Vacuum sealing ammo for long term storage

rep308

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Any downside to using my vacuum sealing machine to seal up loose rounds of ammo for long term storage? I've been vacuum sealing everything since I got the machine and figured I'd check in with the collective wisdom of the group before going wild and sealing up my reloads.
 
actually some of the ammo is low-vacuum sealed for military used already. think european battle packs. needless to say sharp protrusions need to be covered by cardboard if you want to prevent puncture and lose of vacuum.
i have a bunch of pre-loaded mags vacuum sealed into VCI (vapor corrosion inhibitor) plastic. first half dozen that i sealed tore through plastic overnight. those sharp feed lip edges and 90 degree corners. next batch i re-purposed cereal boxes (which are made of nice quality cardboard) to make caps for the top and bottom of mags. just cut box into strips of proper length and width and staple together, tape or glue together. if you do staple them make sure that sharp pointy ends of the staples end up inside of the cap and not on the outside (where they will tear through plastic again). caps are reusable. as you rotate your old ammo out of storage you can re-use the cardboard caps over and over.

most military ammo and powders are employing sealer around the bullet and primer pocket as well as coated powder grains to prevent caking and moisture absorption.

commercial ammo in most cases skips those two aspects for cost/profit margin reasons.

military ammo would do just fine in the the steel ammo can. desiccant is advisable if you live in high humidity areas and pack your ammo when it's really humid (generally above 65% humidity considered too humid already)

but generally ammo the way it built by nature is pretty well sealed. bullets are put in under tension so do the primers. even w/o additional sealers that stuff is tight enough to prevent infiltration of water wapors. sealers are actually used to maintain water free environment during short term submersion into water. i.e. heavy rain or puddling water, mud.

another very important aspect that many people tend to overlook (while worrying too much about moisture) is an ambient temp at which ammo is stored. powder is hydrocarbon compound. and heat breaks down hydrocarbons. the hotter it is the faster is the breakdown.

i store my ammo in the cans in my basement where temperature is perpetually stays between 5o and 65 degrees. also my basement is dry not wet and moldy. those ammo boxes that didn't fit into finite amount of ammo cans that i have available i do low-vacuum seal with some silica-gel packets.

something else i want to mention. you need to re-charge silica gel packets. they also have finite amount of water that they can hold. if you collected a box full of those over the span of month or even years, there is no guaranty those packets have any water capacity left in them. especially if they were sitting out in the open air through month of NE humidity. then you though them into the ammo can and think they will do the job. just something to be aware of.
 
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Skip it. Use mil steel ammo cans.

Fill ammo can and then warm it up (the inside and ammo) with a hair dryer for about a minute on high. Throw in a warmed up silica pack and close the can. When it cools it will create a tight suction seal.

Never thought of heating them up before closing. Not sure why not since I do it for canning! Awesome tip!
 
Vacuum sealing is more effective than anything, including ammo cans. Simply because its more sealed.

If you really get wacko, buy some oxygen absorbers and throw them in with the ammo.

http://smile.amazon.com/Oxy-Sorb-Ox...d=1450030156&sr=8-1&keywords=oxygen+absorbers

You don't need silica gell because with a full vacuum pulled, there isn't any moisture left. I've stored firearms this way in a safe that was in my unclimate controlled garage with great results. Spray the gun down with Boeshield, put it in a long bag made from 8" wide vacuum bag tube, throw in a couple of oxygen eaters and a long strip of VCI paper and then vacuum/seal. I also double seal the ends of the tube.

http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail...CJcWXv8n6p4swVJdzMfMmxoCyeLw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

It partly comes down to the quality of where you are storing the ammo. If its in a closet in your house, ammo will last 100years completely unsealed.
If its in a basement with a boiler/furnace, then you are probably good for 100 years in a metal box with silica gell.
If you are in an unheated barn, then the vacuum packing is a good idea.

How OCD are you??

Don
 
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is there any chance the vacuum could dislodge the bullets from the casing? Making them work their way out and be too long?

I would think a better thing to do would be to just backfill the bags with nitrogen. You can get small cans of N2 for backfilling wine bottles online.
 
is there any chance the vacuum could dislodge the bullets from the casing? Making them work their way out and be too long?

I would think a better thing to do would be to just backfill the bags with nitrogen. You can get small cans of N2 for backfilling wine bottles online.

Impossible. Remember this. Atmospheric pressure is roughly 14 psi, or pounds per SQUARE INCH.

The area of each of the following bullets is as follows.

.223 = .039 sq in
9mm/.357 = .099 sq in
.45 = .159 sq in

So even if you could pull a complete vacuum, which you can't, the force on the bullets would be as follows.

.223 - .039*14 = .55 lbs.
9mm/.357 - .099*14 = 1.4 lbs
.45 - .159 x 14 = 2.2 lbs

So you see, the extractive force on each of these rounds is very very minimal. Low enough so its not even worth thinking about. If your .223 bullet can be pulled out of its case with a mere .55 lbs of force, then you have much larger problems.

Don
 
Use two bags.
Use one cut a little shorter for the interior bag, so it doesn't interfere with the exterior bags seal.
This gives you some poke protection for the exterior bag.
Dump the ammo in and lay it down and pat/ work the ammo so not tips are sticking out to the sides.
A little patiance and it wiil do the trick.
 
I guess you could add Schrader core fittings to your cans. Plastic or metal. Than charge with nitrogen to push oxygen, and moisture out! This should work, and hold as long as your cans have a seal! Doesn’t need to be under pressure just needs to displace the air.
 
OP resurrected an old thread. Welcome.

For my reloads, I use food saver bags with 1 silica pack in each. Either 50 or 100 count rounds. I don’t vacuum out air, just squeeze out most prior to sealing. I find they stack better when the rounds have a little freedom to flatten out. Sharpie on outside with date, load date, etc. Seems to work very well.
 
How about zerust tab in an ammo can
 
No way in hell I’m vacuum sealing little baggies of reloads. I’ve got thousands and thousands of rounds loaded. They go in ammo cans and large plastic containers. Would take forever to vacuum seal all my ammo. But to each their own.
 
I knew a guy that had access to a canning machine and put ammo into #10 cans, but labeled as beans or something. I always wondered if he ever opened the wrong can and wound up with 9mm soup instead of Black Bean Soup...

That's not involving vacuum, although the hair dryer + silica pack approach would still work.
 
No way in hell I’m vacuum sealing little baggies of reloads. I’ve got thousands and thousands of rounds loaded. They go in ammo cans and large plastic containers. Would take forever to vacuum seal all my ammo. But to each their own.
I'm with you.

I think the only way this adds value is if you are in a very humid environment with no way to store ammo in a way where it won't rust. For the rest of us, its a pointless waste of time and money.
If you have even purchased "Battle Packs" of .308, its vac packed and is often from the 50s or 60s and is flawless. So there is no debating that it works. What is debatable is whether its necessary.
 
Why would this be necessary?

I've shot thousands of milsurp commie Block and US ammo that was made 50 plus years ago.....I've had it loose in non vacuum sealed ammo cans for well over a decade and never had a single problem it all goes bang. But.....if your bored out if your skull and you already have straightened your stereo wires behind the entertainment center have at it.
 
Why would this be necessary?

I've shot thousands of milsurp commie Block and US ammo that was made 50 plus years ago.....I've had it loose in non vacuum sealed ammo cans for well over a decade and never had a single problem it all goes bang. But.....if your bored out if your skull and you already have straightened your stereo wires behind the entertainment center have at it.
We've heard worse ideas. Like the guy who purchased a tool box to store his ammo. He had all his little boxes neatly laid out in the drawers. Ha.

His $400 toolbox stored probably 3000 rounds.
 
OP, go for it, there's no down side. Any layer of protection is beneficial.

If you're sealing reloads, put a small data card in each package. I list caliber, powder and charge, primer and bullet type and date.

It works best on boxed ammo ( no sharp edges ) but will work with loose ammo if you point the bullets inward when arranging them in the bag so they don't peirce the plastic.

Use a quality bag ( Food Saver brand ) not a generic, they just work better.

Also, use a board or other ( stack of paper ) to raise the bag up to the sealer so it stays flat when vacuuming.

I've done lots of ammo this way, particularly .50bmg. It allows me to grab a couple of ten packs to take out to the range instead of lugging a whole can full.
 
if you want to prevent oxidation over long time then some over pressurizing with nitrogen would be more productive than a vacuum seal attempt, that will not be a true vacuum anyway.
i think the oldest ammo i did shoot was 60 yr old, with no preservatives, and it fired fine. not sure what is the point.
 
Unless you guys are burying it underground like direct burial all this s*** is basically unnecessary hell I even have stuff in my basement in MTM plastic boxes that's in a damp f****** basement and is perfectly fine.... [rofl] as long as it's got some kind of a seal that's mostly sorta kinda airtight you will win.
 
if you want to prevent oxidation over long time then some over pressurizing with nitrogen would be more productive than a vacuum seal attempt, that will not be a true vacuum anyway.
i think the oldest ammo i did shoot was 60 yr old, with no preservatives, and it fired fine. not sure what is the point.
I am not in any way suggesting anyone do this with ammo.

But vacuum sealing can pull a nearly 100% vacuum. And if you really want zero oxygen, then you toss an oxygen eater in with your ammo. Its just a bag of metal shavings that reacts with what little oxygen is left and consumes it. So you can have an oxygen free environment with a vacuum sealer and an oxygen eater. Much easier than nitrogen. The oxygen eater also will continue to consume O2 as the bag lets in trace gasses over the years.

And if you really want it sealed, then you need to use mylar bags.
 
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