Sealing battle packs

[Kochman]

Any recommendations for how to make my own "sealed battle packs", such as you often see on mil surplus ammo?
I'm buying a large quantity of specific ammo to own over the long haul... and as I live in a very humid area, I want to protect it for years to come.

[Ruger480]

No experience with it but I would think a food sealer/vacuum would do it.

[Kochman]

Should I through in some packets like they do with shoes, etc, to keep it from getting condensation?

[j357]

It shouldnt hurt, but is not necessary. The desiccant would only be necessary if your package started with moisture. If you seal it dry, no moisture to condensate inside the package. How many sardine cans of mil surp have you found desiccant packs?

[Kochman]

I live in humidity central...

[Brian Pfleuger]

Humidity is water vapor in the AIR. Vacuum sealed bags contain no air and so contain virtually no moisture.

[Kochman]

I've read about the potential for the vacuuming to loosen, sometimes to the point of non-functionality, primers...
Anyone heard about this? Seemed a little far fetched to me, it doesn't take THAT much force to pull air out.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Loosen primers?

Normal air pressure is 14.7 psi. A primer is something like 0.017 sq/inches. It's got 4 ounces of force in a perfectly sealed case. Even if seating the bullet tripled the air pressure and it remained perfectly sealed, there'd be 12 ounces of force on the primer. Try seating or unseating a primer with 12 ounces of force.

[Kochman]

That's what I thought...
Whoever posted that must have had a bad bunch of ammo, it happens.

[NYPD13]

I also live in a very humid environment so I throw a desiccant pack in my surplus ammo cans. This will keep your ammo good as new for a very long time at minimal cost with no effort.

[Garycw]

If you have a hobby lobby near you you can get a 3 lb bag of Dri Splender. It's silica beads with blue indicating crystals that turn pink when damp. Just like the cordless de humidifiers for safes. They can be recharged in micro wave or oven to remove excess moisture if needed.
I get the large cone coffee filters, cut a vertical strip out and put clear packing tape back over strip to make a window. Fill with the crystals & seal top with tape. Works well in ammo cans , or other containers vacuum sealed or not. I like to do both

[Kochman]

Yeah, the reason I want to battlepack it is it's easier/lighter to throw in a backpack that way...

[hbhobby]

I love my food sealer for sealing EVERYTHING i want to stay dry. Cheap and easy and effective

[Sport45]

A ziplok bag will do.

If you want reasonable dryness, just put the ammo in a ziplok bag and place the opened bag in the freezer. After everything has chilled reach into the freezer and seal the bag, pressing out any excess air.

When you take the bag out of the freezer you'll get all kinds of condensation on the outside. But that's no problem as the air sealed in the bag has a dew point of about +5°F.

That's a whole lot more trouble than I'd go to. I'd just put it in a ziplok and seal it up. Unless the stuff is wet when you put it in it will be fine since all the moisture that will ever be in the bag is already there.

Houston is a very humid area and I have no problem with ammo stored in cardboard boxes.

[bfoosh006]

For all you guys that do this... Could an old MRE meal bag be repurposed into a "Battlepack" ? I know it would be smallish, but those bags sure are stout.

[Unclenick]

Any heat sealable thermoplastic should work. If you have a big industrial heat sealer, you can make your own bags from heavy polyethyene drop cloths. You can also take the ziplock type bags and put a real seal on them.

Desiccant will help with micro-leak moisture contamination. It may help avoid corrosion bonding of the brass and bullet in long term storage. Mil-spec desiccant pouches are smectite clays (bentonite, montmorillonite) that have been dried in an oven. AutoZone sells an 8 lb bag of 100% montmorillonite clay for a couple or three dollars that is in granular form for absorbing oil. Get that, spread a cup of it out on a clean, oil free cookie sheet and bake it at 350-450°F for an hour. When it cools just enough to be possible to handle, but is still warm, pour it into a paper bag (the lower half of a wine bottle bag is good) and roll it up and tape it closed and seal it in with your ammo. As long as some of the un-taped paper is exposed to the same air as the ammo is, moisture will tend to permeate it, drying out the contents of the pack.

Applying a light vaccuum won't hurt, as the bag will otherwise inflated and deflate with changes in barometric pressure, especially if you fly it somewhere or take it to a higher elevation.

[Mobuck]

I vacuum packed a bunch of .223 ammo on strippers in cardboard sleeves. Worked OK and I guess it's still that way since I haven't dug it up to check it.

[Boomer58cal]

I use a seal-o-meal and through in a dryer pack just because. Never had an issue and I live in coastal OreGun where it's raining half the year.

[Panfisher]

I have sealed everything from fishing tackle to clean socks and underwear in vacuum bags. The ONLY problem I have had with sealing stuff is if there is a sharp corner or point somewhere it will eventually poke through or wear through and allow the vacuum to be lost. Cover the sharp edges and corners with soemthing and seal away. Should last a LONG time.

[reynolds357]

I use ammo cans.

[Whisper 300]

Panfisher stole my thunder.
Whenever I don't get all the points lined up and then apply the vacuum I can expect one of the bullet tips to punch thru.
I use the food sealer bags and find that they provide a nice handy package for storing.
If you use ammo boxes or some such you should be fine, otherwise keep the pointy edges from poking thru.

Gary

[praetorian97]

Be careful using some regular cardboard. Cardboard is acidic. The ones you see that come in the 30 cal cans are special non corrosion causing for the brass.

Short term no big deal. But for 15 year storage, I would worry.