Thus far, I have four 500 cases of Federal XM193 to start my SHTF stack. All 4 cases have been stored as purchased in their tape sealed cardboard box which holds all the individual boxes. 2 of those boxes are from the Wholesale Hunter & after geting the sealant issues I ripped open my WH cases to discover just what I bought. I have 1000 rounds of Lot 45 brown boxed, which from everybody's reports is sealed. After the calm came over me I suddenly remembered the other 2 I bought from AMMOMAN. I broke the tape seal to find all 1000 are Lot 6 white boxed. Does anybody have knowledge of this lot in terms of problems/quality? Thus far I refused to break the tape seal, let alone bust an individual box open & handle some rounds for any of these cases.  

I wish to keep this stuff lor long term storage. Should I leave it all as is in its original packaging, or should I store it in surplus cans? If you say cans, should I keep them in the original packaging (at least the individual boxes), or should I leave them loose and/or on stripper clips?

The box color isn't important. I think they went to the brown box in newer lots.

For long term storage I'd strongly suggest some ammo cans, with dessicant packs if you live in a humid area. My ammo cans were pretty rough when I bought them so I stripped and painted them. The rubber gaskets were a mess too, so I cleaned them up with a sponge and scouring pad in a sink full of hot soapy water.

[img]http://home.comcast.net/~cjan99999/ammo_cans_copy.jpg[/img]

Any ammo that isn't stored in a mag I keep in the 20 round box it came in. Personally I don't use stripper slips but a lot of the guys here do.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about whether the ammo is sealed or not. As long as it's stored well, it's really not going to matter all that much. Now if you are a Navy SEAL who will be doing dives with your weapon and ammo, then you might need to be more concerned. Otherwise it's not that big of a deal.

My method of storing ammo is to pack it away in ammo cans in good condition on a day when the humidity is low. Of course I also have a dehumidifier that can make my ammo/weapon room as arid as Arizona in a jiffy. Pack the ammo away (leaving it in the boxes), drop in a dessicant pack and then seal the can...leaving it in that condition until needed. I also label each can as to caliber, load and date for easy future reference. Place the cans in a cool, dry location and you are done. Avoid putting them in areas where the temperature gets too high. A temperature of 70 degrees would be good. Temps that climb above 80 degrees or warmer may not be the best though. Heat will deteriorate ammo faster than anything.

I also keep about 250 rounds on strippers but don't feel any need for more than that. My attitude is such that by the time I run through 7-30 rd mags (210 rds) and the extra 250 rounds at the ready on strippers, I will either have long defeated the threat or been killed. Any one individual is not going to last long enough in a gun battle to use more rounds than that anyway.

-CH