Best ammo storage: what SAAMI actually asks for, and what meets it

Ammunition storage is one of the few areas in this category where a trade body has already published the answer, in plain language, for free. Reading it saves you from most of the products sold for this job.

What SAAMI actually recommends

SAAMI's technical publication on sporting ammunition also addresses the fear that drives a lot of overbuying, noting that it has no verified report of any firefighter hurt by flying bullets or shot pellets in fires involving a sportsman's in-the-home personal supply of ammunition (SAAMI Item 202). Ammunition in a fire is a real hazard to handle carefully, and it is not the hazard it is often described as.

Why you should not buy a fire safe for ammunition

• The makers tell you not to. SentrySafe's fire-safe manuals list firearms, other weapons, combustible materials and medication among items that should not be stored in the unit.
• Fire insulation is deliberately damp. SentrySafe says its insulation "has a high moisture content" and asks owners to keep the desiccant packet in. Humidity is the main thing that degrades stored ammunition, so that is precisely the wrong environment.
• You pay for the wrong property. A fire rating costs weight and cubic feet. A locked steel cabinet with shelves rated for the load costs less and holds far more.
• Weight. Ammunition is dense. Three shelves at 75 lb each is 225 lb, which is more than the entire interior of most fire safes would hold.

The picks side by side

Note the scoring caveat: the Stack-On cabinet is scored on our access-control rubric and the cans, crate and desiccant on the accessory rubric, because they do different jobs. Compare within a category, not across.

Cans, crates or a cabinet? Usually all three

These are layers, not alternatives, and the layered arrangement maps directly onto SAAMI's guidance:

1. Factory cartons keep the headstamp, load and lot number with the ammunition. SAAMI asks for this explicitly, and it is free.
2. Sealed cans keep humidity and dust off the cartons. The MTM AC50C uses a tongue-and-groove O-ring seal and has two padlock tabs (MTM). One calibre per can, labelled.
3. A locked cabinet keeps the whole lot away from children and visitors, and gives you shelves rated for the weight (Stack-On).
4. A desiccant canister in the cabinet handles the last variable, humidity, with an indicator window so you know when to reactivate it.

If you only buy one thing, buy the cans: sealing is the layer that prevents actual degradation. If you have children in the house, buy the cabinet first, because that is the layer that prevents harm.

How we ranked these

We have not bought, dropped or soaked any of these. Each is scored on the published rubrics at how we rate. The ranking follows SAAMI's own priorities: locked and out of reach first, sealed and dry second, organised third.

The Stack-On cabinet leads because it is the only product here that satisfies the "locked cabinet out of the reach of children" line, and because it publishes a per-shelf load rating, which most cabinets never do. The MTM AC50C is second on the best seal-per-dollar. The AC3C is third for multi-calibre households (MTM). The Plano crate is fourth: a published 85 lb rating and internal dividers (Plano). The Hydrosorbent canister is fifth and is the cheapest meaningful upgrade to any of the others.

We also searched CPSC recall notices on 2026-09-26 for MTM, Plano, Stack-On and Hydrosorbent. Each product card shows its dated recall check.

What to look for in ammo storage

1. A real seal, described as one. "O-ring" and "tongue and groove" are specifications. "Weather resistant" is not. Note that these cans are water resistant and non-submersible.
2. A lock or a padlock provision. MTM gives two padlock tabs per can; Plano's crate has locking latches; the Stack-On has a keyed three-point lock.
3. A published load rating. Ammunition is heavy and shelves sag. Stack-On states 75 lb per shelf; Plano states 85 lb for the crate. Most competitors state nothing.
4. Stackability that actually indexes. MTM's lid ridges locate the can above so a stack does not walk.
5. Handles sized for a loaded container. A .50-cal can of rifle ammunition is heavy; MTM rates the AC50C carry capacity at 30 lb.
6. Anchoring, on a tall cabinet. A 55 in cabinet loaded with 200 lb of ammunition is a tipping hazard. Stack-On supplies pre-drilled mounting holes and hardware; use them. See how to bolt down a safe.

Humidity and temperature in practice

SAAMI's range is 55°F to 85°F, and the usual home advice is to keep relative humidity well under 50%. Both are easy to hit indoors and hard to hit in a garage, an attic or an uninsulated shed, which is where most people put ammunition.

• Measure before you fix. A cheap hygrometer in the cabinet for a fortnight tells you whether you have a problem. Our humidity guide covers the target range and how to read it.
• Seal, then dry. Sealed cans with a desiccant sachet inside each one do more than a single unit trying to dry a whole cabinet.
• Choose a desiccant you will actually maintain. The Hydrosorbent canister needs baking at 325°F for at least three hours when its indicator changes; a rechargeable plug-in unit is easier. Compare them in electric vs rechargeable dehumidifiers.
• Avoid swings, not just levels. Repeated condensation cycles cause more corrosion than a steady, slightly high reading.

Where to put it

SAAMI's guidance rules out more places than people expect:

• Not near a furnace, water heater or open flame. This is explicit in the SAAMI recommendations, and it removes most utility rooms.
• Not in direct sunlight. SAAMI notes primers should not be exposed to it.
• Not an uninsulated attic. Summer attic temperatures leave the 55-85°F range comfortably.
• Not stored with petroleum products, acids, ammonia or solvents. SAAMI warns these can corrode cases and make cartridges hard or impossible to chamber, so the garage shelf above the oil and cleaners is the wrong shelf.
• Good: a conditioned interior closet, a basement that is genuinely dry, or a garage cabinet in a mild climate with sealed cans and a desiccant.

Many people want ammunition in the gun safe. That works, with two caveats: it uses capacity you probably need, and if the safe is fire rated the interior is damper than a plain cabinet. See where to put a gun safe for the placement logic.

Ammunition and children

Common ammo storage mistakes

• Buying a fire safe for ammunition, when the makers list firearms and combustibles as things not to store in one.
• Tipping loose rounds into a bin and losing the headstamp, load and lot number SAAMI asks you to keep.
• Storing it on the garage shelf above the solvents, oils and cleaners.
• Sealing damp ammunition into a sealed can, which preserves the humidity rather than excluding it.
• Loading a tall cabinet with 200 lb of ammunition and not anchoring it to the wall.
• Buying a biometric cabinet from a brand with an open CPSC warning on its biometric locks.
• Assuming stacked cans are secure storage. Sealed is not locked.