Vacuum sealer - can I use regular baggies?

[sparkyv]

I am considering sealing up some .22LR ammo in vacuum bags. Is there a vacuum sealing system in which regular zip close freezer baggies can be used? The heat setting has to be able to be set lower, as does the vacuum setting, I would guess. Anyone have experience and suggestions?

[RedlegEd]

Hi. Unfortunately, regular plastic bags don't have a way to let the air out once you close the lid to create a seal. If you look at the plastic made especially for use with a vacuum sealers (bags and rolls,) they have a texture that allows the air to be sucked out through the closed bag until it can be heat sealed shut. I've tried using straws and other means to create that gap in regular plastic bags, and I've been unsuccessful. Since you can probably get a lot of .22s in a heat sealed bag (whether boxed or loose,) you might as well bite the bullet (sorry, just had to say it ) and buy a roll of heat seal plastic. Ed

[Bo1]

It won't hurt to try... We seal potato chip bags with one.

[GhostHawk]

Redleg gave you the straight scoop.

I have a nesco vac sealer and I love it dearly. Just replaced our last one, lasted some 2.5 years.
Food saver only made it 6 months and never did have as much suction.

I will say that the person best able to determine if what you want to do will work, is you.

Take a quart ziplock bag, stick an object in it. Apple, something firm and round that will show if you have good vacumn. Clip a bottom corner of the bag with object and try to suck and seal.

A small piece of paper towel positioned just short of the clipped corner "may" allow air to escape.

The problem is the sealers all use a foam gasket to seal the bag. One on each side, with a smooth textured bag this tends to make a air seal preventing the air from being withdrawn.

Our nesco will seal the ziplock bags, it just sucks at getting all the air out.

We buy our rolls from Amazon, it costs a little but our unit saves us so much I really don't mind.

We don't have freezer burn in our house anymore. It just does not happen.

Even a head of lettuce sealed into a large bag will last 3-4 as long. I'm talking a month here.

[Omega]

Ziplock bags do not work well for this, they are too thin and will lose vacuum pretty fast. Best to just get a roll of vacuum bags and some desiccant packets if storing long term. I've packed many packages of ammo this way, it makes placing them in ammo cans pretty easy when you can stack them instead of just chucking them into the can.

[JimB..]

Assuming that you don't live in a sauna, do you really need the vacuum or would just sealing the bags be sufficient? Last week I opened a bunch of .223 that was sealed in 2009, shot fine, of course so did stuff that's just been sitting on a shelf. Not sure that any of this is worth the effort so most stuff i'm just dropping into ammo cans these days.

[HATCH]

I just use uline 3 mill zip bags and put them in 30 cal ammo cans
The object is to get most of the air out and to seal it.
I have never had any issues this way.

Now I have had a issue with the seals on surplus ammo cans leaking.
Cost me a few hundred 30-06 match rounds

[bangerjim]

Vacu-suck machines will HEAT SEAL most thicker poly bags (sandwich bags are too thin!), they just won't be able to suck the vacuum properly. The special vacuum seal bags/rolls have a corrugated side that allows the machine to suck the air out as it heat seals.

We have a high-end machine that works about 40% if the time! You have to get the end just right or the thing flashes error. And I always do a 2nd heat seal about 1/2" above the 1st vacuum seal. I have had numerous sealed packages in the freezers that lost the vacuum and were no better off than zip-lok bags!

But why not just try it and find out?

banger

[Grmps]

I believe they have an attachment where you can seal things in jars.

[bangerjim]

The wife foolishly bought a whole set of those silly jars. Never used them in over 10 years! Waste of money in my book. Just stick with the rolls of bag material and make your own to size.

[sparkyv]

I figured this might be the case. I'll just have to "bite the bullet", like RedlegEd said. Thanks all.

[jdfoxinc]

Or you could throw in one dessicant Pam and one small oxygen absorber then seal.

[CastingFool]

A little off track here, but we use the vacuum sealing device for canning jars. Banana chips, honey, peanut butter, dehydrated onions all get vacuum sealed in jars. The large mouth sealer works fine. Oth, I haven't been able to get a good seal with the regular mouth device.

[dragon813gt]

Oth, I haven't been able to get a good seal with the regular mouth device.

The trick is to pull the hose immediately after it finishes pulling the vacuum. If you don’t it usually doesn’t seal the lid. I use the jar attachment all the time. It’s cheaper over time and I don’t need the bags for everything. Especially delicate items like fruits. Any jar that goes in the freezer has a vacuum pulled on it. I dehydrate a lot of items to make my own spices. Sealing the jars after every use keeps them fresh a lot longer. The wide mouth attachment definitely works better.

[coloraydo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfC5KqS7dUs
We have found both sizes work great. Try them.