Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

Silica gel is sold with approximate volume specs. I generally double the volume of an ammo can (give or take) and buy those packets. I store all of my long term ammo in the factory boxes inside the ammo can. The exception is bulk milsurplus which usually comes in a plastic bag vice boxes. I prefer the packets that turn a different color so you know if that can was leaking or exposed to excess moisture before shooting it.

At this point I don't bother with ammo cans for reloaded ammo. Ammo will last a long time with no degradation as long as it is stored in a decent temp control place (like you house). I put my reloads in various plastic ammo boxes. E.g. Dillon. When I am bulk storing ammo it is for long term storage. Think a decade unless the SHTF sooner than that. I don't think I've ever had reloads sit around for more than a year and in a year they are not going bad just left in unsealed boxes.

nickf829 wrote:How long will the silica gel keep the ammo dry in a sealed .50 can?

For as long as the seal stays viable.

Since nearly all my ammo is reloaded, I do similar to what gunderwood does and not worry about degradation (my reloads get shot up pretty quickly, too). I use ammo cans simply because they stack well. Ammo that I'm going to use for the week gets put in standard 50-round ammo boxes.

BTW, I ran across some 40-year-old 7.62x39 surplus ammo from the mid to late 1970's. A friend and I loaded up some magazines and had fun. One failure to fire out of about each 100 or so. And DAG 7.62x51 NATO ammo from about the same time period seems to go BANG each and every time. Of course, they're in sealed battle packs, which no doubt helps.

Diomed wrote:

nickf829 wrote:How long will the silica gel keep the ammo dry in a sealed .50 can?

For as long as the seal stays viable.

Yup. A lot of NATO countries seem to rotate their stock every decade or so (then it gets sold to us). If it stays cool and dry, you're pretty much good to go.

A little different approach here. I keep all my ammo, sorted, in .50 cal cans like a lot of other people do. I don't spend too much money on desiccants, though. I use small cloth bags of rice in the boxes. I cycle the rice about every six months or so.
Some body told me one time that rice doesn't work. I put a small battery powered humidimeter in one of the boxes and left it for about a week. When I opened the box, the meter was showing under 10 percent. That's not completely dry, but it drier than a lot of commercial/military storage facilities.

So if I store it for less than a year, which I most likely would, I should be fine. Thanks

What about keeping the ammo in the can loosely. I now have lots of cast 9mm & .45 and am starting to load it all, but have already run out of ammo trays. Is it OK to store everything else that I load just loose in the ammo can? I won't be running the can thru a paint shaker or anything, so I would think the odds of a primer getting crushed or accidental discharge would be very low.

nickf829 wrote:So if I store it for less than a year, which I most likely would, I should be fine. Thanks

What about keeping the ammo in the can loosely. I now have lots of cast 9mm & .45 and am starting to load it all, but have already run out of ammo trays. Is it OK to store everything else that I load just loose in the ammo can? I won't be running the can thru a paint shaker or anything, so I would think the odds of a primer getting crushed or accidental discharge would be very low.

Storing it in the open yes, in a sealed can maybe not. The issue is that you seal in the moisture and you can get condensation easily with temperature changes.