Vacume seal ammo?
 

This may be a dumb question. Can you vacume seal & oxygen obsorbers ammo, gun powder and primers for long long long term storage? Or is it not needed as long as it's in my basement?

Re: Vacume seal ammo?
 

i just put mine in ammo cans , but i do not see why you could not vacume seal the stuff , do not know why you would need oxygen obsorbers

Re: Vacume seal ammo?
 

Well, I vacpack some of my ammo. I use a SavAMeal or Food Saver or something like that. I let it suck just enough air out so the plastic sucks against the side of the boxes, then I hit the vac stop and heat seal button. Silly, but I do not want to risk sucking the air out of my rounds, or risk unseating the primers or projectiles.

I have some HydroShok rounds from 1984 that have only lived in a cool dry closet in thier original box, no extra protection, and they fired just great 5 weeks ago. The exposed lead on the tip had a little whitish oxidation, but that was all. My point being that it kept since 1984... TWENTY FOUR YEARS... without being packaged. My goal when using the vac was just to remove a portion of the air, and provide a plastic vapor barrier. I figure my fresh milspec XM193 Federal brand ammo will keep until WELL after I am long dead and buried packed like that. You see the PVC tube I in the picture that the vacapacked ammo went into. The tubes are glue sealed shut with PVC caps. I hope my grown up great grandkids can one day throw the ammo out because it is no longer viable and no one has ever had to break open the cannisters to use the ammo.

Re: Vacume seal ammo?
 

As a previous poster suggested, drawing an actual vacuum on cartridges is thought to be unsafe, as it could unseat the bullets. I keep my ammo in steel .50 caliber surplus cans, which are airtight. Stuff that I've had for 20 years still looks like new. If boxed up in a damp environment it might be wise to include a desiccant pack to take care of moisture.

After assuring it will stay dry, the next most important factor in your ammo's longevity is temperature: find somewhere cool to store it.

Re: Vacume seal ammo?
 

Re: Vacume seal ammo?
 

at one point I wondered this myself... oxy absorbers might do their job and suck the oxygen out of the cartridges. I doubt they would not ignite when firing, but they may not perform as untreated ones might.

regarding temp, I read a pretty convincing argument that storage temperature, hot or cold, has less of an effect than variances in temperature. something to do with the powder's chemical bonds. so the attic is not a good idea, basement is better if it keeps the most narrow range of temperatures in the house. I guess it depends on where you live.

Re: Vacume seal ammo?
 

Ammo in an ammo can ...or any reasonable container will last pretty much forever.....I have shot WWII ammo quite a few times...no problem. When my gun club has DCM/CMP Garand shoots.....we are using Vietnam era 30.06 ammo and it is perfectly fine....so unless you plan on needing this more than 50 years down the road...no motive for special storage.

You can make your commercial/reloads mil spec by painting on a little clear nail polish around the case mouth/bullet and around the primer pocket after they are loaded....this makes them waterproof.

Re: Vacume seal ammo?
 

Ammo's enemies are moisture and heat. I don't see much advantage, or harm, to vacumm sealing

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Re: Vacume seal ammo?
 

I don't vaccuum seal loose ammo. I typically vaccuum seal multiple sealed boxes per bag.
Then into the ammo can for long-term storage.

http://hchq.biz/mia_photos/vaccuum_2.JPG

Re: Vacume seal ammo?
 

Thanks for the input guys. I was primarily thinking about long term storage of gun powder, primers, brass and lead. The reason for this is so my kids can load ammo long after the rest of the country has been deprived of firearms.

Looks like every ten years American gun owners are delt a blow. Eventually, gun ownership will be gone, except for GIMers and my kids.:wink:

I really like the photos. Mariner, is that pipe getting barried? It would be cool to have about three stashes like that at three bug out destinations.