Your bullets are as important as your gun. Although they are made to endure many conditions, you need to treat them like critical survival investments. For instance, you need to store them well in the most favorable environment. If you do not store your bullets well, they will have a short shelf life. In addition, the gunpowder in them may also lose its potency as a result of poor storage conditions.
Storing bullets in the right way is not a complicated process. You will only need to follow several simple storage principles. Below are more details on how you should store your bullets.
How to Store Bullets: Top Tips
How you store your bullets will determine if they will be in good condition after several years or not. For instance, if you follow bullet storage tips when storing your bullets, they will remain in good condition even after several years. Below are some of the common bullet storage tips that you should follow.
- Ensure that your bullets are dry when in their storage area
- Always store your bullets in a cool place
- Always store your bullets in a dark place
- Ensure that your bullets are in their original containers
- Always store your bullets in Ammo cans
- Organize your bullets when storing them
Ensure That Your Bullets Are Dry When in Their Storage Area
Moisture can lead to bullet corrosion and render your gun powder useless. Therefore, you should always ensure that your bullets are dry. You can ensure this by not using damp basements, attics, and sheds as bullet storage spaces. These areas usually have high humidity. Instead, you should store the bullets in a dry place.
You should also avoid placing the bullets on the ground as they may end up absorbing moisture from the ground. Instead, you should place them on a shelf or use a pallet when storing them. After choosing where to store them, use one of the best hygrometers to monitor moisture levels in that storage area.
Store Your Bullets in a Cool Place
According to the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturer’s Institute, temperatures above 150° F can damage a bullet. These high temperatures can negatively affect your bullets’ gunpowder and priming. Therefore, you should always store your bullets in a cool place. For instance, you should avoid storing your bullets in your car’s trunk on hot sunny days.
You should also not store your bullets in very cold areas. Although low temperatures cannot lead to the loss of gun powder, they will change the ballistic performance of the bullets. That can, in turn, affect the accuracy of the shots that you fire.
You should also ensure that your bullets’ storage area has consistent temperatures. Some of the storage spaces with consistent temperatures include:
- Gun safes
- Gun racks in your house
- Bullet storage units
Store Your Bullets in a Dark Area
UV sun rays can damage your bullets the same way they damage car paint and colored clothes. Therefore, you should store your bullets in dark areas. For instance, store them in a closet or pantry.
Store Your Bullets in Their Original Containers
Bullet sellers usually sell bullets in their original containers. After buying the bullets, you should not remove them from their containers unless you want to use the bullets. Instead, store them while they are in their containers. Some of the benefits of keeping bullets in these containers include:
- Bullet containers are usually marked. Therefore, when you store bullets while they are in their original containers, you will easily know the type of bullets in a particular container. You will also know the number of bullets in the container without having to count them.
- There will be less movement of bullets when they are in their original containers. Therefore, when you store your bullets in these containers, you are less likely to end up with dinged or dented bullets.
Store Your Bullets in Ammo Cans
Even if your bullets are in their original containers, you should store them in an ammo can. When you store your bullets in this kind of a can, intruders or children will not access the bullets. Below are other benefits of storing bullets in an ammo can.
- When you store bullets in an ammo can, they will not be exposed to very high or very low temperatures.
- Your bullets are less likely to be accidentally knocked on the ground when in these cans.
- You are less likely to spill liquids on your bullets when the bullets are in an ammo can.
To experience all these benefits, you need to ensure that you are using a good ammo can. You can buy a metal, plastic, or surplus ammo can. Metal ammo cans are usually more durable than plastic cans. For instance, plastic ammo can likely melt in the case of a fire, while a metal ammo container will not melt.
Surplus ammo cans are the best when it comes to ammo storage cans. They are usually available in many sizes and are durable. However, they are usually second-hand ammo cans. If you decide to buy them, ensure that they are in their best condition. For instance, they should not be corroded or dented.
Below are other things that you should do to ensure that you experience the benefits of using ammo cans.
- You should keep your ammo can dry all the time.
- You should add silica gel packs to your ammo can. These gel packs will absorb the excess moisture in the ammo can.
Organize Your Bullets When Storing Them
Organizing your bullets when storing them will help you to identify the bullets that you need easily. It should involve putting similar types of bullets in one place and labeling different ammo cans. When it comes to labeling ammo cans, you should indicate:
- The number of bullets in a bullet container or ammo can
- The weight of the bullet container
- The date on which you purchased the bullets in a particular ammo container
Indicating the date you purchased the bullets will help you know the bullets you should use first. It would be best if you used the oldest bullets first.
Conclusion
How to store bullets appropriately is very important. Your firearm will be useless to you if you do not have bullets. Therefore, you should be careful when it comes to bullet storage. For instance, you should only store bullets in a cool, dark, and dry place. You should also ensure that the bullets are in their original containers when storing them. You can store these bullets in ammo cans. Children and intruders are less likely to access the bullets when they are in these cans.
