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Cheap firesafe for mass ammunition?

DigiSage
I'm looking into buying 1000 rounds of .32ACP to save money on my shooting range visits, but I'd like to store them in something that would prevent them from exploding in the event of a fire. I don't want to spend a whole lot though. Any suggestions? Just has to fit 1000 rounds, or 20 boxes of 50.
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7 comments

Date Votes
  • DarkStar11
    I'd just store the ammo in several 30 caliber ammo cans. In the event of a fire, they'll cook off but will be harmless. When you want to go to the range, you can grab a can and go.
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  • Blckhrn
    You may be able to find something used but bear in mind that cheap fire rated safes are rated for internal temps of 350 degrees after 20 or 30 minutes in around a 1300 degree fire. 350 is probably enough to set off your ammo and may turn your loaded safe into a big pipe bomb.

    "You can build a man a fire and keep him warm for a couple hours or douse him with fuel oil and keep him warm the rest of his life"
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  • gotstolefrom
    Go the ammo can route.
    If it makes you feel better, you can keep cans in a few separate locations. I have all my ammo in cans with desicant for 'safe keeping', and all are in the dryest area of the garage. I sleep well.

    You may have seen the post a while back...about the 'cowboy movies where someone tosses ammo in the fire and kills a few folks'....you don't need a myth buster...some daring teen-agers will work.

    We tossed several coffee cans full of'useless' ammo in the campfire and took cover (about 30 years ago). May have burned up valuable antique ammo, but it did not cause any more increase in combustion than a half cup of gasoline (we did that too). No Pow, No Boom, just hsssft, hsssftftfwt, fthiss, as best as I remember the sound effects.

    When a house-fire gets hot enough to cook off the cans, most anything else is toast anyway.

    Don't waste space in a gun safe with ammo.



    If we do not hang together,
    We will most certainly hang separately.
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  • Blckhrn
    "Go the ammo can route."

    I just bought a small gun safe as you may or may not know. Originally I had thought to buy a large enough one to store all my guns and ammo. After reading about fire ratings it occurred to me that it might not be wise to store all that stuff together with two stories of firewood overhead.

    The safe I bought is not even fire rated. This house has stood for 50 years without a fire, in part because the occupants have a concept of how fires get started.

    I store my ammo in GI ammo cans, with dessicant. Now, that can of 600 APIT .50 cals isn't house broken or never will be.


    "You can build a man a fire and keep him warm for a couple hours or douse him with fuel oil and keep him warm the rest of his life"
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  • Blckhrn
    One more thing, 1,000 rounds of pistol ammo isn't a big deal. I have 700 8mm Mauser, 900 30/06, 800 .308, 400 12 ga. 300 .50 BMG, 1,000 7.62x39 and 400 7.62x54 if memory serves.

    By all means, buy in bulk.

    "You can build a man a fire and keep him warm for a couple hours or douse him with fuel oil and keep him warm the rest of his life"
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  • Marlinman336
    I store all of my ammo in .50 cal cans in a dry area of my basement. Since I have younger children, I welded some simple hasp locks onto the sides of the cans, and they're padlocked. No worries here.

    On another note, my family used to have an employee years ago who, in his youth, was sweeping up around an open trash-burning fire, and was struck in the eye by the (now spent) brass of a .22 round which he had inadvertently swept into the fire. Had a glass eye from the age of 12....
    They may not "go off" as if shot out of a gun, but they can still do at least some damage to people or things in close proximity. I think it's a pretty good idea to have live rounds contained in some way in case of a fire (not to mention the obvious security concerns if one has a family).

    MM336

    An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile - hoping it will eat him last.
    Winston Churchill
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  • competentone
    quote:Originally posted by DigiSage
    I don't want to spend a whole lot though. Any suggestions?

    As already noted, the ammo will not "explode" in a fire. Just put it in plastic bags or a plastic or metal bin and don't worry about it.


    "Strength is the outcome of need; security sets a premium on feebleness." -- H.G. Wells (The Time Machine)
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