The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

I should imagine an emptied and cleaned 2.5 litre plastic drinks bottle, would hold a lot of rim-fire ammunition and when topped up with a preservative of some sort and purged with Nitrogen before sealing would keep ammunition in usable condition, even if buried for an extended period of time.

Ovenpaa wrote:I should imagine an emptied and cleaned 2.5 litre plastic drinks bottle, would hold a lot of rim-fire ammunition and when topped up with a preservative of some sort and purged with Nitrogen before sealing would keep ammunition in usable condition, even if buried for an extended period of time.

The Yanks seem to bury their ammo in sealed .50BMG cans or unopened "spam" cans wrapped in plastic film.

I've seen videos of WW2 Soviet 7.62x54r sealed lead ammo cans being opened after being dug up quite recently and the rounds look like new despite the cans being in the ground for 74+ years.

Blackstuff wrote:I'd imagine there would be a significant spike in the numbers of firearms being 'lost' in the run up to a complete ban

They seem to have a lot of "boating accidents" in the States that result in the loss of firearms.......

Daryll wrote:Being on a couple of US shooting fora, this is a surprisingly common topic, with threads on "how can I safely store firearms underground for long periods?"

Generally the American shooters distrust the Federal Government more then we distrust ours...!!

They have seen what happens when countries introduce registration of firearms, which is why they're so against it.... in their eyes registration=confiscation.

I believe that's exactly what happened when the Nazis invaded Norway; they first knocked on the doors of all the Registered firearms owners & confiscated them.

They did not gun grab in N/I over the troubles, but they might think differently in England.

Ovenpaa wrote:Anyone care to take a wild stab as to how many firearms would still be in circulation if all legally held items were 'grabbed'? My guess is in excess of 100k for shotguns, rifles, handguns etc.

That’s a great point - and one which would show just how difficult regulating legal civilian ownership is in preventing crime. Quite apart from the “500 quid on the Albert docks for a 9mm handgun” type guns in circulation, I bet there are even more war relics / pre licensing / attic guns around.

For example I have an old English shotgun of the type that would be on every rural kitchen dresser when it was made 100 years ago. The number of 12B shells floating around must be immense. It’s obviously ‘in the system’ now, but I bet for every one of these there is one that is not...

If there is a gun grab in a breakdown scenario I shall resort to defending myself with pithy satire and cutting insults. And my small children who are frankly terrifying.