Long term storage of .22LR

[Scoundrel]

OK, so I have a number of .22LR rounds that would make any MSNBC reporter salivate when thinking up a headline.

Most folks know that 22LR rounds are not sealed as well as larger calibers, so dry storage is more important with those.

I'd say about half of my .22LR are wax coated, which probably helps with the storage issue, if it can be trusted. But the other half (the Wally World stuff) is NOT wax coated.

I have some ammo cans that I purchased at a military surplus shop, and I am very selective when I buy those cans, but still I doubt their seals. So I want to test them.

Water has a "surface tension" thing though, and I'm wondering how to deal with that in my testing. I don't think it's a realistic test to spray the cans with a pressure washer. Will dunking them in the bathtub provide a realistic test? Or, do I need to defeat the surface tension issue by placing them within a foot or so of a room humidifier, which turns the water into mist? Maybe I'll do both.

High end waterproof containers are expensive, and I'm not keen on those price tags. However, Stanley makes a "fat max" tool box with a rubber ring to seal it and make it "Water-Resistant". Plus, I bought a crapload of silica gel packets. I wonder if that will do the job for the unwaxed stuff.

Thoughts?

[tv_racin_fan]

I'd trust the bath tub test BUT add some dishwashing liquid to the water to cut that surface tension.

[muggsy]

I think that you are worrying needlessly. I shot some Remington/Peters .22LR that were stored in my fathers damp basement since the '40's. Every damn one of them went bang.

[Scoundrel]

I only started worrying after I read another thread here on KahrTalk where a guy shot some old stuff and some new stuff of the same brand and noticed a distinct difference.

I think I'll do some quick testing with the bathtub and the dish washing liquid, but I won't knock myself out. I just don't want to see air bubbles when submerged, or moisture inside when I open them up, and I'll be satisfied with that and some silica gel packets.

[Scoundrel]

BTW, these are kick ass toolboxes. I have one bolted to the rear luggage rack of my ATV, and I just bought a couple for storing/transporting ammo: http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-028001L-28-Inch-Structural-Toolbox/dp/B000KN470Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328829666&sr=8-1

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41dK4%2BySZyL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

[CJB]

Scoundrel... you're being anal here.

Just put your 22LR's, in their boxes if possible, in big zip lock bags. Stick some dry rice in the bags. Done.

Then store the bags/22's in the crates of choice. Jeeze, lets not make this a frikkin' project.:p Totally done!~

See, wasn't that simple?

As long as you keep things even moderately dry, you'll be ok. I've still got .22's from the 1980's - Federal Lightning cheapies - they work fine still, even with so-so storage. I'll be dead before the ammo

[Scoundrel]

Scoundrel... you're being anal here.

Just put your 22LR's, in their boxes if possible, in big zip lock bags. Stick some dry rice in the bags. Done.

Then store the bags/22's in the crates of choice. Jeeze, lets not make this a frikkin' project.:p Totally done!~

See, wasn't that simple?

As long as you keep things even moderately dry, you'll be ok. I've still got .22's from the 1980's - Federal Lightning cheapies - they work fine still, even with so-so storage. I'll be dead before the ammo

Wait, wait, I have it! Ammo in the Ziploc bags, bags in the military ammo boxes, and those in the Fat Max toolboxes. Silica gel packets inside every layer!

OK, OK, that is getting ridiculous. The Ziplocs are a good idea though. Thanks!

[joshh]

i pick through ammo cans to find ones with good seals then toss in my ammo and a slilca packet like the ones you get with shoes, only bigger. i get them from work, but you can buy em cheap ( and reusable) if you cant find em anywhere free.

[LaP]

OK, so I have a number of .22LR rounds that would make any MSNBC reporter salivate when thinking up a headline.




I love that line. With your kind permission I will steal it and propagate the internet with it.:D

[Scoundrel]

Do please take it. Just call me "meme daddy".

[LaP]

Do please take it. Just call me "meme daddy".

I'd rather pay the royalties.:p

[wyntrout]

A good-sealing ammo can with silica-gel packs is the best way to store ammo... then in a cool dry location... not in the attic, garage, or a vehicle... or a storage shed outside!

If the seal is good, you can't beat an ammo can. Some of those are like new and seem unused. Shop at gun shows. I found some really new-looking S.A.W. ammo cans... very nice. I have .30 cal, .50, 20mm and the SAW cans. I need to run all of my silica gel packs through the oven, though... something like 10 hours at 200°F... something like that. I have a slew of those brown fist-sized packs I got at a gun show long ago.

Ziplock bags can suck air in... they suck. Buy a Food Saver vacuum sealer or something like that for really long term. Save all of those little silica packs... the ones that say "Don't Eat!" and vacuum pack the ammo with some of those.

Wynn:)

[QuercusMax]

Of course, the obvious answer to the long-term storage problem is ... to just use it up instead of storing it!

I know that some people go crazy stockpiling enough ammo to fend off the Chinese Army should they ever appear near one's property, but I doubt that .22 caliber ammo will deter them much.

So why not just use it, and buy more as needed? That eliminates the problems of taking up space and possible deterioration. You can always buy more as you need it.

PS. Some ammo certainly does keep for a long time, as others have observed. When I inherited my dad's Colt 1903 32ACP some years ago, it came with a partial box of Remington ammo from the 30's. It all worked just fine - even the rounds that had some verdigris on them that needed cleaning off. Probably should have just tossed it but I was curious.

[Scoundrel]

When a runaway virus turns groups of squirrels into little man-eating hordes, I'll be set.

I do rotate it to some degree. But there is a lot of it.

[ltxi]

I just store it in the basement in whatever packaging it came in and don't worry about it. But, I live on the western edge of a high, arid plain so it's pretty easy to get away with that.

[ltxi]

[QUOTE=QuercusMax;133143................I know that some people go crazy stockpiling enough ammo to fend off the Chinese Army should they ever appear near one's property, but I doubt that .22 caliber ammo will deter them much................
[/QUOTE]

Now, that's what my huge stockpile of vacuum sealed 7.62x39 is for. :behindsofa:

[CJB]

Ziplock bags can suck air in... they suck. Buy a Food Saver vacuum sealer or something like that for really long term. Save all of those little silica packs... the ones that say "Don't Eat!" and vacuum pack the ammo with some of those.

Wynn:)

Yah some do, but better ones dont. If they hold water, they wont leak air. I've used zip locks to store dried out desiccant bags. Years later... still good.

The water test is a good one. If yer really scared, just do the "ugly date" thing and double bag 'em.

[carkarrier]

Maybe the little 22s won't ward off the Chinese or the hungry US citizens when things go bad, but it is great barter if you need to trade for other items you may run out of. I hope it never comes to that and I can happily blast away at varmints and targets with my Remington nylon 22. I store mine in a dark closet in a footlocker. So far they go bang.

[jocko]

i bet that is the ol remington nylon 66 to ain't it. brown or black model??

[Alfonse]

What you really need is a very low humidity environment that is also temperate where you can store your ammunition. P.M. me and I will send you my address, I have the room, the arid, temperate location and won't use much.

[carkarrier]

i bet that is the ol remington nylon 66 to ain't it. brown or black model??

It is the brown Nylon 66. Just keeps on shooting and never burps. My wife has taken it over to dispatch pesky squirrels raiding her bird feeders. She also uses my Model 51 Smith 22 magnum, but she doesn't like the blast. I don't know if letting her learn to shoot so good is wise. Just kidding.

[tv_racin_fan]

Carkarrier, way back in time I thought I might try to teach the wife to shoot. I suppose I should have known that teaching her to shoot with HER 22 revolver was rather telling. BUT in honesty I thought her father had given it to her and not really taught her how to shoot. OK so I toss a milk jug out in the yard and tell her to show me what she got. First round was dead center I just simply said OK I am done here. DAMN I am good.

Ok I find out sometime later that according to someone in her family her pop used to stop on the side of the road and make the children do target practice. I SAY MAKE but umm they loved it it would seem.

[wyntrout]

I don't think that buying more as you use most of it up is a good idea. I think things are going to get worse at some point than it was about two years or so ago. You might run out and there's a "shortage" again. Remember the .380 shortage... and others. I remember Wal-Mart ammo shelves being empty and there being limits. I want to buy a good supply at low prices and try to maintain that level with more buying as I shoot.

I'm not a "prepper" but I think having a stock of some things only makes good sense, especially if your survival might depend on it. Food, water, medicine, and the means to defend your family and your life's necessities are important. I'm not going to let my ammo supply get low!

One thing that comes up in my mind all of the time is that my wife might be at work when something happens... 9 miles from home. The one scenario that really bothers me is an EMP attack... wiping out all electronics, electricity, phones, all communication and so on. How long do you think the bad guys will take to figure out the cops can't talk to anyone by radio or phone and they can't drive anywhere? I'm going to buy a compact, folding bike for my wife to carry in the trunk of her car so that she can get home. Outside of a nuclear detonation on one of the millions of containers that is shipped through this port... near the Mayport naval Station... that's the most likely use of one or a few small nukes, as Iran and Korea are getting close to being able to do. We are so unprepared for that and the government... all levels... refuses to take any steps at all to prepare for recovery from an EMP attack... as in storing critical power plant electronic control components in Faraday Cages or out of this country for quick return to restore electricity, water, and communications in at least some vital areas.

Check this out and read the eye-opening book... fiction, but very possible... the point of the book... to bring attention to the head-in-the-sand attitude the government is taking.

http://www.onesecondafter.com/

Wynn:)

[wyntrout]

I tried some Remington Subsonic ammo and some Aguila Colibrì powderless 20-grain bullets today... inside the house. The Subsonic was a little noisy but the powderless, primer only ammo was pretty quiet in my new Ruger All-Weather 10/22 Carbine... just kind of the bolt clack sound, but the bolt didn't budge. The bullet buried about 1/10" below the surface of a 3/4" poplar board. The Subsonic ammo ejected normally... at least 60" to the right from 1 ft off the floor.

I haven't gotten around to posting on that, yet... busy and I couldn't edit the danged video... shorten it.

In the right of the first two photos, two of the Subsonic bullets are stuck together... stacked... fired at about 8 feet through 1/4" plywood into catalogs... penetrating at least 2" or better.

Wynn:)

[wyntrout]

The Remington Subsonic works fine from my limited testing. I went to the range yesterday and it fired and ejected without problems... can't say the same for the Colibrì, though, it didn't want to feed at all after a few shots it couldn't get out of the 10-round mag. It doesn't eject or budge the bolt, and I was careful to watch for holes in the target and checking the barrel for obstructions with a cleaning rod... or, blowing smoke out the barrel.:)

I was reduced to using a pair of tweezers to load the danged Colibrì one-by-one into the chamber with a light hanging from the returned target holder, trying to finish off the ones that I had to remove from the magazine. Then I got home and found I had missed one.

I did get rid of some 1970's vintage .22's... some duds, too, after several tries. I think that I'm getting down to 21st century stuff... or at least .22's that I've purchased since we arrived in Jacksonville 15 years ago.

I got my wife a nice card for our 26th anniversary... tomorrow. We ate out Monday night and will finish off the stuff we brought home tonight. I'll fix us Angus beef tenderloin tomorrow night with sauteed mushrooms and whatever else she wants.:)

I have an old and a new Ruger 10-rounder and I didn't notice that one worked better or not with the too-short Colibrì powderless. That stuff can come in handy, but troublesome to use in semi-autos... as the manufacturer warns.:rolleyes:

I ordered 2,000 rounds of the Remington Subsonic from Natchez... on sale for $4.89 a box of 100, but the shipping raises the price! I tried ONE box and checked the shipping... ALMOST $14. I ordered 20 boxes and the total shipping with insurance and NRA roundup was $116.67 including $18.07 for shipping and .80 for insurance.

I was going to use the Ruger 20% off accessories discount for registering my new 10/22 with them, but there was no way to get the discount at their online store without calling them on the phone... kind of defeats the online shopping experience so I looked elsewhere and found the new CLEAR 10-round magazines for $17 and ordered 5. It's nice to see how many rounds you have and what kind of ammo. The black ones aren't good for that. I also ordered one of those red bolt buffers for the 10/22 that's supposed to help stop some of the bolt noise.

I still want to get a few more 25-rounders... clear ones. I anticipate carrying several kinds of ammo and being able to switch easily.

I have a few still from some of the video I took but I can't edit it for some reason, as I usually do... One sequence of 3 stills from firing the Remington Subsonic ammo. You can see the ejected case and the fire coming out of the ejection port.

I went ahead and added two of the Colibrì, but there's no real indication that I'm firing... some smoke but no "action".:rolleyes:

Wynn:)

[Scoundrel]

:eek: My wife would excrete a fornicating bovine if I discharged a firearm in the living room, .22 subsonic or otherwise.

Are you sure you didn't Photoshop this? :photo:

[tilefish]

:eek: My wife would excrete a fornicating bovine if I discharged a firearm in the living room, .22 subsonic or otherwise.

Are you sure you didn't Photoshop this? :photo:


lol

[wyntrout]

From Natchez Shooters' Supplies: http://www.natchezss.com/product.cfm?contentID=productDetail&prodID=AU1B222337

Aguila 22 LR 20 gr Colibri 375/fps 50/box




http://www.natchezss.com/images/products/_med/AU1B222337_med.jpg (http://www.natchezss.com/images/products/AU1B222337.jpg)
This is a cartridge that contains no gunpowder. the little 20g. bullet is solely propelled by the powerful Eley priming mix. For this reason, it does not generate any significant pressure. Due to the lack of noise when fired, the .22 Colibri may be shot indoors, even in the living room, provided a proper back stop is available. The .22 Colibri may be used to eliminate pests such as rats. It may be fired in any .22 LR rifle or pistol, however, it will not cycle the slide of semi-automatic guns. Has a Solid Point Made of Lead Weight 20 grains
Product Number: AU1B222337 Web Product Title: .22 COLIBRI 20GR SP 50/BX Item Price: $3.99 http://www.natchezss.com/images/misc/spacer.gif http://www.natchezss.com/images/misc/now.jpg$3.19 Availability: In Stock Shipping Weight: 0.29 lb.


Aguila 22 LR 20 gr Super Colibri 500/fps 50/box




http://www.natchezss.com/images/products/_med/AU1B222339_med.jpg (http://www.natchezss.com/images/products/AU1B222339.jpg)
Product Number: AU1B222339 Web Product Title: .22 SUPER COLIBRI 50/BX Item Price: $3.79 http://www.natchezss.com/images/misc/spacer.gif http://www.natchezss.com/images/misc/now.jpg$3.09 Availability: In Stock Shipping Weight: 0.29 lb.
This is a cartridge that contains no gunpowder. the little 20g. bullet is solely propelled by the powerful Eley priming mix. For this reason, it does not generate any significant pressure. Due to the lack of noise when fired, the .22 Colibri may be shot indoors, even in the living room, provided a proper back stop is available. The .22 Colibri may be used to eliminate pests such as rats. It may be fired in any .22 LR rifle or pistol, however, it will not cycle the slide of semi-automatic guns. Has a Solid Point Made of Lead Weight 20 grains.

Fun stuff if you don't double-bang them... or stack them in the barrel... bang you don't get.

I think they used the same wordage for both versions, but the "regular" probably just has their regular Aguila priming compound.

Wynn:)

[JFootin]

Would the forcing cone in a revolver present the potential for these rounds to get stuck?

[wyntrout]

Only if the cylinder is not locked up. The bullets are short, but pointy.

I once... maybe more than that... split a bullet fanning a cheap .22 six-gun. You hold the trigger down and fan the hammer all the way back... or not.:rolleyes: As long as the firing pin hits some part of the rim, it will fire out of position.

Because it was made of pot metal and steel sleeves, I could see some of the pot metal blown away from next to the forcing cone of the steel barrel insert.

Normal shooting DA or SA, the cylinder will be indexed and locked into position.

Wynn:)

[JFootin]

Thanks Wynn!

[wyntrout]

Damn! This ammo supply buildup thingy is getting to be expensive! I just totaled up my .22LR ammo orders and with the Ruger, accessories and 9,200 rounds of ammo, it's close to a grand, or more!:eek: I guess that's my birthday gift to myself!:D

Wynn:)