So i am guessing by now you are wondering what the LT stands for. Well it is a question i need answered (i know i am a pain in the ass haha

Any way getting to the point. LT stands for Long Term Ammo, and what i want to know is what is the best way to store your (important) Ammo that you want to last a very long time, say ammo for defensive situations and ammo you will be depending your life on. Of course you will have some laying around because you will have some in your firearms or maybe a box high up on your shelf, but i am talking about the other 5000 rounds you have. For me that would be .223, .40 S&W and Buckshot,Slugs. So as i was saying what is the best way to keep your ammo fresh, safe and usable for the longest time.

Thanks guys
Stay safe, Have fun and lets go shooting!

Get some ammo cans and some desiccant. Throw it in there in a closet. It will last long enough for your grandchildren to use.

The oldest ammo I have shot was some reloaded .45 ACP my great grandfather did. They were about 70 years old, and were kept in a cardboard box, which was in a milk crate along with many other boxes of ammo, and kept on a closet.

And Ammo cans are those .50 Cal big metal boxes right? and what is desiccant. Sorry i know im not the sharpest haha.

This post has been edited by MTReaper: October 28th 2009 3:46 AM

Yea, those are the cans Im talking about. If you need some that are bigger, then look for some of the 40MM ones.


Desiccant is just something that will suck up any moisture that would happen to get in there. Like the little bags you find in new shoes that say "Do not Eat." lol

Ive heard some people say that Tidy Cats Crystals wrapped in a coffee filter works pretty well too.

Oh yeah of course lol! Thanks D! yeah the little tiny bags almost look like bean bag bullets thats come in your shoes and dog treats gotcha i thought those sounded familier! And once i have all that stuff, where is the best place to store the cans, i live in the NorthEast so i was thinking way back in my closets or is there a better option? And really thanks D for helping me i needed this help bad! your the man.

Closet should be fine.

Ammo will usually outlive its owner, even if its just stored in a box in a closet.

This post has been edited by AnonymousD: October 28th 2009 4:03 AM

Sweet Thanks man, checkout my friend list i updated on my profile kinda like a people i can trust list haha

For his location I concur.

I might recommend something more extreme if you lived right on a humid coastline, but inland your ammo will last 50 years in an ammo can with a good seal and a fair sized desiccant bag inside.

Down here on the coast I vacuum bag my long term storage, but I purposefully wanted overkill given the frequent ultra high humidity here.

I still think those spam cans are the best, but I never see any with anything other than fmj anymore.

Or if you can afford it, circulate your "stash" every 3 years - Whatever you shoot, replace with new.

I have some .270 ammo that was reloaded back in 96 that I shot last year. Still worked and accurate.

Same with the .45 for the 1911 I got. Also reloaded back in mid 90s. Looked good too.

I have ammo in .30 cal, .50 cal and M249 "Fat Fifty" ammo can with some desiccant packs and some home made with the Tidy Cats. They are in a closet. Real desiccant packs work better than Tidy Cats, but it will work.



TS

Tiger has the right idea. Most of you do i know what i am getting, some 20mm ammo cans, Maybe like 2 or 3 not sure how big the 20mm are but i know they are big, with desiccant packs and put it somewhere cool and dry.
I guess it depends on how much ammo i'll have. I know there is 20mm, 30mm, 40mm, .50 cal etc a whole bunch of cans so like i said it really depends on how much ammo i will have. What size do you guys suggest? And how would i store it. I heard on sites that your boxes of ammo should NOT touch metal. is that true?

I like the .50cal and M249 ammo cans, personally. I just checked my stash after a few years and it was fine with boxes touching the metal. No problems for that long. I tossed in some new desiccant and closed them back up.




TS

Big ammo cans are nice, but they can get real darn heavy fast as you fill them. Try one of the big ones first and fill it up to the top. If you don't like the weight then go to smaller cans. I have one really big one, but its a gut buster to move and certainly not what I would consider "tactical" to use. So I keep only my long term storage in it and put my other ammo in standard size cans.

That actually makes alot of sense zeke. I will probably do that. Get one really big one and 2 or 3 smaller ones. Thanks guys this will help with my storage situation.

What do you guys suggest for sizes? For me like zeke said i want a big one so i can keep my long term ammo in there, and then have 2 or 3 smaller ones. What sizes do you think is the best all around?

Oh and by the way, i made the police S.R.T team and within a year i will be a S.W.A.T officer and after that i should have the experience to try out for Navy Seal school

Just go visit the military surplus stores in your region. Ammo cans are cheap enough. Shipping will double the price and you are pretty much stuck with the condition they send it to you in. By hitting the stores you can also examine the seals and compare sizes. Hit a couple stores and you should get a good idea of the options out there.

Besides, hitting 2 or 3 surplus stores on a Saturday outing can be a lot of fun. You''l likely come home with a whole trunk full of stuff.

This is true and you know we gotta get ready for that Zombie apocalypse

If you plan on carrying them anywhere like to the range the biggest Id go is a .50 Cal can. I have one that I keep full of random stuff for the range, and it probably weighs like 30 lbs. Maybe get a few really big ones and leave them at home, and some smaller ones to put stuff in to transport it.

I would also go with smaller cans for another reason. The whole eggs in one basket deal. I know the chances of anything happening to the ammo, even in a defective ammo can are very slim, but I wouldn't want to risk hundreds of dollars worth of ammo to a freak accident.

That would be some rare freak accident. I've seen ammo crates tossed out onto a tarmac so hot the asphalt was mushy by a loadmaster pushing the pallet out the back while the plane did a touch-n-go. That pallet hit at 40mph at least and was tumbling along behind while we were running to chase them down. Seen several helo drops where the cans fell a good 25 feet. Ammo looked fine and it all shot like it was supposed to.

Now if your house burned down that might be different, but then putting smaller cans all over the house might actually be worse in a house fire. Stuff might be cooking off for days.

If anything I'd rather have one big ammo can so I could heave that muther out the window if I had to escape from a house fire. That way I could tell the fire department my ammo was all outside now and it was safe for them to enter to do their job. If I had several cans all through the house I wouldn't let them enter at all and would recommend everyone just move way back to take cover. Only thing worse than a house fire is one where your ammo killed a fireman.

I keep my ammo well locked up but still close enough to my bed that it, myself, and my wallet can all go out the window at once.

This made my gut hurt!!!! That is one of the funniest things someone has said on this site. Just the way you said it

But zeke is right, just throw the mother right out the window. God that made my day haha.

Your the man Zeke.