When you become a gun owner, the responsibility to properly care for your firearm and ammo is part of the agreement. Everyone knows that a gun is kept secure in a protective gun safe. But, what about the ammunition? It requires the same amount of care and storage as the gun itself.
Can you store ammo in a gun safe? You can store ammo in a gun safe, as long as the ammo is in its own airtight container, safe from extreme temperatures, and not left in an unpredictable environment. The reasons for this span from legal parameters all the way to safety for you and your family members.
Proper ammo care is less about how much money you spend on equipment and more about developing proper care habits. Ammunition that is corroded or defunct can be a financial blow. However, through a few smart choices and investments, you can avoid the headache of throwing away what was perfectly good ammo.
Some of these investments include a gun safe, an airtight container, and even a dehumidifier. Learning how to store ammunition correctly can save you time, money, and resources in the long run.
Can You Store Ammo In a Gun Safe?
Properly storing ammunition is crucial to its function within the weapon. It’s just like if you put improperly-stored gas in your car. If the gas is exposed to the elements or contains dirt or acid, it can deteriorate the engine, the radiator, and the altogether function of the vehicle.
That being said, you shouldn’t keep your ammo exposed to the elements, or just lying around in your house. A pretty logical solution to this seems to be keeping the ammo in the safe along with the firearm.
You can store your ammo in a gun safe, but only if the safe has a specified compartment for ammo. If it doesn’t, you can still store it in the gun safe. Just be sure that the ammo is in its own separate, airtight container.
How to Properly Store Ammo in a Gun Safe:
• Keep the ammo in the specified compartment
• If the safe does not have a compartment, keep the ammo in a separate airtight container
Most gun safes come with a compartment specifically for ammo storage. However, if you happen to have a gun safe that doesn’t come with a compartment, be sure to keep your ammo in a separate container. Don’t just throw it into the safe.
Keeping ammo in a separate container is smart for many reasons. Firstly, it’s generally not a good idea to just have ammo floating around freely. Keeping it in a container keeps it all together which will make your life so much easier when it’s time to load.
Secondly, a separate container keeps it safe from curious children and bored pets. It also follows basic, legal firearm storage parameters.
How well your ammunition is cared for is directly related to the function of your gun. It’s important to keep things like humidity and the age of the ammo in mind as you’re searching for the best ways to store it. Thankfully, most gun safes come with air-tight compartments for your ammo.
Tips for Storing Ammo Safely
The most ideal place to store ammo is in an actual gun vault. These storage facilities are temperature-controlled, just like any normal storage unit would be. A climate-controlled environment ensures proper temperature and humidity. If you don’t have access to a gun vault, consider purchasing a gun safe with a storage compartment.
Tips for Storing Ammo Safely:
• Choose the right gun safe
• Keep it away from the ground
There are over 13 different kinds of gun safes, ranging in size and purpose. These include nightstand safes, car safes, and even a hidden wall safe that blends into your wall.
Essentially, they can be boiled down into three kinds: digital, biometric, and AR safes. A digital safe features a keypad for a passcode, a biometric safe has a fingerprint reader, and AR safes are specifically for assault rifles.
Digital safes are completely electronic and can be opened by anyone with the passcode or key. These kinds most commonly come with a keypad. It can only be opened through a passcode or a back-up key. These safes are also re-programmable, and it is recommended that you change the passcode every so often.
Biometric safes, on the other hand, can only be opened through a fingerprint scan. The owner would simply scan his or her fingerprint into the system, and only he would be able to open it.
An AR safe is specifically for assault rifles. Assault rifles are significantly larger than most handguns, so these safes are larger in size. These safes have the same safety features as mentioned before.
Consider purchasing a safe that only you can open; this ensures that your firearm or your ammo won’t land in the wrong hands.
It is incredibly important that you keep ammo away from places where children or animals could get to it. Make sure the container has a lock and that it is not low to the ground.
How To Store Ammo For Long Periods Of Time
When it comes to storing ammo for longer periods of time, it’s important to take a step further than safety from kids and animals. Typically, if a gun owner has a large supply of ammo, what they do with their leftovers effects its life span drastically.
How To Store Ammo for Long Periods of Time:
• Keep ammo out of the extreme heat
• Keep ammo out of the extreme cold
• Keep ammo out of damp areas.
All three must be taken into account if you are looking to keep your large supply operational for years.
It doesn’t take much for something like extreme temperature to deteriorate ammo. The biggest culprit of corrosion is the trunk of a car. The temperature limit for ammo is about 150 degrees Fahrenheit, which is about how hot the trunk of a car can get in the summer.
Extreme cold is only a concern if it is followed by extreme heat. That dip in temperature will definitely mess with the integrity of the ammo. Quick fluctuations in hot and cold contribute to corrosion because it affects its chemical makeup.
Ammunition is severely affected by humidity. It is smart to keep a dehumidifier near where it is being stored. Moisture can seep into ammo and corrode it from the inside out, making it altogether useless.
That being said, keeping your ammo out of damp environments would behoove you. So, if your attic or basement tends to get moldy or mildewy during the year, it would be smart to store your ammo somewhere else.
A great tool that can be used for the storage of ammo in a dry environment is a dehumidifier. Set it up near where your firearm and ammo is stored, and it will keep the air nice and dry.
Can You Store Guns and Ammo Together?
Storing open ammo with a firearm is not only dangerous, but it breaches the legal parameters set for firearm storage. Before we talk about why it is unsafe and illegal, it’s important to say why safe ammo storage connects to its functionality.
How to Properly Store Guns and Ammo Together:
• The firearm must be unloaded.
• The ammo must be in a separate container
• Refer to legal parameters
Firstly, this rule is pretty self-explanatory, but always store your firearm without a single bit of ammo in it. Obviously, this is more for when you know for a fact that you are done using it for the day. However, be sure that you keep your ammo nearby for cases of self-defense.
This is also a good example contributing the why it is important to keep your firearm off the ground. Children or animals could potentially find the gun and begin playing with it. If the firearm is loaded, the situation could potentially be fatal.
Secondly, even though your ammo is in a separate container does not mean it can’t be in the case with the gun. So, this answers our question! You can keep your ammo with your gun, so long as the ammo is in its own separate container.
This makes sense; otherwise, all the gun safes that come with built-in ammo compartments would technically be illegal.
Finally, refer to the websites of the NRA and the National Firearms Act to see which laws are set in regard to firearm storage. These will be helpful and hopefully protect you from getting into trouble.
Owning a gun comes with great responsibility. As a gun owner, you must take many things into consideration; the most prevalent thing being safety. Safety for you, the one handling the gun, and safety for those living under the same roof as the gun.
You can store ammo in a gun safe, as long as it is in its own container. Keep your ammo in a temperature-controlled and dry environment. Never leave your ammo in the trunk of your car or on the ground.
With these few pointers in mind, you’ll be able to avoid the financial headache of throwing out ammo when it was perfectly good to use in the first place.