Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Ammo / component storage?

Question for the gunwriters or anyone else who keeps a large supply .. variety + quantity .. of ammo and components at home ... how do you arrange it / store it? I don't have a huge amount of stuff, but I'm trying to move it from individual plastic tubs with lids and cardboard boxes lined up along the back wall to some kind of shelf / storage scheme to both better organize stuff so it's more readily accessed and regain some floor space. Considering what ammo weighs, it would seem to need to be pretty sturdy. Doesn't have to lock, no kids to worry about now, but I'm not against that either. Ideas? Pictures?

Thanks!!

Tom

Harbor Freight and Craftsman roll away tool boxes and top boxes.

Normally left with keys in the lock but easily locked if I'm not going to be home or if children will be visiting. I'd hate to walk into my own home and be shot by own gun loaded with my own ammunition.

Dies optics and other bulky but innocuous gear on book shelves. A couple of rolling storage cabinets with locking doors from Sears Surplus. I used to check the web for Sears Surplus when I lived in metro Denver and bought bench tops and storage at massive discounts. I don't live in Denver anymore and Sears Surplus isn't the same but accumulating over time is still cheaper if tedious.

Gutted out side by side door refrigerator and added shelving

I use a steel cabinet with heavy-duty steel drawers on steel rollers. If you choose something like this you might also consider bolting it down to prevent it tipping when you open a drawer full of ammunition. The one I have is of a size that can easily fit four flats of shotgun cartridges in a drawer, or a fair amount of rifle ammunition, and it is lockable. If you need more space a steel tool cabinet with steel shelves is another option. The typical two door variety which is about 6' tall will carry a good amount of ammunition. They aren't dear either, and I've got both quite cheaply courtesy of a factory closure.

For components I have a set of solid timber (hardwood) shelves fixed at the back of my reloading bench. The bench has a substantial steel frame and a worktop of plywood (about 1 1 1/2" thick) so is sturdy enough for a good weight of projectiles etc on the shelves. It is handy to have them there to hand.

I would not have any shelves of MDF or particleboard, unless it is well-braced with something such as steel or solid timber. They not only lack strength but stiffness, and tend to bow under the sort of load a stack of ammunition will impose.

Call me old fashioned, but I store bulk ammo in MIL-SPEC ammo cans - mostly 50 cal.

If it was humid when I put it in the cans, I'd toss in a packet of desiccant.

Bingo! Insulated, airtight, lots of adjustable shelves.
I have powder and primers that are 40+ years old that are still fine.

'k, thanks for the ideas.

I was thinking steel shelves, but what I'd found was 18-24 inches deep and I was hoping for more like 12. The refrigerator idea for even more temperature stability sounds great, hadn't considered that.

Heavy-duty filing cabinets with the drawers on ball bearing rollers - the ones like the government used to use. I saw one at the local Goodwill for $20 recently but didn't need it since I've already got enough, but the manager said they had a couple more in the back and they get them frequently. I guess its because youngsters don't keep paper copies of anything and when grandma dies they take stuff to Goodwill. When I was going to government auctions I was always surprised (but shouldn't have been) that younger people always bid higher for the newer, better looking, and much flimsier, metal cabinets and filing cabinets than for the older, but built like a brick outhouse ones.

I've got a combination of just about everything previously mentioned.

I've built cabinets. I've repurposed steel kitchen cabinets. I have old filing cabinets, and I've built shelves with 2X4 and whatever scraps I could use for shelving. Standing next to all that when the big earthquake hits is probably not a good idea.