reached a storage area where ammo was stored in such a box...see where I'm going with this? Organizing such a box is not a concern, and I do believe ammo cans stored inside are an efficient method for organizing one, especially if they are labeled. I discussed this idea with a good friend who is also a prepper. He has enough ammo stored to fill approx 2 of the boxes you have been discussing. He was also a fire chief before retiring and responded to a fire where a large amount of ammo was stored in a confined space. The "cooking off" affect he described was not near as catastrophic as one would think. Per him,"It was an area to be avoided in the house but when it caught it wasn't near the fireworks show we thought it would be." My 2. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Thanks for the replies. 1. Ridgid, Klein, Knaack, JOBOX, Kobalt are all very similar and accomplish the same goal. 2. I agree that the security of the space such a box is stored in is an even more important factor than what type of container the ammo is stored in. 3. They hold a shitload of ammo, by any standard. 4. When they are full, they are heavy beyond belief. 5. Casters or not, nobody will move a full one easily, especially from a reasonably secure are, and even more especially if the box is somewhat tethered. The one big concern I have is, God forbid, if there ever was a fire, and if the fire reached a storage area where ammo was stored in such a box...see where I'm going with this? Organizing such a box is not a concern, and I do believe ammo cans stored inside are an efficient method for organizing one, especially if they are labeled. I discussed this idea with a good friend who is also a prepper. He has enough ammo stored to fill approx 2 of the boxes you have been discussing. He was also a fire chief before retiring and responded to a fire where a large amount of ammo was stored in a confined space. The "cooking off" affect he described was not near as catastrophic as one would think. Per him,"It was an area to be avoided in the house but when it caught it wasn't near the fireworks show we thought it would be." My 2. +1 This is one of the main reasons for "sub-storing" your ammo in ammo cans. No worries at all of projectile cooking off (except from loaded firearms, of course) and they even help contain the ammo from adding much "fuel to the fire". I've seen ammo burned intentionally, mixed batches of in boxes and loose and just dumped in a pile with diesel, and the burn from the powder once the round "popped" was furious and would really spread the burn and heat. Bullets would occasionally zing out of there, but not often. Comparing that to burns of ammo in cans (though not intentional on our part) was a huge difference- never a zing of any kind, and the powder conflagration was always much much smaller. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
This topic is relevant to my interests. How much do these boxes cost? Also, how much space do they have? A standard size is 24"x24"x48" and a quality one from Greenlee will run ~$300 new. Many can be found on Craigslist for dirtcheap but make sure it is in good condition and that it didn't previously hold anything nasty like lawn/pool chemicals or dead hookers. Lowes sells a house brand that is a little cheaper but seems kinda flimsy. If you live in an area with a lot of meth, they're often available for around $40 or so. I got my Knaack for that. |
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I was thinking of using some job boxes. I think I would need 3 or 4 of them. I just found an add on graigslist for 3 knaack boxes for $100 each.
I never think to look on craigs list. Thanks. It is all about how much time it takes to steal your stuff. I hardened the basement. Now if I put my ammo in locked job boxes, it will add another layer making it hard to steal. |