So how do you store your spare magazines?

[horatio 515]

So I've been on a bit if a spring cleaning kick these last few days and I'm trying to figure out a good way to store my spare mags. Right now I have no real system- a grocery bag here, a box there, shipping envelopes. It's a bit chaotic right now and I want to straighten it out.

 

At first I thought Rubbermaid totes, but I'm not sure that's a good idea with no air movement. I could add a drying compound or desiccant, but that's just one more thing to keep track of and I'm totally buggered if the desiccant breaks free and lands on anything still dipped in cosmoline.

 

I have a few cedar boards left over from an old deck project and I was thinking of building wood crate or two. I could customize it for what I have and want to get. It's pretty dry wood, so I think I'm safe. Plus I could leave some air gaps for circulation

 

Whatever I do, it has to compact and efficient. Myself, my wife, and two daughters all share an 850 sq ft house ( though that number does not include the basement where these would be stored) so every inch counts. I'm willing to spend money to do this well, but I don't want to go nuts.

 

So what do you guys do?

 

Thanks for the input.

[Dad2142Dad 6,559]

Ammo cans, plastic totes, gym bags, safe, tennis bag etc

 

The ones in ammo cans and totes have desiccant bags. All have silicon grease lightly applied to the internals. A really smart guy on this forum taught me that. "Thanks Ruffian"

[BigChongus 765]

In East German pouches stacked in a cabinet.

[mancat 2,368]

Wish I could say something better, but a big cardboard box in my home office closet. Moving up to a rubber maid with desiccant packs would be a good idea, but hardly anything rusts here to begin with.

[jwulf 179]

How do I store them? Loaded... :-)

[HB of CJ 1,263]

Thirty (.30) caliber surplus genuine USGI ammo cans.  As we age we find the bigger .50 cal cans to be too heavy.  Our stuff must be gender, age and youth friendly for mobility.  Also understand that some mags do not do well stored for a long time completely loaded.  S12 box mags come to mind.  The shells bend and deform.  Most other mags do just dandy fully loaded.  Big labels.  Just us.  HB of CJ (old coot)

 

Edited by HB ... Forgot to mention the moisture absorbing stuff in small re useable bags along with a note saying when the mags were stored.

Edited April 26, 2015 by HB of CJ

[JoeAK 337]

This is what I use. 

 

Where I work we use roller bearings big enough to be shipped in their own crates.

 

They're just in the way after we use the bearing, so I take them home, add hinges, latches, handles, and paint.

 

They're a little bigger than an ammo crate, I have 27 7.62 mags, 7 5.45 mags, and a couple S-12 mags in this one.

 

 

 

[Dad2142Dad 6,559]

Nice repurpose Joe

[Spartacus 1,619]

Lots of AK mags in a box in the safe along with a few S-12 mags and drums.

 

Most of the pistol mags I keep in the original box with the pistol (in the safe).

Other pistol mags in pockets on the safe door to go with pistols in the door.

 

I keep the safe heated year round so no rust on mags or anything else.

[VR762Shooter 838]

I have some in 40MM ammo cans. Some in pouches in the safe and some that are kept together with the guns open in the safe. Anything that has been placed in ammo cans gets desiccant and anything not in cans gets an additional oil lube and periodic checks. I leave most loaded but I do have some that are just sitting around oiled but not stored, those are ones I picked up cheap for guns I don't have......yet

[csspecs 1,987]

1000 mags per pallet... 

 

 

For mags I intend to use, I have a separate pile of spare mags wrapped in oil papers as spares packed away. The 'in use mags' stay in a file cabinet unloaded, about 10 feet from the mountain of ammo stored in ammo cans.

 

And I keep a handful of mags loaded, I think 3 40 rounds for the AR-15 and 4 20 rounds for the .308 Saiga, and a few pistol mags. Last thing you want is to be fumbling for the right mag when time is critical. 

[Sim_Player 1,939]

Loaded, in a large under-the-bed style storage tote on wheels (some in carry pouches, some loose).

[XD45 7,124]

Stacked on the shelf beside the safe.  AR mags top shelf, AK mags middle shelf, Galil mags and FAL mags bottom shelf.  Pistol mags are in a duffle bag.

[horatio 515]

Hey everybody thanks. Some good info out there now. Hopefully I can post again tonight but trying to get two rambunctious kids to bed and I have to up at 4.

Edited April 27, 2015 by fatty alcohol

[gunfun 3,931]

Not very consistently. There is an extra CSSpecs mag sitting under the '108 with another in it. The 109 has it's one mag in it, with no spares nearby, other than the fact that there is a spare loaded gun within a few feet.  The other mags for the 109 are in the mag pouch I use at the range down stairs in the "armory". Pistol mag in the pistol. More pistol mags in the range bag, full of range ammo. 

 

Other guns have their mags in their cases with them. They are not considered "ready guns" so this is most convenient to grab them for a range trip.

 

10/22 mags in a 30 cal ammo can, except a few in the hard case I use for the guns. butler creek mag loader in the can with them.

 

Any gun out of a case or gun cabinet is loaded. Any gun in a case or cabinet is unloaded. No confusion possible. If kids are coming over, the ready guns go into the cabinet (or holster) with the mags and +1 on the top shelf.

 

Not as fancy as most of you, but it works for me.

[Spartacus 1,619]

Sounds like most of us have them organized in some way for the way we use them.

 

It always amazes me to visit somebody and see that they have their firearms, mags, ammo, etc.

spread all over the place with little to no organization.

 

The guys that say they lose and find firearms in their house on a regular basis.  

[semper299 284]

I need to get better organized with my mags, but don't see that happening anytime soon.

 

AR mags are mostly stored in the original 10 pack box they came in from Magpul. None of the 3 have been opened. Probably have another 15-20 Aluminum AR mags stored in the safe. 5 are loaded.

I only have about 20 AK mags, and they are stored in an MCM plastic ammo can. All lightly oiled (Com block mags)

 

Pistol mags are stored in a Midway USA pistol range bag. 

[thebuns1 4,323]

I use basic AK pouches and rpk pouches. That is all. And they are all loaded.

[HB of CJ 1,263]

I bet those green wood boxes had really big balls.  HB

[sccritterkiller 473]

40mm ammo cans....rifle rounds in the bottom mags for the gun on top. Pistols work the same way just use 50 cal can. Every gun with a different mag gets it own can.

Edited April 29, 2015 by sccritterkiller

[sjgusmc21 850]

Heavily greased up and in ziplock bags. 

[gunfun 3,931]

addendum. I use ammo cans and an old wooden milk crate for ammo. It is stored in the armory, a basement room. All containers have desiccant packs in them.

 

You can get "crystal" cat litter that is the same desiccant as in the little packets inside pill bottles. Make sure to get plain silica gel crystals unscented. many now are not silica gel and brag about it. You just want a plain bag of clear or sometimes blue colored crystals. I made a few shooting rest bags out of old jeans filled with these. One goes in the gun safe and a couple live under the seats of my car. Then they are handy for a range trip and help keep the car from getting musty in the snowy months. I use the cone style coffee filters doubled up, filled with gel crystals, folded over and stapled for the ammo cans.

[read_the_wall 614]

ammo cans

cardboard boxes

safe

desk

mag pouches

top of refrigerator

center console of truck

tv stand

 

 

crap, I need to clean up my stuff

Edited April 28, 2015 by read_the_wall

[Gzus Kryst 53]

got a wood shelf along the wall in the basement half filled with canning stuff and random boxes of ammo and stray gun parts keep some mags in a larger ammo can and got 2 wood crates from surplus ammo I keep some random bits in. I'm unorganized but guns go in the gun safe and ammo in the ammo cans, everything else go wherever I find room

[G O B 3,516]

Except for a couple pistols, all my stuff is is storage, ammo and mags in 50 cal ammo cans. Hope to start moving into the new house this coming week.

[horatio 515]

Thanks for all the posts guys. Sorry to missing for so long, panic at work. ( the rubber tape measure strikes again!) after a few of you posted, I remembered that I had a couple big ammo cans ( about 18x18x5 ) with mags packed in. I think they have some 308 stenciling but to honest I don't remember. I put in some flower drying crystals ( desiccant, from what I've been told) and forgot them. Merry early Christmas fatty!

 

Anyways. Again, thanks again, especially joe ak. That looks real nice. Think ill still be trying to build a cedar crate or two. The wood is 2 or 3 year old and bone dry. Be nice to have an ak crate, ar crate, glock crate etc customized for me. If I ever actually build the damn thing ill post pics.

[So Low 2 13]

Keep mine in chest rigs and 6 pack bandoleers.....