Thoughts on storage idea.

boattail · Jan 4, 2026

I need to move my ammo and reloading supplies out of my house. I have a small house and I am running out of room to stack things. My wife is very understanding but the amount of loaded ammo around in the house is weighing on her a bit. I don't need to move it all out so some things could stay that are more temperature sensitive than others.
Looking online for ideas I found one article that has ideas for weekend shooters (1000 rounds), regular guys (1000-5000 rounds), and the serious collector (5000+ rounds). I had to laugh a bit as 5000 rounds does not even cover what I have loaded for one wildcat caliber I have.

I am looking to move some stuff into my garage/shop. It is not temperature controlled and our weather goes from 110* in the summer to the 20's in the winter. Daily fluctuation can be 40* or more. We don't get crazy humidity but we do get some. My thought is to acquire a commercial grade stainless steel double door freezer unit, the big one's. I don't want a working unit and I have seen two for free advertised online. These units weigh 600 pounds or so.

My plan would be to first convert or update the shelving to hold lots of weight with the right spacing for ammo boxes. I would then cut some pressure relief holes through the back of the unit and plug them with rubber plugs leaving the insulation intact. I would strip out all the non working items as well and possibly make shelves or drawers for boxes of bullets under or over the enclosed unit behind the stock panels. I would like to put a golden rod or other dehumidifier in the box along with desiccant packs inside the unit. My goal is to even out temperature swings, control moisture, and have a secure place to store a decent amount of ammo. I have ammo cans, single cardboard boxes with 50-300 rounds in them, 100 round MTM boxes, and coffee cans of ammo. I don't want to mix my powder and primers in with ammo so I will find another smaller freezer for that most likely.

Something like this.....

I think with proper stacking I could get most of my ammo into one of these. If not it would be enough to alleviate having so much indoors.
Having the thermometer on the outside would be a good way to quickly check temps without opening the unit. Has anyone done anything similar and does anyone see anything I am missing with how I want to build it?

Joe13 · Jan 4, 2026

I have a similar set up. I think the biggest thing is to keep it warmer in the box then outside it so a golden rod that you plan to put in there would fit the bill

My basement doesn't get quick temp swings and I've left leftover ammo from a range trip out for months and it still shot fine many months later.

jbett98 · Jan 4, 2026

I have one of these in a dedicated ammo gun safe, along with rechargeable dehumidifiers and a Goldenrod

ThermoPro TP60 Digital Hygrometer Outdoor Thermometer Wireless Temperature and Humidity Gauge Monitor Room Thermometer with 500ft/150m Range Humidity Meter Temperature Indicators $19.00 on Amazon.

Knobgoblin · Jan 4, 2026

First off, that reach-in doesn't weigh anywhere near that much. Especially considering the fact that you're most likely going to gut it ( the box is light, the motor and radiator are a substantial amount of said weight)
Second, the shelves inside are probably plastic coated steel grates. The attachment points are designed for easy adjustment. Not load bearing.
Third, " free " commercial refrigeration is usually pretty well used up. The insulation inside might be full of holes. Or even dry up dust.

Cool idea. Not sure if it's gonna work out.

boattail · Jan 4, 2026

I have had shotgun shells stored in the same shop/garage in the open for over twenty years and they all still shoot fine and don't show any adverse effects...this is one reason I think this freezer idea will work well for me.

Even if the unit was well used it can be re-insulated, and shelves can be reinforced fairly easily as I have made one of these into welding rod storage that weighed as much or more than ammo. The one I built for welding rod lost 1/4" in total inside width and 1/2" for every shelf....not a bad loss for the weight gain.

One of the free listings had the unit weighing 600 pounds as is. The one unit we had where I worked was every bit of 500 pounds empty.

Knobgoblin · Jan 4, 2026

There have been at least 2 soda vending machine gun safes for sale on this site in the last decade.
Super crafty idea.
And I am always a fan of reusing stuff vs. seeing it go to the dump.
I'll snap some pics at work tomorrow of various fridge and freezer interiors.

Keep the wheels turnin!

Camelfilter · Jan 4, 2026

Modifying shelving/doing a shelving insert would likely be a collapsing death trap waiting to happen. Unless you did reinforced shelve struts all the way to the cement pad…

gmerkt · Jan 4, 2026

I like the basic idea of repurposing a freezer to store ammo. Most insulation made lately is fiberglass, it doesn't really deteriorate inside those walls. What I would be a bit wary of is if the wall voids where the insulation is located have been infiltrated by water. Checking that would be just part of the transition from one purpose to another. Drilled holes, you just tape them over. You're not storing nuclear warheads, just creating basic thermal protection for conventional ammo. If you find wet insulation, it should be replaced because when enclosed, it won't dry out.

You'll probably want to fabricate new shelving, the wire racks may not be sufficient as has already been said. Or if you're storing in steel GI ammo cans, just stack the cans if you don't mind moving them around from time to time for access. Put the new or little used stuff on the bottom, the high turnover stuff on top.

Knute · Jan 5, 2026

You might look at JoBox or Husky steel construction site boxes. Somewhat difficult to break into, and loaded up will be almost unmovable if somebody wants run off with your stuff. I've used one for a decade and have had no issues with environmental deterioration...good luck

DizzyJ · Jan 5, 2026

Man I just can't get myself to put any of my precision rifle stuff out in a non-climate controlled atmosphere. I know you've got some pretty accurate loads for your Pdog guns.

I do allow some bulk .223 and 9mm to reside in the insulated garage, but those aren't what I'd consider premium precision loads.

Oh, and I do still have a lot of .17 HRM that's needs to be used to exterminate some sage rats.

FourTeeFive · Jan 5, 2026

jbett98 said:
I have one of these in a dedicated ammo gun safe, along with rechargeable dehumidifiers and a Goldenrod

ThermoPro TP60 Digital Hygrometer Outdoor Thermometer Wireless Temperature and Humidity Gauge Monitor Room Thermometer with 500ft/150m Range Humidity Meter Temperature Indicators $19.00 on Amazon.

Does the wireless transmission work through the safe metal?

jbett98 · Jan 5, 2026

boattail · Jan 5, 2026

DizzyJ said:
Man I just can't get myself to put any of my precision rifle stuff out in a non-climate controlled atmosphere. I know you've got some pretty accurate loads for your Pdog guns.

I do allow some bulk .223 and 9mm to reside in the insulated garage, but those aren't what I'd consider premium precision loads.

Oh, and I do still have a lot of .17 HRM that's needs to be used to exterminate some sage rats.

I still have around 6000 rounds of 20 cal pdog fodder still loaded up not counting another 4000 in 17 HMR's. I'm also set for 22Lr for a few decades. I am hoping to go shoot a little this spring off my swivel chair at the ranch I stole the tractor from. Everyone else is poisoning so there are not many places left to go. I will need to go north into zip codes closer to you in order to use up a bunch of the ammo I have on hand.

The days of 800 rounds in 5-6 hours are kinda over for me. Cost, time, and places to go are all running short. Another thing is I cannot find any of the bullets I need for those pdog rigs. There is one option I can still find once in a while and I did get a 4000 FPS load to stack five under a dime on one upper but ran out of them to develop them for the other two uppers.
I do have some pretty decent .223 ammo loaded up as well. Not as good as the stuff you have but it impresses the locals out to 200 yards

I went to two gun stores today for the first time in a long time and it was disappointing to see the prices on stuff. $80 a pound powder, $7- $10 primers per 100.....I quit looking and shook my head as I walked out of two stores, the second was higher than the first. Funny I can still find bullets at my usual places for the same prices I was paying and I can find primer deals online at times for the old prices. I remember I was averaging just under $40 an hour for just ammo (hand loaded and bought rimfire) when doing heavy pdog shooting days.

It really took the air out of me seeing how expensive reloading and ammo in general has become. I mean a 500 count brick of 22 LR for $40...really???

I'm so glad I stocked up over the years and can survive on my reserves for years to come as long as I don't get back into those 6,000-8,000 round 14 days of pdogs again.

I might just scrap my idea for more ammo storage and just hide the stuff in the house better so the wife thinks I got rid of a bunch of it

The biggest issue holding me back is time right now...the horses have taken up way too much time but I'm having fun so it's still a win.

jbett98 · Jan 5, 2026

Here's a kinda funny safe story.
I'm customizing a large 6' tall x 4' wide 2' deep, double door commercial product safe that was in a T Mobile phone store that closed down this last fall.
i picked it up for only $350.00 cash. I'm fixing it up for my favorite nephew.
I installed some polypropalene hull liner, new S&G digital locks, a Goldenrod along with some vertical bore storage rods.
I also drilled four 1-1/2" holes in the partition wall top and bottom for air circulation. The shelf's are specifically spaced for ammo cans.

Here's the funny part of the story.
I was walking in and out of the left side of the safe while cutting the slots in the shelf wall brackets, since I covered them up with the liner.
The 1,500 lbs safe is sitting on some old wood blocks and after making a couple of trips into the left side, I stepped over to enter the right side when the left side suddenly swung around and slammed shut, which triggers the auto bolt lock feature. My shop floor slopes towards the right.
I didn't see it move, just heard a swishing sound and then the door clanked shut.
My first thought was wondering if my cell phone would work while trapped inside the safe and who would I call first, since I would never be able to hear the end of it if I called my next door neighbor.
The smart thing would have been to set the lock bolts outward and not worry about chipping the paint if a door accidentally swings shut.
I did put my cell phone inside and locked both doors and called the phone with my wife's phone. It worked just fine.