Moving and Temporary Storage of Reloading Supplies and Equipment

[guywitha3006]

I hope this is the right place for this thread, if not I apologize.

My wife and I are thinking pretty hard about selling our house and moving in the next couple of months. I have a lot of reloading supplies (powder/primers ect) and equipment (Walnut Hill Press,Dillon 650, Hornady LNL among others) that I need out of the house before I put it on the market. I need to clear up space and have no desire for strangers to know what I have or do (gun safe will be relocated to my parents house hopefully). I am thinking most stuff will be in storage at least a month reality probably 3 or 4 while we sell the old and settle the new, I am not anticipating a ton of time free to reload so not worried about access to it until its unpacked and the new reloading area set up.

So on to the actual issue... I live in WI and plan to get a unheated uninsulated storage unit to hold our other bulky stuff that I can live without for a bit.I am concerned up potential temp swings or humidity changes rusting my presses or affecting primers/powder. It is in the low 40s now but could easily be sub zero in a month or two. Would it make sense to rent a seperate smaller climate controlled unit for the reloading equipment (and a few power tools I'd guess)? It'd be nice to save a few bucks but not at the expense of my reloading gear.

Thanks for the help...I forgot how much of a pain moving was.

[Love Life]

I had the same issue. I bought cosmoline.

[Moleman-]

I was in the same boat as you about 16 years ago along with lots of reloading equipment I also had machine tools. Order desiccant packs/bags for the primers and store them and any ammo in an airtight container with a desiccant bag. I used 50cal ammo cans, but plastic snap top containers would work also. The powder containers should be fine if they're plastic or metal just by themselves, but if you have some of the older cardboard containers I'd treat them like the primers. That was the easy part. The exposed steel parts on my reloading presses got coated in honey colored wheel bearing grease as did any bare steel tools, vises, machining tools, mill tables, lathe ways, chucks, backplates ect until I ran out of it and used some red mobile 1 grease if it wasn't likely to stain any paint. All chromed tools were sprayed off with some LPS spray oil. Good thing I'd done that as the 1-2 months turned into almost 5 when our builder got behind. They spent the entire winter and part of the fall/spring in an unheated storage unit. When I finally got to unpack everything only the couple things that didn't get treated were rusty. So when we moved again about 8 years ago everything got the same treatment and came out of it unscathed but greasy. That time they spent part of the spring and all of the summer in a storage unit. Not as bad of conditions but I'd rather have to wipe some grease off than remove rust. Here's a pic of a few lathe chucks and back plates that were covered in grease from the last move. Also try to keep any metal items off of the concrete floor as with the temperature changes the concrete can become damp.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I'm not sure what the cost per month is, of a "separate smaller climate controlled unit", but that sounds like the best idea.

[Grmps]

How bout M&D's for the reloading gear?

[guywitha3006]

How bout M&D's for the reloading gear?

Thanks for the resoponses I was kind of thinking the climate controlled would be the best idea. I think it was $50/month for a 5x5 spot. My lathe is a 8x12 so it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to put that in there too. Try to watch the "little" costs because they add up quick.

[fiberoptik]

Get some crystal cat litter & put some in old holy socks. Instant dessicant bags. Much cheaper!


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[lightman]

I think you're right to be concerned about moisture. A friend gave me some reloading equipment that he had in a storage building and some of it was rusty. Some of the ammo showed signs of corrosion. He had it stored in plastic boxes.

[dragon813gt]

If it’s only three to four months, which would be over the winter, I wouldn’t worry. The problems come in the spring through summer. W/ the worse being in the shoulder seasons when the space, and concrete, are cold but the ambient temp rises quickly. This leads to everything condensing. I have this issue in my garage ever year. It’s what causes the bulk of the rusting. There’s no issues in the winter. For longer periods do as advised above.

[Petrol & Powder]

There are two ways to protect ferrous metal.
You can try to control the water vapor present in the area (climate controlled environment, air tight containers with desiccant, etc)
OR
You can prevent the water vapor from reaching the surface of the metal (cosmoline, grease, wax, oil, etc.)

The third way is to do both.

The climate controlled space is the easiest, you just put the stuff in there. However it is more expensive in terms of space and you are depending on the climate control to work (no power failures, equipment failures, etc.)

Protecting the individual item requires more effort but is cheaper and not reliant on someone else's system.

If you don't have a lot of items and you have the time to coat them with grease, that's the less expensive route.

I would vote for taking a day and protecting everything with grease. I am a big fan of RIG for long term storage of ferrous metals.

[guywitha3006]

Well I think I will end up with the climate controlled unit its $50/month for 5'x5' and then to double protect I will at least oil my presses good. Hopefully I have time to make some crates and then I could moved them at the last minute...Save on the unit cost and minimize the time they are out of my control. Hopefully the 5x5 will be enough for the presses, powder, primers, and loaded ammo. I think it will be big boy tetris lol.

[bedbugbilly]

I had similar situation - in MI where temperature/humidity can change. We rented an unheated storage unit to hold stuff until we could get things sorted/thinned out. I just sprayed my reloading presses down with spray oil and put them in plastic tote boxes. My powder supply - they went in to several large "plastic coolers" so the space could be utilized and I just taped the covers down with tape. My primers went in to the plastic ammo boxes that Harbor Freight sells - air tight - as did much of my loaded ammo. The ammo boxes are fairly cheap and I can always find a use for them. My die sets were sprayed with oil and put in to a large plastic tote boxes. They ended up being in storage a year - then sat several months in the garage of the condo we moved in to before I got a bench made, etc. They were just fine. My mold block I keep mostly in divided plastic boxes - like organizer boxes. If I am not going to use them - they get sprayed with oil. The boxes were put in a couple of different totes - no issues with the storage and no rust on anything.

[David2011]

A friend gave me several thousand Winchester primers that had been stored in a garage in Gulf Coastal Texas for about 20 years. His dad bought them and the son didn’t want to continue reloading. The winters there are hard on things that rust or corrode with normally mild humid conditions interrupted by cold fronts. Metal gets cold soaked for 2-3 days and then the warm damp Gulf air fills back in. Everything starts condensing water to the point of dripping. Out of nearly 10,000 primers none failed to fire. Bare steel definitely needs protection though.

I’m facing the same situation right now. Moving to a new home about 6 miles off of Galveston Bay after 8 years in the desert. There’s no shop yet so I’ll be figuring out how to keep rust away from my machine tools and presses. The lathe and mill were purchased from another friend also near Galveston Bay so in the 40 years he owned them they had already developed a patina. The oxidation holds oil very well so I may spray them with Boeshield or LPS.

I also don’t want realtors taking pictures or showing the house with the reloading equipment in place. I’m not as concerned about the machine tools since it looks to others like they support my model airplane habit.

If items can be stored in old ice chests that will slow the temperature swings and help prevent rust.

[mold maker]

Don't trust others equipment or promises to keep rust at bay. Neither will give anything but a false piece of mind. Use whatever rust preventative freely and make sure they are secure. You can even chain everything together. Don't even trust the container not to leak. Rust is eventual and theft is a possibility. Insuring against both is your responsibility. Extra insurance is a good idea.

[BrassMagnet]

Theft from storage places is rampant and flammables/propellants likely violate their storage rules.
Do consider the possible repercussions.

[gwpercle]

All of my reloading stuff....presses , sizer lubricators, dies, moulds etc...are in an uninsulated, unheated not air conditioned out building. I have no issues with rust by simply spraying things with a little dry lube before putting something away. I used to spray with lubricants or oils but discovered the dry lubes work just as well and they are ...dry !
The primers might be okay ...but if possible the powders (and primers) might be safer in a climate controlled environment ... I do keep my powder and primers inside the house.
Gary

[Chihuahua Floyd]

Left my stuff with a trusted friend when my last house went on the market.
I had doubles of a lot of stuff, left the bench, and a full reloading setup with him when I came up here.

[Bmi48219]

The degree of control in a ‘climate controlled’ storage unit is not something I would bet my valuables on. In Florida ‘climate controlled’ storage can still see 80 degree highs and ambient temperature lows, with a similar spread for humidity. In such circumstances it’s best to grease everything also.

[samari46]

I use LPS #2 on my lathe in the garage here in Louisiana and no rust. LPS #3 is like a spray on wax covering much like when you get reamers and other cutting tools. I have a set of fractional reamers that have a waxy coating. Use them and put the waxy coating right back on. Does well in keeping air away to prevent rust. what can I say, I'm cheap. Frank

[Handloader109]

Hopefully Guywitha3006 has his move completed and is back up loading as this was asked in 2018.... Just sayin.

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[gwpercle]

2018 ....if he hasn't got squared away by now ... just let me tell Him ...
Do Not sell your reloading stuff ...it will cost you an arm , leg and first born male child to relace it if you can find anything to buy and things just keep getting worse .

Gary
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[farmbif]

just a couple months is not that long. just putting stuff in big plastic bins with a couple of those dissident bags might be all you need. and use ziplock freezer bags to put stuff in before putting it in bins. covering everything steel in protectant can be the best way to go just in case. it can be as simple as Johnson paste wax or the latest greatest rust protectant that mscdirect sells by the gallon. but the du-lite company sells a couple different rust protectants for guns and stuff that work great and are very fairly priced. but if it goes through a couple seasons its a whole different story. I constantly battle late model rust and it has destroyed two very nice and expensive trimmers and I'm once again repolishing with 0000 steel wool all the surfaces of my press and powder measures and other stuff.

[Baltimoreed]

Do your parents have a basement or garage where a dead chest freezer or dead icebox could live? They make a great powder, primer or ammo storage container. Insulated so the don’t sweat. Freezers have locks too. Add a goldenrod heater to keep things dry.

[Rapier]

Make sure you read the prohibited items for storage in the storage contract.

[yetavon]

a dead chest freezer or dead icebox could live? They make a great powder, primer or ammo storage container. Insulated so the don’t sweat. Freezers have locks too. Add a goldenrod heater to keep things dry.

AWESOME IDEA... My stuff has been in a uncontrolled storeage storage enviroment since day one (1997). Faced the same issue when we sold our house, and everything went into totes, stuck in a portable building where it resided for 3+ years before I dug it out again last year...
Was like Xmas... forgot how much stuff I had gathered...

[shooterg]

Old thread but FWIW - the treated "gun bags" do work. I stuck a Smith Mod. 15(surplus popo gun)in one and left it outside in the old corn crib for most of a year , snow and rain hit it through the crib cracks, close to zero to 100 temperatures. It was fine when I remembered it was out there and retrieved it.

[Travisbishop]

I've found that temperature rarely effects modern stuff so long as it's well sealed. Think of ammo and the overall effect temperature swings have on it.There are exceptions of course, but I'd just seal everything up and store it as usual