Gunco Forums banner

Schedule 40 Can Be Your Friend--long term storage of goodies!

5K views 23 replies 15 participants last post by  Black Blade 
#1 ·
Here's the best way for long term storage of ammunition--or anything else of interest or importance....

PVC pipe--large diameter PVC pipe.

10" / 12" or larger inner diameter PVC. Schedule 40 pipe is great (white PVC). In the larger sizes, the wall thickness is slighly more that 1/4".

Large diameter PVC is easily available at plumbing supply warehouses--that kind that tradesmen and contractors use. Here cash is king--so walk in, know what you want, and wave cash... you will not be turned down.

PVC is easily cut with a hand saw. Just make sure your ends are square, this done by wraping a string around the pipe--measuring from the end for alignment, then marking with a pencil or marker. Cut along the line as you roll the pipe.

Your containers are then sealed using PVC (same schedule) end caps, plugs or screw caps. Make sure you use lots of PVC primer, before you apply liberal amounts of glue.

End caps are recommend because they provide a completely sure-fire seal. Allow a few inches of room between the end-caps and your stuff. This is because when you want to open it later--you tap the stuff to one end by tilting up the container. Then you saw around the end cap. Voila! It's opened.

I would suggest using lots of desecate (sp?) packs inside your containers. And before you seal it up--use a hair dryer on low heat... with it aimed into the container for a half an hour or so. This will drive out excess moisture.

Hidding your containers? Burrial of course. But not off your property--or property you cannot control. Crawl spaces under houses, sheds, etc.--sprinkled with lots of scap pipe of course to throw off metal detectors. Do not burry you container in ground that has a shallow water table--don't push it. Or on a potential flood plain--it may float up. Do not burry your container on ground that has vehicle traffice (tractors, cars, etc.) --you don't want to crush it.

If you need a BOC (bug-out-container) off property, then you have to be very clever where you place it. Again take in all the considerations above. Formost you need security. Un-trodden space. Unseen. Away from the obvioius places where treasure hunters with metal detectors would ply. No abandoned homes, ranches, etc. But it has to be accessable. This is the conondrum! Also... you need security when placing your container. You don't want to plant something under the watching eyes of a theif--who will wait for you to leave and dig up your goods. Put some thought into this process, with the thought of how you are going to re-locate your cache rain, night, day, snow or whatever. Also--if you should go down--make provisions for someone else to take up the flag.

Ammo cans--not good for burrial. Yes they are water-tight, but they rust. I believe a 50-cal ammo can will fit into a 12" dia PVC. ---this would be optimal. Ammo cans would be good in a walled-up hide-hole, false floors, etc. where fast availability is necessary. Also when storing metal items (ahem!) inside PVC--oil, oil, oil and seal in plastic. Break items down if necessary.

Storing ammo only--2" diameter PVC is readly available at Home Depot. A lot of ammo can be stored inside a 2' x 2" PVC container.

Sky's the limit using PVC--thank God for Dow Chemical.

AH
 
See less See more
#2 ·
nice post! dessicant gel packscan be found in almost anything nowadays from shoes to toys to electronics to prevent moisture damage. i've been keeping mine in aziplock bag along with some uncooked rice to keep them from absording premature moisture.
rice is also a good short term alternativee/poor mans alternative to dessicant packs.

no need to be fancy with the riice. as long as the food/batteries/whatever are packaged in something, the rice can be poured into othe pvc tube. you'd better hope that water never gets into that tube though. becausethe rice will act as a sponge once submerged.

still, if you ever get your cell phone or cell batterywet, stick it in a bowl of uncooked rice for 24 hours, the rice will wick out the moisture.

also, if yourmaglite needs that one extra c battery and you just dont have it, try using a stack of quarters, they'll work just fine.
 
#5 ·
This thread is worthless without pics.

If you're a dope and cannot follow simple instruction--it is worthless.

Here, I'll simplify it for you....

A: Big diameter PVC shedule 40 pipe. 10", 12" etc. inner diameter PVC--it's measured by the inner diameter.
B: Saw it into shorter lenghts--36", 46" etc.
C: Cap off one end with a PVC cap purchased from the supplier--at the same time (buy two).
D: Put your stuff in it.
E: Cap off the other end.
F: Hide it where no one will see it--which means out of sight!

If you use a purple hot primer before your apply the glue--and lots of it, there will be no, absolutely no leakage--not unless the container is crushed, slammed real hard to crack it, etc. PVC is real tough stuff.

Be sure to use lots, and lots of PVC glue. The cans come with an aplicator--a fuzzy ball. Get this sucker sopping, and go to town. Apply the glue on the purple primer (inside the cap should be primed also and glue applied also).

If you really want to make sure--double container it... a container within a container.

But one tube will suffice. This is why I say don't burry it in a place with a shallow water table. You want to look for sandy soil that has good drainage. Dig a hole first and pour in a bucket of water. It the water drains rapidly (less than a minute) this is a good spot. This is the way they test soils prior to installing a septic drainage line.

If the water backs up--no, go. You've probably got clay layers, etc. Look for a better spot.

If you put something under your floor space. Save the top layer of dirt aside. Discard the deeper dirt. To layers have a different color. You want to match and camouflage your location as good as possible.

Any other ideas???

AH
 
#7 ·
I posted this thread on another site, and it got 2,000 reads and over 44 responses from people who got it.

How come you don't without photos?


Oh come on please--are you kidding me?!
You are pulling my leg/s!!! Right!?

Do you guys own large coffe table books with big picutres in it?
That must be the case.

Anyways I don't know how to post photos--uploading doesn't seem to be an option.
And I don't want to load to photobucket or the like--registering to post photos of my goodies is against my religion.
 
#8 ·
I just wanted to throw fuel on the fire.LOL.(being a smart ass) No doubt that its a GREAT post and wish that I'd thought of it first!!!
I dont need no stinking pics. the other fella, I guess, just wanted to connect the dots?

Simple enough and no need for pics IMO. DEF NOT worthless!

Good post!
 
#9 · (Edited)
Okay, I forgive you....

Here's an addendum to this post--you can also try PVC welding. Containers can be custom made by this technique. It's just a hot-air tip and PVC welding rod--like regular welding, but with hot air. Polypropoline sheets or PVC sheet make great waterproof containers.

Plastic Hot Air Welders Plastic Welding

Hot Air Welding Machine

You can make all sorts of bitchen container with thermo-plastic sheets (thermo-plastics can be reheated over and over). Polypropoline is the material used for gas cans and custom gas tanks--easily welded. PVC can also be welded, but with both materials you have to have the corrrect rod--which is sold by the pound.

The material is simply cut with a table or hand saw.

ST
 
#11 ·
Excellent topic! I've been wanting to try not only plastic welding for various projects but long-term, moisture-proof storage is beginning to become a concern for me at this point.

These are on my xmas list. HF to the rescue again:

Harbor Freight Tools

Sorry to not do the intro yet but I wanted to drop this link on y'all in case any of you were in the 'financially challenged' category with me.
 
#12 ·
Real neat idea. However, I would mostly be storing ammo and the such. And I do like to occassionally check my ammo to see how much I have, what kinda shape it is in and the such. Not sure this is the best method for me or not. But I may use it, have to wait and see.
 
#13 ·
If you use Sched 40 you don't have to seal it in permanently. You can install on one end of the container a "screw cap" or a "screw-plug." This way you can open it anytime you want. These fittings are a bit expensive on the large sizes, but you can make your containers more than just a one shot thing (no pun intended). Do some research on plumbing size supply sites and post the links please.

And as for the welding--you have to purchase the welding rod to match the material that you are using. It's usually sold by the pound. Do a search for plastic welding rod. I didn't know that harbor freight had them--my tool is a bit more pricey.

Also... you can, once end-caps are installed on a PVC container weld a bead around the seam as extra insurance. However you have to let the glue dry for a couple days at least.

Hey let's see some photos of your completed projects!!!

long-term, moisture-proof storage is beginning to become a concern for me at this point.

If you were to store firearms--I'd oil them up thouroughly and slide one of those no-rust plastic socks over them. Also before you seal the container, you should aim a hair dryer into the container for a while to drive out all the moisture. Then at the last moment, toss in your desicant, and seal the puppy up. Temp changes will cause moisture to condense within the container. This will effect metal objects greatly, but other things will be just fine.
 
#14 ·
speeking from experience, with good and bad results, PVC is great, clean and use the primer! a little RTV around the mating surfaces, just incase some uncleaned plastic debris, makes a small void, you don't catch. ammo in vac bags, Buy one for the wife, and use the hell out of it! Better than the bowling ball gift! machines parts, store in transmission fluid. What you want is about four tubes that are not to long, and less than 6 inchs wide, all your wood, and other stuff that collects moisture in one, ammo in one, steel/metal in one, the last food tabs,polylong johns(they vac down small) survival kit etc... Use a post hole digger to install, you disturb a lot less top soil. you can tie lanyards or safety wire to pull things out, with out removing tubes. Tubes can be reused, with little effort, and camoed. the bottom of the hole should have a couple of inchs of gravel to keep the tube from sitting in water. These work really well under rocks and other natural or even town stuff, (stepping stones) etc...
 
#16 ·
Sawsall works better!
 
#17 ·
I bought a couple of 91/30 mosins real cheap. They were still packed with cosmo. I didn't clean them becuase I buried them in sealed off pvc pipe just like you described. I chose them becuase the ammo was super cheap and I was able to put away a couple thosand rounds away.
 
#18 ·
If you thik it's time to bury it you may be too late.

Sundown at Coffin Rock

By Raymond K. Paden AmThe following article appeared in the April 1994 issue of the Blue Press, a monthlyagazine http://www.lawfulpa th.com/ref/ cfnrock.shtml


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The old man walked slowly through the dry, fallen leaves of autumn, his practiced eye automatically choosing the bare and stony places in the trail for his feet. There was scarcely a sound as he passed, though his left knee was stiff with scar tissue. He grunted occasionally as the tight sinews pulled. Damn Chainsaw, he thought.

Behind him, the boy shuffled along, trying to imitate his grandfather, but unable to mimic the silent motion that the old man had learned during countless winter days upon this wooded mountain in pursuit of game. He’s fifteen years old, the old man thought. Plenty old enough to be learning…But that was another time, another America. His mind drifted, and he saw himself, a fifteen-year- old boy following in the footsteps of his own grandfather, clutching a twelve gauge in his trembling hands as they tracked a wounded whitetail.

The leg was hurting worse now, and he slowed his pace a bit. Plenty of time. It should have been my own son here with me now, the old man thought sadly. But Jason had no interest, no understanding. He cared for nothing but pound- ing on the keys of that damned computer terminal. He knew nothing about the woods, or where food came from…or free- dom. And that’s my fault, isn’t it?

The old man stopped and held up his hand, motioning for the boy to look. In the small clearing ahead, the deer stood motionless, watching them. It was a scraggly buck, underfed and sickly, but the boy’s eyes lit up with excitement. It had been many years since they had seen even a single white- tail here on the mountain. After the hunting had stopped, the population had exploded. The deer had eaten the mountain almost bare until erosion had become a serious problem in some places. That following winter, three starving does had wandered into the old man’s yard, trying to eat the bark off of his pecan trees, and he had wished the “animal rights” fanatics could have been there then. It was against the law, but old man knew a higher law, and he took an axe into the yard and killed the staving beasts. They did not have the strength to run.

The buck finally turned and loped away, and they continued down the trail to the river. When they came to the “Big Oak,” the old man turned and pushed through the heavy brush beside the trail and the boy followed, wordlessly. The old man knew that Thomas was curious about their leaving the trail, but the boy had learned to move silently (well, almost) and that meant no talking. When they came to “Coffin Rock,” the old man sat down upon it and motioned for the boy to join him.

“You see this rock, shaped like a casket?” the old man asked. “Yes sir.” The old man smiled. The boy was respectful and polite. He loved the outdoors, too. Everything a man could ask in a grandson…or a son.

“I want you to remember this place, and what I’m about to tell you. A lot of it isn’t going to make any sense to you, but it’s important and one day you’ll understand it well enough. The old man paused. Now that he was here, he didn’t really know where to start.

“Before you were born,” he began at last, “this country was different. I’ve told you about hunting, about how everybody who obeyed the law could own guns. A man could speak out, anywhere, without worrying about whether he’d get back home or not. School was different, too. A man could send his kids to a church school, or a private school, or even teach them at home. But even in the public schools, they didn’t spend all their time trying to brainwash you like they do at yours now.” The old man paused, and was silent for many minutes. The boy was still, watching a chipmunk scavenging beside a fallen tree below them.

“Things don’t ever happen all at once, boy. They just sort of sneak up on you. Sure, we knew guns were important; we just didn’t think it would ever happen in America. But we had to do something about crime, they said. It was a crisis. Everything was a crisis! It was a drug crisis, or a terror- ism crisis, or street crime, or gang crime. Even a ‘health care’ crisis was an excuse to take away a little more of our rights.” The old man turned to look at his grandson.

“They ever let you read a thing called the Constitution down there at your school?” The boy solemnly shook his head. “Well, the Fourth Amendment’s still in there. It says there won’t be any unreasonable searches and seizures. It says you’re safe in your own home.” The old man shrugged. “That had to go. It was a crisis! They could kick your door open any time, day or night, and come in with guns blazing if they thought you had drugs…or later, guns. Oh, at first it was just registration - to keep the guns out of the hands of criminals! But that didn’t work, of course, and then later when they wanted to take ‘em they knew where to look. They banned ‘assault rifles,’ and then ’sniper rifles,’ and ‘Saturday-night specials.’ Everything you saw on the TV or in the movies was against us. God knows the news people were! And the schools were teaching our kids that nobody needed guns anymore. We tried to take a stand, but we felt like the whole face of our country had changed and we were left outside.

“Me and a friend of mine, when we saw what was happening, we came and built a secret place up here on the mountain. A place where we could put our guns until we needed them. We figured some day Americans would remember what it was like to be free, and what kind of price we had to pay for that freedom. So we hid our guns instead of losing them.”

“One fellow I knew disagreed. He said we ought to use our guns now and stand up to the government. ‘Said that the colonists had fought for their freedom when the British tried to disarm them at Lexington and Concord. Well, he and a lot of others died in what your history books call the ‘Tax Revolt of 1998,’ but son, it wasn’t the revolt that caused the repeal of the Second Amendment like your history book says. The Second Amendment was already gone long before they ever repealed it. The rest of us thought we were doing the right thing by waiting. I hope to God we were right.

“You see, Thomas. It isn’t government that makes a man free. In the end, governments always do just the opposite. They gobble up freedom like hungry pigs. You have to have laws to keep the worst in men under control, but at the same time the people have to have guns, too, in order to keep the government itself under control. In our country, the people were supposed to be the final authority of the law, but that was a long time ago. Once the guns were gone, there was no reason for those who run the government to give a damn about laws and constitutional rights and such. They just did what they pleased and anyone who spoke out…well, I’m getting ahead of myself.

“It took a long time to collect up all the millions of firearms that were in private hands. The government created a whole new agency to see to it. There were rewards for turning your friends in, too. Drug dealers and murderers were set free after two or three years in prison, but pos- session of a gun would get you mandatory life behind bars with no parole.

“I don’t know how they found out about me, probably knew I’d been a hunter all those years, or maybe somebody turned me in. They picked me up on suspicion and took me down to the federal building.

“Son, those guys did everything they could think of to me. Kept me locked up in this little room for hours, no food, no water. They kept coming in, asking me where the guns were. ‘What guns?’ I said. Whenever I’d doze off, they’d come crashing in, yelling and hollering. I got to where I didn’t know which end was up. I’d say I wanted my lawyer and they’d laugh. ‘Lawyers are for criminals,’ they said. ‘You’ll get a lawyer after we get the guns.’ What’s so funny is, I know they thought they were doing the right thing. They were fighting crime!

“When I got home I found Ruth sitting in the middle of the living room floor, crying her eyes out. The house was a shambles. While I was down there, they’d come out and took our house apart. Didn’t need a search warrant, they said. National emergency! Gun crisis! Your grandma tried to call our preacher and they ripped the phone off the wall. Told her that they’d go easy on me if she just told them where I kept my guns.” The old man laughed. “She told them to go to hell.” He stared into the distance for a moment as his laughter faded.

“They wouldn’t tell her about me, where I was or anything, that whole time. She said that she’d thought I was dead. She never got over that day, and she died the next December.

“They’ve been watching me ever since, off and on. I guess there’s not much for them to do anymore, now that all the guns are gone. Plenty of time to watch one foolish old man.” He paused. Beside him, the boy stared at the stone beneath his feet.

“Anyway, I figure that, one day, America will come to her senses. Our men will need those guns and they’ll be ready. We cleaned them and sealed them up good; they’ll last for years. Maybe it won’t be in your lifetime, Thomas. Maybe one day you’ll be sitting here with your son or grandson. Tell him about me, boy. Tell him about the way I said America used to be.” The old man stood, his bad leg shaking unstead- ily beneath him.

“You see the way this stone points? You follow that line one-hundred feet down the hill and you’ll find a big round rock. It looks like it’s buried solid, but one man with a good prybar can lift it, and there’s a concrete tunnel right under there that goes back into the hill.”

The old man stood, watching as the sun eased toward the ridge, coloring the sky and the world red. Below them, the river still splashed among the stones, as it had for a million years. It’s still going, the old man thought. There’ll be someone left to carry on for me when I’m gone. It was harder to walk back. He felt old and purposeless now, and it would be easier, he knew, to give in to that aching heaviness in his left lung that had begun to trouble him more and more. Damn cigarettes, he thought. His leg hurt, and the boy silently came up beside him and supported him as they started down the last mile toward the house. How quiet he walks, the old man thought. He’s learned well.

It was almost dark when the boy walked in. His father looked up from his paper.

“Did you and your granddad have a nice walk?”

“Yes,” the boy answered, opening the refrigerator. “You can call Agent Goodwin tomorrow. Gramps finally showed me where it is.”
 
#19 ·
[ “Did you and your granddad have a nice walk?”

“Yes,” the boy answered, opening the refrigerator. “You can call Agent Goodwin tomorrow. Gramps finally showed me where it is.”[/quote]


Nothing like getting kicked in the nuts. What an ending. We all know its coming. I don't mind what will happen to me in the end. I am worried of a time when the we have to decide. Do we stand for liberty and loose all or do we quietly give up just so we can protect our families and livlihoods. The federal govternment is way to big, way to powerful, and growing by the second.
 
#23 ·
Variation on a theme

The MIDNIGHT GARDENER



Yes, I do have packed various items as well as guns and ammo packed in grease in airtight PVC pipe with end caps stashed and cached in 4 states.

WEAPONS CACHE 101

By Gabe Suarez

I don't believe in burying weapons. Still, I have received so many emails about this that I guess I need to mention something. Whatever you do, you need to keep at least one weapon set (pistol and rifle) with you along with the accompanying ammo. But for those with extensive arsenals who want to secure them better and outside of the "gun safe" method, read on.

To cache means to hide something. You don't learn to cache the sorts of things we are talking about in police academy, you learn it from criminals. A true cache, like we are discussing, should be able to lay undetected for years.

There may be varying levels of caches as well. An E&E (escape and evasion) cache will contain a complete getaway kit in addition to a pistol and maybe a folding stock AK, that while well hidden, can be grabbed up and used in a blink of an eye. Think of that as a hidden bug out kit. Such a cache will contain stuff to fight with, stuff to treat injuries with, stuff to eat, and stuff to use to change your appearance. A few $100 bills would be a good idea too. All of that can go in a small backpack (except for the AK).

I don't think anyone has interest in the cache of "sports guns", so we will focus on the cache of fighting weapons such as assault rifles and combat pistols. Remember to make certain to leave no fingerprints on any cache item. All caching must be done with latex gloves on and those of you with hairy arms, wear long sleeves taped at the cuffs. Free market guns (private party anonymous purchases) are better for this than those whose numbers are married to you.

Remember that it is not enough to dig and bury as the "fresh grave" in your front yard will only draw attention. You need to "hide" it. Look at three broad categories: rural caches, urban caches, and underwater caches.

Rural Cache - In the countryside, cache options abound. Needless to say that a cache can be located on your property, but look to cache stuff either on someone else's land, or in public land. Look for old piles of metal or used up farm equipment. These make great places as few snoopers will want to move a bunch of rusty junk around. And all that metal wreaks havoc on any technical search methods. Abandoned farmhouses, ruins, and foundations provide countless hiding places, as do small caves, old mines, and even graveyards. Just look for places where people would tend to not want to go, or places that would be overlooked. It is a good idea to GPS the coordinates and memorize them like your birthday.

The Urban Cache - In cities you must be more creative. You need to find a quiet dark out of the way corner were you can remove some tile or blocks or panels to create an improvised vault. Remember, make it look nasty and few people will put their hands in there.

The Underwater Cache - Arms may be sealed into a big PVC pipe, then sunk. The Swiss did this during WW2 as a fallback in the event Hitler's forces invaded

No matter where your cache will be located, you should go to great pains to make sure that it remains sealed and moisture proof. A large PVC pipe works fine, but I am more in favor of a large Pelican Case. Remember that if your cache is damaged by nature, you will have wasted your time. A Pelican case can not only be made water proof, but is as strong as steel.

A chunk of dry ice dropped into a watertight package and allowed to "steam off" before sealing will purge out the rust producing oxygen. Silica desiccant bags are also necessary -specially for an ammo cache. Where possible, for long term storage seal the lids with a bead of silicone glue.

Where tight space is a consideration, as in urban caches, you may have to merely wrap your weapons in plastic. In this case use the biggest thickest heavy duty lawn and garden bags you can find. After placing the arms inside, suck out all the air you can, twist the end, and duct tape the hell out of the entire bag.

Memorize the location of your cache. Take compass readings and GPS coordinates as well as the use of landmarks. Keep an eye on it regularly by simply driving by if nothing else. Be alert to construction around your cache. If you see signs of activity, or the survey stakes go up, move it out immediately. When you look for a cache location, consider that you will need an excuse for being near it. This is easy in rural areas but slightly more complicated in the urban environment.

When returning to a cache, do some counter-surveillance. Move through the area looking for anyone or anything out of place, or anyone who may be staking it out, or even a new "utility box" which may contain a remotely operated camera. When making a final approach, don't walk right up to it. Just as discussed in Roger's Ranger Rule Book, "fish hook" your trail, double back and observe your own path in to check for followers. This may take some time, but is well worth it.

Finally, walk right past your cache and make it appear you are doing something, or unloading something into an adjacent area. This is simply a ruse for the event you are compromised. If you are contacted at this point, your adversaries may not find the true cache, and your "cover for action" is believable. Only when you are truly sure of your safety should you go to the cache and unload it. Consider leaving tell-tale secret marks which will tell you if anyone has disturbed and replaced your cache. It is a favorite trick of security forces to put tracking devices into cached weapons in order to follow the guerrilla back to his base and catch the entire band.

A tell-tale may be a bit of thread or a pebble etc. placed in such a way that if the cache is disturbed it will break or fall out without the security forces noticing it.

Having written all of this, I want to make a point - I don't like the idea of caching weapons for the reasons most folks will do it. Freedoms are not given, they are taken. And once possessed, they cannot be taken away while the original owner lives and is willing to kill and die to keep them. We would be a different nation if those who live here today had not forgotten that lesson of yesterday.

Gabe Suarez
Suarez International USA, Inc.
One Source Tactical
info@suarezinternational.com
Office 928-776-4492
 
#24 ·
Bury a gun and ammo for 15 years

(and be assured everything still works when you dig it up)

By Charles Wood

Back in the early 1990s the outlook for the nation in general and gun owners in particular seemed rather grim to many people. A few years earlier in 1986, Congress had banned civilians from owning newly manufactured machine guns. There was ever more strident talk of banning semi-automatic weapons or so called assault weapons. Many of us regarded a semi-automatic rifle as the foundation of a home defense battery. Many of us believed that more laws banning ever more types of guns were imminent. About that time I acquired a Ruger Ranch Rifle through a private sale. I decided to stash it away in a safe place just in case my worst fear was to materialize, another gun ban.



The general location of the pipe after the logging was done. It would have helped if I had had a better method of locating the pipe.

First order of business was to decide how I would prepare the gun for long-term storage and where I would store it. I decided that for maximum security I needed to bury it. This would keep it safe from all but the most determined government goons. I set about finding an appropriate location. I live in a fairly remote, wooded rural area in the northeast. One day as I was walking in the woods I noticed a hemlock tree had blown down and been uprooted by a recent windstorm. There was a small crater about eight feet across and three feet deep where the root ball had been torn out of the ground. It occurred to me that this would be a good spot for my rifle.

Since I now had the location, I began preparing the rifle for storage. I bought a piece of 6-inch diameter schedule 40 PVC pipe, end caps, and PVC solvent from a hardware store in another town where I had never done business before. Being in a rural area where everyone knows everyone I didn't want to arouse any suspicions about what I was up to. I then disassembled the rifle and completely coated every metal part with a rust preventative oil intended for storing unused machinery in damp locations. This oil dries to form a waxy coating. I was extra careful that the bore was completely coated. I wanted to vacuum-pack the rifle as extra insurance against rust. As it turned out my employer had just taken delivery of a mainframe computer that happened to be wrapped in a large



Here is the top of the pipe uncovered with the noose and winch attached.

aluminized mylar bag for shipping. This proved to be the perfect material for my purpose. I discovered that with a warm iron I could fuse the edges of this material into a custom-fitted airtight bag for the rifle. I placed each individual component of the partially disassembled rifle in its own custom-made mylar bag with a small bag of silica gel desiccant to absorb any moisture present. Using my shop vac and an iron I managed to produce a professional-looking vacuum-packing job. The barreled action, stock, trigger assembly, hand guard, magazines, scope, and mounts all went into individual bags.

Since the rifle was so heavily preserved I knew I would need something to degrease it with when I finally retrieved it so I included two small cans of 1-1-1 Trichlorethane in the package. Also, since a rifle is of little use without ammunition, several thousand rounds of .223 were included. Because every well-maintained rifle needs to be cleaned and oiled occasionally, I added a cleaning rod, patches, Hoppe's #9 solvent, gun oil, grease, and owner's manual. A set of reloading dies was included as well. If dire circumstances required me to retrieve my rifle I wanted to be sure that I would have everything at hand necessary to put it into service. All of the individually wrapped components were sealed together into a larger mylar bag custom-made for the purpose along with a couple more medium-sized bags of desiccant. A few bags of ammo were taped to the side of this bag and the entire thing was wrapped in duct tape. Additional ammo was packed into zip lock freezer bags.



The pipe was carefully sawn open to reveal that it remained watertight after 15 years underground.

With everything prepared I was ready to load the pipe. I first put in a large bag of desiccant followed by several bags of ammo, followed by the bag containing the rifle and supplies. Since there was some empty space surrounding the rifle, I dumped in some loose ammo just to fill the voids. More bags of ammo were then added to fill the pipe. Since I had a tank of nitrogen available, I also purged the air from the tube with the nitrogen before sealing it. This was undoubtedly overkill but I had it available so I used it. I took extreme care while using the PVC solvent to insure that the caps were perfectly sealed and watertight. Finally, I painted the pipe black, and at this point, 15 years later, I'm not sure why.

I loaded the sealed pipe in the back of my truck and drove up into the woods to the downed hemlock tree previously selected. With a post hole digger I dug a hole about six feet deep and a foot in diameter in the center of the crater left by the root ball of the tree. After gently placing the pipe in the hole, I carefully pulled the tree upright using a chain attached to my truck. By this time the tree had died and most of the needles had fallen off. Once returned to vertical it was pretty stable and a little dirt and debris shoveled around the edges did the trick. In any healthy, well-managed forest there are always a few standing dead trees, so this one would not arouse the curiosity of anyone who hunted or hiked there.



The contents of the pipe, still in the protective wrapping.

I never told anyone what I had done and I didn't write down the location anywhere. About five or six years later I had a timber harvest. I had my consulting forester mark the tree as a wildlife tree so it wouldn't be disturbed by the loggers. It was, after all, popular with the Pileated Woodpeckers. It has been 15 years since I buried the rifle and I have recently had another timber harvest. The tree was quite rotted by this time and it didn't survive the harvest. I had been keeping an eye on it, so when it finally fell I marked a nearby tree so I could find it again after the loggers left. Even careful logging causes quite an upheaval in the forest and it can be difficult to locate a specific spot after all the landmarks have been changed. After the logging crew had left it took me several days with a shovel and a rake to locate the rifle. In hindsight, I should have had some additional way of locating it. Since the top of the pipe was about three feet below ground level, my old metal detector wasn't much help. I decided that it would be interesting to retrieve the rifle and see how well my storage plan had worked.

I managed to locate the very rotted stump beneath the logging debris and started digging. Once I located the top of the pipe I excavated around it about a foot on all sides and to a depth of about a foot below the top of the pipe. I attached a noose of polypropylene rope and used the winch on my truck and a convenient log to slowly pull the pipe out of the ground. After all these years the soil was still very loose around the pipe and it was relatively easy to pull it out. I could have accomplished it without the winch had it been necessary. After removing the pipe, I filled the hole with logging debris and covered it up with some loose hemlock boughs to prevent someone from falling into it.



All components were individually wrapped and sealed. The contents show no adverse affects after spending 15 years underground.

Back at the house I hosed off the mud and prepared to saw the pipe open. Using a handsaw, I very carefully cut completely around one of the caps. I didn't want to damage the contents by being too enthusiastic.

With the cap removed it was immediately obvious that no moisture had gotten into the pipe. I carefully slid the contents out on to a table for examination. After unwrapping the duct tape and removing the outer bag, it was obvious that all was OK. All of the individual packages were unwrapped to reveal the contents were as good as the day they were packaged.

So if you think it is necessary, you can store a rifle safely for long periods in harsh environments. A little attention to detail, some scrounged materials, and a few dollars in supplies are all it takes.

Bury a gun and ammo for 15 years by Charles Wood Issue #115
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top