How to Store Ammo

Let me launch a hypothetical at you. Suppose you go to the best butcher shop in town — one with a name like Gepperth’s, Ottomanelli’s, Kramarczuk’s, or some other similarly hard to pronounce European thing. You buy 20 pounds of the best ribeyes that man and bovine have ever produced in collaboration with one another. Are you going to go home and throw them on your lawn? Or are you going to lovingly lay them down to rest on the best shelf in your fridge? It’s a hypothetical because it’s easy to answer. The rules on how to store ammo aren’t all that different. (Please don’t grill your ammo.)

Now that we’ve established that, why would you store your ammunition in anything but the best conditions as well? It’s not only a valuable commodity, but one that your abilities to have fun at the range, put dinner on the table, and defend yourself and your family all hinge upon. You’ve got to treat your ammo well!

Best Practices – Ammo Storage

If you store your ammo right, you could very well count on it to perform as its manufacturer intended for the rest of your lifetime. Heck, it may even become a family heirloom if you’re meticulous enough.

“This was Grandpa’s 9mm ammo,” your grandchild could one day be telling their robot butler.

To get to that point, you’ve got to take three factors into account: light, temperature, and humidity.

Storing Ammo: Protect It from Light

The rule with light is straightforward: You don’t want it touching your ammo.

The sun’s ultraviolet radiation is a ravenous force. It’s as destructive to ammunition as it is things like classic cars, gremlins and paintings. This is an easy enough problem to avoid, since you’re the kind of responsible person who doesn’t just leave dangerous things lying around in the open.

Keep your ammo in its box, in an ammo can, in your closet, and the rosy fingers of dawn won’t be able to harm it.

Store Your Ammo In a Cool Place

Heat will quickly wreak havoc on ammo. Certain compounds in propellant can start to evaporate when heated to over 120 degrees Fahrenheit, which will impact accuracy. On the flip side, freezing ammo can permanently alter a bullet’s ballistic performance, especially if it’s made of multiple materials that expand and contract at different rates. Perhaps worst of all for ammo is when it’s stored in fluctuating temperatures. Because of this, you’ll want to avoid places such as basements, attics, or garages.

Again, a simple fix: Store your ammo at room temperature and it’ll be happy as a pig in you-know-what.

Keep Your Powder Dry

Humidity is perhaps the hardest variable to overcome, especially if you’re one of our brothers or sisters who lives beneath the Mason-Dixon line. A cartridge that suffers prolonged exposure to moisture can quickly corrode, especially if its casing doesn’t wear protective nickel plating. That’s why brass cased shotshells weren’t hugely popular in the South West Pacific theatre. Basements, attics, and garages are even less suited for storing ammo owing to their humidity.

So how do we beat humidity? Several ways.

Get an Ammo Can

First off, a high quality ammo can, the kind with a rubber gasket, is an excellent way of keeping moisture from rusting, tarnishing, corroding, and otherwise rendering inoperable your ammunition. Note that an old ammo can’s gasket may have dried and cracked over the course of its lifespan, while a new can’s supple rubber is better equipped to seal out water.

Find Some Dessicant

Desiccant can help ensure you keep your ammo dry, even if stored in a can.

Second, you can take the added step of storing your ammo with a dessicant such as silica gel. You know, the kind that comes with dress shoes or a wallet in a little pouch labeled “Do not eat?” Well, if you can manage to resist eating it, silica gel does a heroic job of keeping ammo nice and dry in storage.

There are a lot of fine desiccants and dehumidifying devices meant specifically for ammo on the market. Finally, don’t store ammo on the floor wherever moisture could conceivably accumulate. I once had to throw away a whole bunch of 22 long rifle ammo due to a homebrewing mishap. At least the squirrels were happy that day.

Knowing how to store your ammo so it stays fresh and ready to fire conveys real benefits. You’ll not only be able to buy in bulk, which is far more economical in the long scheme of things, but you’ll be able to amass the materiel you need to come out on top in the event of a truly rainy day. Just know your limitations — if you’ve just returned from a slog through the woods that exposed your ammo to adverse elements, you would probably do better to fire it that day than to put it back in storage. Also, consider writing the date on your ammo before you put it into storage. That way you’ll be able to quickly grab the newest, best ammo at your disposal during an emergency. You know, like the day that the robot butlers gain sentience and try to conquer the earth.