# Ammo storage,in box or loose?



## Oddcaliber (Feb 17, 2014)

Got 2 ammo cans at ACADEMY today,to be used for its intended purpose. I'm putting my 7.62x39 in the cans but 1000 rounds in the box won't fit. I've seen bulk loose pack ammo on line. Do have strippers( not the night club type)to keep the ammo handy. Thoughts?


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## Tennessee (Feb 1, 2014)

I've stored all my brass ammo loose in ammo cans for years with no problems. I've been hesitant to store my steel 7.62x39 loose. So what I’ve been doing is stacking the 20 round boxes as tight as I can and then fill the voids with loose ammo. See me in 20 or more years and I will tell you how it worked out.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

I have army ammo that was boxed up in the 1950's in boxes still as good today as it was the day they boxed it. Anything around here more than a hand full is boxed up and stored in steel or good plastic ammo cans


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

Your idea sounds like a reasonable alternative until you get some more storage. low humidity, reasonable temperatures and it will keep well.


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## Salt-N-Pepper (Aug 18, 2014)

I keep mine in boxes, really I don't think it much matters I just make sure that they are in moisture-sealed ammo cans. Keeping the moisture out is the key, not loose or boxed.


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## Grim Reality (Mar 19, 2014)

When you suddenly find yourself in need of ammo, you will be quite happy you have it in the stripper 
clips (provided, of course. your particular gun is compatible with that). It will not be a happy day to 
find that you have to "fiddle" with rounds ONE-BY-ONE in order to resupply your shootin' iron! 

Rifles which are magazine fed would be most quickly reloaded by a cache of topped-up magazines 
sitting at hand. No surprise that. And those which are fed otherwise are simply not the best choice 
for a fire fight. Still, having ANY rifle is better than no rifle, but when you may be putting a LOT of 
rounds downrange...full magazines, loaded and at-the-ready are the way to go. Reloading those
magazines, as they become empty, via stripper clips, is the next best bet.

Loose rounds, if you need to reload rapidly, are the slowest strategy. Still, since I have something
over 30,000 rounds (all in ammo cans) I don't have it ALL "loaded-up and ready", but I DO have a
LARGE number of loaded magazines "close-at-hand". Stripper clips are then backing me up when I
have burned through that mag supply.

If I get to the point that I have run through all my loaded mags and all my stripper clips, and am 
now loading one-by-one...well, that might be a fight I wasn't ever going to win...but I would be 
awfully luck just to last long enough to ever get to THAT predicament!

All of that being said, Uncle Sam has had the "Ammo in Cans" philosophy for a LONG time. I am
inclined to go along with that wisdom. Boxes (are we talking regular cardboard ammo boxes?)
are fine for short term, but for long term the (gasketed) G.I. ammo can is KING! JMHO!

Grim


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## SoCal92057 (Apr 12, 2014)

Keep the ammo in the cardboard boxes and the cardboard boxes in the metal ammo can. The U.S. military does it this way. Additionally, the cardboard boxes will have a lot number on them which may be important to know if there is a safety recall of ammo.


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## 1895gunner (Sep 23, 2012)

Since I load all of my ammo it goes straight into MTM boxes then into an ammo can. All my semi-autos use a tubular magazine so no clips, strips or magazines.







1895gunner


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## biph7777 (Jan 14, 2016)

Nice...on the stripper comment. I have a sense of humor like you just made my day


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## Salt-N-Pepper (Aug 18, 2014)

1895gunner said:


>


I like the language you are speaking right here...


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## Seneca (Nov 16, 2012)

I have two 30 gallon trash bags full of various/assorted plastic ammo boxes. I don't know what I'll do with them just yet so they sit in storage. I went to using ammo cans and Ziploc bags which is a far more compact method of ammo storage than the plastic boxes.


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## phrogman (Apr 17, 2014)

SoCal92057 said:


> Keep the ammo in the cardboard boxes and the cardboard boxes in the metal ammo can. The U.S. military does it this way. Additionally, the cardboard boxes will have a lot number on them which may be important to know if there is a safety recall of ammo.


This is what I do. I do have some in heavy duty zip lock bags that I also keep in ammo cans.


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## chocks141 (Nov 21, 2015)

I do both
the stuff I cycle through pretty quickly, like 223 or 45acp, I store loose in ammo cans.
My high power rifle ammo, I store in cardboard boxes so I can keep better track of load data and such.


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