MA law regarding Amount of Ammunition???

[BillK]

in any case, If I was to have "close to too much" in one location, I would let my town fire department know of the status, just so they know of the area might be a danger if ablaze or responding to a call.. you can replace property... you cannot replace the life of a firefighter.

 

[KMaurer]

Trust me. Unless you store it improperly (e.g., so that the pressure would be confined) it's no threat to firefighters. My youngest brother is a fire captain, and absolutely everybody has lots of guns and ammunitions where he works. As long as it isn't confined the worst that happens is that his face shield gets scratched and ends up having to be replaced. Of course, if you do put it in a tightly sealed container, you've just built a bomb.

Ken

 

[Skald]

I need to go and help my friend Bob shoot off some of his extra ammo.

 

[Ned]

Trust me. Unless you store it improperly (e.g., so that the pressure would be confined) it's no threat to firefighters. My youngest brother is a fire captain, and absolutely everybody has lots of guns and ammunitions where he works. As long as it isn't confined the worst that happens is that his face shield gets scratched and ends up having to be replaced. Of course, if you do put it in a tightly sealed container, you've just built a bomb.

Ken

Would military surplus metal ammo containers be tight enough to be dangerous ? If so if you just left it cracked open would it be ok ? How about ammo in spam cans ?

 

[BillK]

Ned, my ammo is in .30, .50BMG and 40MM containers, and also in 155MM tubes that all are sealed and in the case of my large tubes. they are bolted down by wing nuts.. most would say these are safe and in any case, the heat caused by a fire would cause the powder to "pop" a cartridge one by one.. yeah I am sure a few would go off at the same time.. but anyway's. to keep your sealed containers open invites moisture in.. not good after long periods.

In the case of powder.. I would never seal down a container with reloading powder..the internal pressure that would form during a ignition would cause a fierce explosion, plus the shrapnel. I don't want to think about it.

NOTE: I do not own live rounds of 40MM or 155MM (I do have INERT for my collection), they are empty storage containers that I place my boxes of ammo in... before I freak any one out reading what I posted.

 

[JuergenG]

Why freak out ?
That stuff belongs into any good household

 

[KMaurer]

Would military surplus metal ammo containers be tight enough to be dangerous ? If so if you just left it cracked open would it be ok ? How about ammo in spam cans ?

If you look carefully at the way military ammo cans are hinged, the lid can be forced open a little at the hinge end. It's deliberately designed that way to provide a vent for any pressure.

Ken

 

[Len-2A Training]

If you look carefully at the way military ammo cans are hinged, the lid can be forced open a little at the hinge end. It's deliberately designed that way to provide a vent for any pressure.

Ken

Ken, thanks for that. I've never noticed this!

 

[Coyote33]

Trust me. Unless you store it improperly (e.g., so that the pressure would be confined) it's no threat to firefighters. ...

It is highly flammable. How is that not a greater threat?

 

[Len-2A Training]

Firefighters are trained to deal with flammables.

It's when things go "boom" that firefighters get hurt!

If you are that worried about "flammables", I suggest all of the following:

- Do NOT buy/store ammo at home, buy it at the range and shoot it all up before returning home.

- Put all aerosol sprays in a shed at least 100' from your house at all times!

- Put any flammable items in the same shed, do not use any of these items in your home.

- Put a sprinkler system in your home.

- Put fire extinguishers in each room.

- Shut off any gas coming into your home, replace all appliances with electric appliances, including heating system.

- Remove and replace all curtains, bedding, carpeting, etc. with fire-retardant materials.

- Replace siding with brick and mortar.

- Spray fire-retardant paint on all surfaces internal to house.

Feel better now?

 

[Coyote33]

I think it is not for me, but for the firefighters, so there are no surprises. They expect gasoline and tires in a shed or garage. Being in a bedroom full of highly flammable stuff is not an expected thing unless they have a heads up. Just supposin'.

 

[Len-2A Training]

So, do it for the firefighters!

 

[Len-2A Training]

My Fire Chief is happy with what I have and the fact that location is provided on my powder/ammo storage permit.

He told me that as long as he knows what and where to expect it, it poses NO PROBLEM for him or his men in fighting a fire.

YMMV

 

[Scrivener]

I think it is not for me, but for the firefighters, so there are no surprises. They expect gasoline and tires in a shed or garage. Being in a bedroom full of highly flammable stuff is not an expected thing unless they have a heads up. Just supposin'.

Why would you have an appreciable quantity of ammo in your bedroom?

ALL my reloading supplies and ammo are in the basement, in ammo cans. wooden chests or metal cabinets. Moreover, one of my best friends is a firefighter in town - he knows how much is there, how it is stored and where.

No surprises here.

 

[Adam_MA]

Why would you have an appreciable quantity of ammo in your bedroom?

Hey... Don't be judging his personal life!

 

[KMaurer]

Most of my ammo is stored in secure containers in my basement, but there's also ammo in my bedroom closet and other places. What's the big deal? As long as it's stored so that it's inaccessible to unauthorized persons and in compliance with the CMR, I shouldn't matter to anybody where you choose to keep your ammo. It there's one thing I hate it's ammo nazi's

(almost as much as Illinois Nazis )

Ken

 

[LoginName]

In a somewhat relevant incident...

About 10-12 years ago we responded to a "check on welfare" call (a check on welfare call usually involves an elderly person or a person with a medical condition and either a friend or relative cannot contact that person).

In this situation, the daughter of a man with a heart condition had called and was worried that her father hadn't answered the phone (she lived a few hours away).

We responded and didn't get any answer at the door. Fortunately, it was a 1st floor apartment and forcing the window and gaining entry was easy.

As it so happens, your's truly is the one that has to crawl through the window and open the door for the paramedics (me being junior man).

I was barely half-way in and I'm almost on top of the guy slumped by the window.

He was roughly in his 60's, about 300+ lbs, and was only wearing boxer shorts.

I had to crawl over him (he had obviously been dead for quite awhile), to get into the apartment.

After staring briefly at the 300+ lbs dead guy in boxer shorts, I couldn't help but notice his smallish apartment. No big deal but what really caught my attention was taht the place was stacked with boxes of ammunition that I had never seen the likes of before. If there was less than 50,000 rounds of ammo, I would have been surprised. It was everywhere!

Also in the apartment, were dozens of NRA and other marksmanship and shooting awards. Funny thing though, I didn't see a single firearm in the place.

Anyhow, the guys outside were yelling at me "what the f*** are you doing in there?" "Open the f***ing door!".

Since the guy was long dead, our job was done and we quickly left leaving it up to the paramedics and police.

Later on that day as I was thinking about the incident, I started wondering "what if the guy wasn't really dead and was merely passed out drunk". "What if as I was crawling through the window, he woke up, panicked thinking I was a burglar and drew down on me... this guy (hungover/drunk or not isn't going to miss).

Anyhow, the amount of ammo he had and the way he stored it never did and still doesn't bother me... and I'm a full-time firefighter with 22 years on the job.

"Improperly stored ammo" (by MA general laws or fire codes definition), rates up there with cats stuck in trees as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Jay G]

Why would you have an appreciable quantity of ammo in your bedroom?

ALL my reloading supplies and ammo are in the basement, in ammo cans. wooden chests or metal cabinets. Moreover, one of my best friends is a firefighter in town - he knows how much is there, how it is stored and where.

No surprises here.

Doesn't EVERYONE have at least 5,000 rounds in their bedroom closet?

 

[Scrivener]

Doesn't EVERYONE have at least 5,000 rounds in their bedroom closet?

Heck, I barely have a bedroom closet - my wife claims most of THAT space!

Besides, I don't want to overload the joists...........

 

[tele_mark]

Doesn't EVERYONE have at least 5,000 rounds in their bedroom closet?

I'm working on it. Right now I have a piddling little 1000 rounds of 7.62x39.

 

[FPrice]

Doesn't EVERYONE have at least 5,000 rounds in their bedroom closet?

I don't have any ammo left. It all fell overboard in a tragic accident the day I was trying to help a fellow NES'er who's guns fell overboard earlier that day.

As an interesting aside I understand that all the fish in that lake qualified as NRA Expert for the next few years and were able to scare away all the fishermen.

Not sure how that happened.

 

[Coyote33]

... the place was stacked with boxes of ammunition that I had never seen the likes of before. If there was less than 50,000 rounds of ammo, I would have been surprised. It was everywhere!

Also in the apartment, were dozens of NRA and other marksmanship and shooting awards. Funny thing though, I didn't see a single firearm in the place....

No wonder all that ammo was "building up". He had no gun to use it.

 

[Emoto]

Ok, so 10,000 roudns of rimfire is ok, right? Is that per structure, or per address? In other words, if I keep 10,000 in the house, and 10,000 in a comepletely separate structure (garage) that should be ok, right?

 

[Len-2A Training]

I'm not sure if it is per structure or per address. Suggest that you read the referenced CMR carefully.

 

[Len-2A Training]

According to the fire chief I asked about this:

- The maximums allowed in CMRs are per residential address, NOT per person residing there.

- His interpretation would be that the total can not be exceeded by storing in different buildings on the property. So the "totals" are the "totals" per CMRs. In this case, the chief admitted that another town's chief could interpret this differently.

It took me 45 minutes sitting with the chief as he went over every paragraph in the CMRs that relate to the possession and storage of ammo/powder/primers. I hope you guys appreciate the effort!

 

[Moderator]

Thanks Len, Way to take one for the team.

 

[Adam_MA]

Thanks Len!

 

[dreppucci007]

I hope you guys appreciate the effort!

Always

 

[Lugnut]

Always

+1

 

[Emoto]

According to the fire chief I asked about this:

- The maximums allowed in CMRs are per residential address, NOT per person residing there.

- His interpretation would be that the total can not be exceeded by storing in different buildings on the property. So the "totals" are the "totals" per CMRs. In this case, the chief admitted that another town's chief could interpret this differently.

It took me 45 minutes sitting with the chief as he went over every paragraph in the CMRs that relate to the possession and storage of ammo/powder/primers. I hope you guys appreciate the effort!

Thanks much!!! Your effort is appreciated far more than the content of the answer.