Vacuum Packing

I have been considering vacuum packing several items for long term storage. Included is ammunition, fabric, clothing and hardware materials (nails and screws).

Does anyone have some experience they are willing to share?

I am also experimenting with PVC sealed containers. I am coming to the six-month point and will be digging them up from my yard soon, to determine the feasibility of this method.

Be careful with vacuum packing expandable, compressible, materials. Things like towels and bandages. If the vacuum bag gets a leak these materials will expand and can put a tremendous amount of pressure on any container. This can kit a dresser or shelf system.

It also makes vacuum packing less attractive for any situation where you need to get into the vacuum bag often. Vacuum pack all your bandages in a FAK and after you open the vacuum bag your going to have problems getting it back into the same satchel.

Why vacuum pack things like screws or nails? If you are that worried about nails, buy ones that won’t rust, or lay them out on cardboard and spray them with polyurethane to protect them.

Also I don’t see ammo as something that needs vacuum sealed. I have seen ammo from the 1950s that fired great in my guns.

Not talking food, but Anything else I store with my vacuum sealer has a few silica packets added to 100% ensure there is no moisture inside.

I have never done this, but anything susceptible to rust could be sprayed lightly with WD-40 first. In theory it should keep the metal like new for a very long time if vacuum sealed.

Down here in the deep warm, moist south is was pretty common for people to store nails in jars, canning jars are good, with a little kerosene or other light oil added. Stored this way the nails stay good pretty much indefinitely.

A similar job done with a vacuum bag should last about as long as long as you chose the right bag, most bags are not entirely impermeable, and special care is taken to make sure anything sharp, like nails, won't poke any holes. Proper wrapping and selection of bag, multi-laminate bags come in a variety of designs and capabilities, should make it work well enough.

I would avoid adding any solvents or oils if you storing ammunition. Oil infiltration into the primer can make the cartridges unreliable. The best advice is to store them clean and dry or, if you feel a lubricant and corrosion protection is really needed, to use one of the dry protectants.

I wouldn't bother burying anything.

Unless they were dead and off the menu for sentimental reasons.

I have suckerbagged lots of stuff, ammo, boxes of strike anywhere matches, granola bars, things along those lines. I always double seal both ends of the bags, and have had pretty good luck. I just got thru storing a jillon topo maps and blueprints in 4" PVC "pipe bombs," but they were not buried, and I won't be around them 'til Dec to check on them. So I can't help you there. If I were going to bury something metal underground in PVC I would oil them well, maybe with WD40 or Breakfree, and toss in a lot of silica gel packets...

I've used the new(er) Reynolds vacuum & bags to seal up a few things. They are about $10 at places like Target or Wal-Mart and come with batteries. The bags come in a few different sizes and are re-usable. Latest thing that I packed was a shirt and undergarments for storage in my locker at work. According to Consumer Reports it works good for keeping away freezer burn (its intended purpose). If you are just wanting to seal a few small items you might try this, but if you want to seal lots and/or big things, you will probably need a larger system.

Roger

Wouldn't these pointy items be a bit tough on the bags you want to seal them in (puncture)? What would be the point anyway? (no pun intended) They aren't going to compress. And the overhead of the plastic bags (the extra space along their sides) would tend to make the packaged screws take up more room than if you dropped them into a 35mm film canister instead.