Firearms and Ammunition
How to Bury Your Stuff: The Ultimate Guide to Burying Your Guns and Ammo
Because no one can take what they cannot findWhen burying firearms and ammunition, the key is to prevent moisture from damaging either steel or gunpowder. Obviously they need to be waterproofed completely so as to not allow contact with rainwater. Unfortunately, air also contains water and it’s going to be tough to absolutely isolate an entire firearm or a box of cartridges from any and all air. This is why stable temperatures are so important and why I constantly stress burying below the frost line and using some sort of insulation.
Keeping desiccant with your ammunition can be a lifesaver when storing ammo above the frost line or for longer than a few years. After sealing your desiccant and ammo together, you’ll also need a temperature buffer. Use dead air like a beer cooler to insulate against condensation or wrap your sealed ammo up in a cotton towel. Drop the wrapped up towel into an ammo can or Tupperware or Rubbermaid container. When using plastic totes, I recommend sealing the lid with silicone.
Using
desiccant with firearms isn’t as critical as long as you’re digging
deep. I always instruct people to just “over oil” the weapon and wrap it
in an rag before sealing it inside a watertight container. It is
however, more popular to grease your firearm thoroughly. Before doing
so, remove anything made of wood (stock, grip or forearm), unload it and
make sure that you dry-fire your weapon, you won’t want to leave the
hammer-spring under tension. Ensure that your magazines are unloaded and
your firearm’s action or slide is forward.
Completely coating/injecting a firearm
with wheel bearing or white lithium grease is the most popular and
effective way of preserving your guns, just be sure that you have the
materials necessary to remove the grease. Keep in mind that removing any
type of grease from any firearm will probably take more than a few
moments; if you personally feel as though you may need your firearm
quickly, then consider an alternative to grease. Greasing firearms or purging your caches with nitrogen is probably a good idea if you intend to leave them underground for more than a couple years. Packing plenty of desiccant or silica-gel is another option; every little bit helps. When deciding on which method to use, consider how deep you are digging and how long the cache will be left unattended. If you are storing your firearms and ammunition below the frost line, then the “extras” aren’t really necessary.
If you are burying a rifle or shotgun and can afford Pelican cases then I suggest getting one, they have an excellent reputation. If not, PVC pipe will do equally as well provided the weapon will fit inside the tube. Remember that if you’re not greasing your firearms to always wrap them in something; a blanket or some bath towels, don’t just toss it in a piece of PVC pipe. As soon as I can, I plan on adding a step-by-step instructional page about burying long guns.
If you are
burying a pistol, I recommend the military-issue ammo cans. Handguns are
much easier to deal with when caching underground since they are much
smaller; this equals less digging and easy covert transportation to and
from the cache site.
Want my personal advice on burying a
handgun? Oil the hell out of it, wrap it in a T-shirt and drop it an a
military-issue ammunition can with a good rubber seal and bury it BELOW
the frost line but no deeper than 5 or 6 feet. It
sounds too simple and I’ve had people question this advice over the
years; but never had any complaints from anyone who’s followed it. In the first photo shown below, I show a Remington 1911 R1, a box of 100 .45 caliber cartridges, an ammo can and two cotton T-shirts. If I were burying this gun for less than three years, I would simply wrap it (and the ammo) with the T-shirts just as you see in the second photo. Dig it up every couple of years to oil it thoroughly and you won’t have any problems. I’ll go into greater detail about using surplus ammo cans on a separate webpage.
Take care
when burying optical devices like rifle scopes, binoculars or
night-vision optics. Use desiccant generously, make sure you use plenty
of temperature insulation and make sure it’s waterproof.
The very best way to bury ammo?…In my
humble opinion, loose cartridges and desiccant sealed with a FoodSaver
bag; then temperature-insulated with a towel and waterproofed again
inside another container. I would advise this method if you’re burying
above the frost line or you’re intending to leave the ammo underground
for many years. The photo below is just an example, obviously one could
put more than twenty rounds in each bag.
On this
page, I’ve mentioned several popular methods of caching guns and ammo
underground and if you’re new to the idea of burying firearms and
ammunition, then this may all sound confusing. Are you wondering which
one would I use? Which method is simple yet still works? Which method
have I personally seen 100% positive results when done
correctly? The answer is PVC pipe for long guns or military surplus ammo
cans for handguns. No grease and no nitrogen; just oil the weapon and
wrap it in something cotton; blankets or T-shirts. I’d seal my ammo in
FoodSaver or Zip-Loc bags with desiccant and pack even more desiccant
around the firearm.
I would bury
the cache between 4 or 5 feet down and feel comfortable leaving it for 8
to 10 years. If it was a blued-steel gun (like the 1911 shown above) or
any older firearm, then you will find surface-oxidation or discoloring
after that long, but the gun would still shoot. if it was a newer gun
like a Glock or any stainless-steel gun, it wouldn’t look a bit
different.
I don’t
recommend leaving any underground caches unattended for more than a few
years. The soil moves and the landscape changes. Come back after 10
years and you may not be able to find your cache. If you are unable to
dig up your guns and check them out every 2 or 3 years, and if you need
long term storage, then you might consider grease, cosmoline or
nitrogen-purging. Need them to go undisturbed for 20 or 30 years? Then
I’d recommend completely covering AND injecting grease into every
crevice of your firearm.
Ready to
dig? Break out your storage tote, PVC pipe, beer cooler or ammo can and
place your wrapped guns and ammunition inside. When burying guns and
ammunition underground for longer than five years, I recommend adding
about 12 inches to whatever frost line is suggested for your area; but
just dig as deep as comfortably possible. The deeper you go, the
stronger your containers must be; but the trade-off in depth is worth
the extra work to reach more stable temperatures.
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