How Do You Bury Guns and Ammo For Later Recovery?

[Jimmynostars]

Don't forget to stash something to clean them all up with...

[dverna]

Interesting topic.

I have been thinking about it but see no need to do that yet...maybe someday. It gets less of a possibility as I get older. At 71 now, I do not see myself needing to bury guns to ward off government confiscation.

If the SHTF, I am where I want to be. The most likely scenario is looters drive me out of my place or allow me to leave if I give it up to them. Having a small cache of stuff to re-take my home would be necessary. In that case I am not worried about the cache being found by the "government". If I cannot take back my home, I am soon dead anyway. I live in the middle of nowhere.

I like the suggestion to use large PVC pipe. If you are looking at long term storage do not use lubed bullets in your ammunition. PC or jacketed will not affect the powder.

One other consideration, if you live in a place where the ground freezes, hide a hatchet in a tree. Steel or fiberglass handled hatchets will not attract porcupines...$10 at Harbor Freight or less at garage sales. It can be difficult to dig up your goodies without some kind of tool when the ground is frozen. If you are a Rambo guy the hatchet gives you another weapon.

[MrWolf]

I have about 50 fully automatic machine guns buried vertically in my front yard just past the wood fence The area is about 75' wide and about 100' deep. You need to look in every part of it. I put rocks all around to throw off suspicion.


Ron

[jdfoxinc]

Bury it under a pipe line.

[Parson]

When Australia first passed their confiscation laws, large diameter pvc suddenly became scarce. Good heavy coating of axle grease will keep the moisture or most anything else from damaging any metal

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

When I buried several handguns, ammo, and silver coins ...
ummm, never mind, those items were lost in a tragic canoe accident on the Rum River in 1992.

[RKJ]

This is out there but bear with me. Why not use the PVC sealed up watertight and everything greased up nice and toss them into your septic tank. It's pretty obvious, but I don't believe the casual looker would dig around in a septic tank. But then again....

[farmbif]

dont know if this might help. but I think it was in a John Wayne movie they dug up the rifles that were buried in a wood crate out in the desert.
if it worked for them it might work for you too.
dont know why you would want to bury a gun
but if I was thinking of doing something like that I'd be sure it was stainless gun.
although you can buy still preservative, works just like cosmoline. you dip in the steel and it pull it out hang it up and it will dry on a thick coat to protect steel
this is what I keep in the shop to preserve motor parts, gears, bearings and stuff

https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/96823158

[GhostHawk]

I helped an uncle of a friend of mine for 2 days way way back. He was looking at a messy divorce and wanted to protect his collection.

Guns were oiled, slipped into plastic bags, stacked in a steel 55 gal barrel (top off) When he had stacked all he could stack, pumped some 10 to 15 gallons of new oil in. Sealed it up. I was not invited to the bury party. But I know it was out in the middle of nowhere. 1/4 mile from any building, shed, or tree.
I think you would have to walk many many square sections of land and no assurance that you would find it.

I have about 1/3 of mine in a 80's era avacado green refrigerator. Top freezer is all ammo. Fridge part had crisper drawers removed. (They had big holes cut in the front for access) and a board places across them. So ammo could easily be seperated into small caliber pistol, large caliber pistol, and rifle.

People walk by it, doors are open maybe an inch. Anyone says something I just say its too heavy to get up the basement stairs.

Once every couple years I'll grab a couple towels, some gun oil, and a chair. Give everything in there a little lube, and a wipedown.

If I was looking to bury on this property. Choice locations would be.

A outside under the Nat Gas meter. All that metal, of course they will get a false positive.

B Under the front porch. Other side of the wall from the water meter and shutoff.

C Under the front porch under a stack of old metal studs, rebar, etc.

I strongly agree with the well oiled, vacuum sealed bags in a PVC container school of thought.

Just sit and think about it for a couple of days. You'd be amazed with what you come up with.

If you have more than one property, that helps, a lot.
If you have a lake cottage or similar it could be good. As they are normally not occupied 365 days a year.

[country gent]

Another is if in a cold weather area is be sure to bury below the frost line and then some or the freeze thaw expansion will work of joints and containers. Cosmoline is normally heated and applied to the parts or in military scenarios dipped into. Greases work but over time have been known to harm wood and fiberglass's. Desicant packs will work also and in a sealed container wont absorb to the point of releasing moisture.

Purging air and moisture isnt hard to do welders do it all the time tig welding. in each cap drill a hole and glue a 3/8" - 1/2" tube long enough for a pipe cape to fit on. In the bottom run a hose and argon from the welder when sure its coming out the top end glue the cap on let flow go for a few minutes after glue cures then pull hose and glue last cap on.

Storing for emergency looks arnt important consider a coat of paint ( the bake on are very durable and long lasting) over the metal parts. Painted, layered in cosmoline, wrapped in vapor paper or greased canvass in a purged environment below the frost line should stay good and useable for several generations into the future. Ammo vacum sealed and dipped in cosmoline then wrapped in vpi or canvas the same. Buried below frost line will also lower the chance of condensation from temperature changes.

Burying isnt hard as a post hole digger will dig the hole and the tube can be slide in and covered. remember to remove the sod in a chunk and when filled replace and scatter the dirt out thinly when done. Best is to bury on second Tuesday of a month with out an r in it under a full moon With the north star viewing it.

[waksupi]

If you think you need to be burying guns, that is the time you need to be using them.

[Shawlerbrook]

A good coat of RIG sealed in a rust inhibitor bag and then in a milsurp mortar tube.
https://www.zerustproducts.com/produ...-storage-bags/

[jimlj]

When I buried several handguns, ammo, and silver coins ...
ummm, never mind, those items were lost in a tragic canoe accident on the Rum River in 1992.

What is it with canoe accidents? I lost everything the same way on the Snake river in Idaho.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

What is it with canoe accidents? I lost everything the same way on the Snake river in Idaho.

it's the rapids, very dangerous !

[Liberty1776]

I knew you guys would not let me down!

As I initially said, I have "extra" guns that aren't on anyone's list that can be buried. There are plenty for more instant access, should that become necessary.

I like the idea of vertical PVC tubes. A simple post hole and it's done. Minimal exposure; easy to find; near the surface for access.

I do have a septic tank. There are plastic plugs at ground level in several places that were installed for reasons unknown. Cleanouts? Don't know. This subterranean storage tube would simply look like another part of the septic system.

The mortar tube is looking good, too.

[MaryB]

If you want to hide some in the house take an old water heater, split the outer metal jacket so it can be opened. Then on the inner tank part cut a door and weld on hinges and a way to seal it. Plug the pipes coming in or use them to exchange air through a desiccant cartridge. On the outside run pipes off the top into the wall to make it look like it is in use. Have it in a spot where it makes sense to have a water heater. Spare bathroom, laundry room...

Metal detector? The whole thing is metal! Add some lead in the bottom to make it heavy like it is full of water. Lead is also useful to cast boolits SHTF! So double duty!

[MT Gianni]

Gas meters for houses weigh about 4 1/2 lbs and are aluminum and neoprene. Not much magnetic in them at all. A riser will extend about 4 feet and transition to plastic pipe in most cases.
In one of my favorite Dick Francis books, To the Hilt, the hero is charges with keeping an item secure. Instead of burying it he camouflages it and attaches it to the underside of a stone carport. I have spent a lot of time trying to locate buried pipe, found plenty of junk and bottles not much else.

[Tracy]

Traditionally, guns were covered with cosmoline, whatever that is.

It's pretty much the same thing as liquid Alox.

Btw, you just left a record of your intention to hide/bury some guns. In case you didn't know.

[MUSTANG]

Bringing in a "Touch of Reality", and bursting the bubble of "My Buried/Hid Guns are Undetectable" :

Multi and Hyper Spectral Imaging example: [UtRL="https://www.umbc.edu/rssipl/people/aplaza/Papers/Journals/2013.GRSM.Hyperspectral.pdf"]https://www.umbc.edu/rssipl/people/aplaza/Papers/Journals/2013.GRSM.Hyperspectral.pdf[/URL]

Ground Penetrating Radar example: https://archive.epa.gov/esd/archive-...ing_radar.html

Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) imagery example: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA434952.pdf

And - Radio Frequency Detection Devices through Objects -

Wallabot Examples: https://walabot.com
And married with a Smart Phone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-83Ou9QciA


A previous life says "Danger Will Robinson" and about as far down this analysis and Rabbit Hole as I will go.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I'm sure you've read:

"If it's time to bury them, it's time to use them!"

If you think you need to be burying guns, that is the time you need to be using them.

Definitely how I feel about it. If you need them they won't do much good, and if you're driven away from that locality you'll be unlikely to return to retrieve them.

Just some entertainment here -- when I had a gunsmithing business and customers of various types, this one fellow brought in an SKS that was just a blob of rust. He had buried it in a tube without any protection at all. Totally destroyed. But, as they only cost about $50 at the time he purchased a brand new one with the intention of doing the same thing. We had this "How to preserve" conversation. Next time I saw him he said that he had buried it and a case of Commie ammo on a hillside slope here in Oregon in the forest where no one would ever find it. The following year he said that he had gone to dig it up as he'd decided to sell it, but couldn't find it. A logging operation had taken place in the area and a logging road bulldozed in the approximate location of the burial site. All of the landmarks were gone, but he figured that it was on the downhill side of the road where all the dirt had been pushed over the road's edge, under perhaps 6-8 ft. of soil. Moral to the story is, I guess, that there's always the unexpected.

DG