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I'm curious if anyone has used a Food Saver vacuum sealer for long term parts / mag / ammo storage?

I use it for ammo, but not necessarily intended for long term storage. It's easier to stack "bricks" of ammo as opposed to loose boxes. Not that I have that much ammo...

Interesting idea SSG ... tag for answers.

Good idea SSG. I bet it does help compact them for storage.

I was thinking for parts kits, steel mags, and small extra parts to protect for long term storage. I know that wet lube, or oil would be an issue with the plastic bags, but a dry film lubricant like T-9 Boeshield (http://www.boeshield.com) which is designed for long term storage should do the trick.

This sounds like a great idea.

I like the idea of a sealed parts bag in the range bag. That thing is always hot and humid and that would be a great way for storing them until needed. Then you could just re-seal at home.

I would also think that may be a good option for Primers and powder for reloading. I have a food saver with seal able jars hummm

Question?? Would the negative pressure possibly cause anything to go boom in regards to powder? I would think "no air no ignition" but I am not a expert

Here's a picture that was posted in several threads a while back...





Man, I miss txinvestigator.

Supercat wrote:I would also think that may be a good option for Primers and powder for reloading. I have a food saver with seal able jars hummm

Question?? Would the negative pressure possibly cause anything to go boom in regards to powder? I would think "no air no ignition" but I am not a expert

Gunpowder does not require air to ignite. It is explosive, not simply flammable. It draws its oxygen for combustion from nitrates within the powder.

That said, I've never heard of a vacuum having any adverse affect on powder or primers, let alone causing them to ignite. I am no explosives expert, though.

Wife-Unit suggested we start vacu-sealing some food items with the food saver we got for Christmas a couple of years ago...

We just haven't figured getting much use out of it till now...I told her we could put sets of spare pins and springs for some of the firearms we own, and they would be well protected, and together in the event they are needed...

Ammo would be the same...Just keep it in the boxes (small) and seal them up...I don't think the negative (vacumn) pressure environment would cause any problems at all with this stuff...

Just remember...Someone may come up with a plan to register, and regulate food savers, since we found a neat use for them...

NcongruNt wrote:Gunpowder does not require air to ignite. It is explosive, not simply flammable. It draws its oxygen for combustion from nitrates within the powder.

That said, I've never heard of a vacuum having any adverse affect on powder or primers, let alone causing them to ignite. I am no explosives expert, though.

I am not an explosives expert either, but the vacuum won't hurt powder or primers. Smokeless gunpowers contain their own oxygen source are flammable, but they do not explode.

I posted a couple of years back, as well, that I sometime used my FoodSaver for vacuuming non-food stuff. I put up a photo (that I can't find right now) of some Black Hills match-grade .45 ACP I got hold of in 2005. The deal was good for pricey ammo, and I didn't plan on shooting it any time soon. I used the 100-piece plastic ammo containers you can get just about anywhere, and sealed one per bag. The plastic is nice and sturdy and won't deform under the vacuum. Standard 50-round commercial boxes with the rounds separated would also work fine. With bulk boxes like 100-round WWB, the cardboard box will probably deform, making it more difficult to stack with others.

The caveat is that the bags won't give you a permanent seal. At least, I've never had one that did. After several months of storage, they leak. I gave up on keeping my Black Hills vacuumed. For a parts kit or something that I intended to be carried, I think I'd try sealing it in one bag, then putting it in a second bag and seal 'er up again. Don't know how well that stands up, but I'd expect a single-bag seal that's carried in a range bag to start leaking in a matter of weeks, at best.

I've never used it for guns, ammo, etc.
I usually just use it for, well, food.

I did use it one year in preparation for a Colorado ski trip. You can pack so much in a bag when air is sucked out of bulky items.

The Food Saver is one of the great inventions of our time (non-shooting category) and ammo and small parts storage sure is a good idea.
We use ours for preparing food for the freezer, marinating meats, and keeping vegetables in a canister. A backpacker friend uses his to package underwear, socks, matches, fire starting gear, first aid kit--basically anything he wants to keep dry in an emergency.
We've never had much use for this feature, but pressing the manual seal button is supposed to stop the vacuum process during sealing--bag will be sealed, but not completely vacuumed (used for fragile items and items that may have sharp edges).

Would be useful in storing the things that go in the average Bug Out Bag...