OK to store ammo in the original cardboard boxes?

I recently opened a sealed battle pack of German MEN surplus and I was surprised to see a lot of corroded rounds. After some diligent cleaning, most of it was salvageable with only a handful having the dreaded pink corrosion. I noticed almost all of the corroded rounds had been in direct contact with the sides of the cardboard box. After researching it seems they had a reaction with the chemical residue in the cardboard. This got me thinking about my other stored ammo.

I keep all my ammo, even the long term stockpile, in their original cardboard boxes. This makes it easier to trade, count and to tell what lot my ammo is if there happens to be a recall. Is this a bad idea? Should I be pulling them all out of the boxes and just storing them loose in ammo cans?

Hmmmm? That sounds odd. I have ammo in the original boxes that is well over 20 years old and it looks fine.

Perhaps it was exposed to something at some point in time? Humidity? Sea salt? Some sort of corrosive fumes? I've had ammo that pre-dates World War One that was still in the little cardboard boxes that looked and shot just fine.

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Originally Posted by ray1970

Perhaps it was exposed to something at some point in time? Humidity? Sea salt? Some sort of corrosive fumes? I've had ammo that pre-dates World War One that was still in the little cardboard boxes that looked and shot just fine.

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What he said but mine is/was WWII era

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Originally Posted by ray1970

Perhaps it was exposed to something at some point in time? Humidity? Sea salt? Some sort of corrosive fumes? I've had ammo that pre-dates World War One that was still in the little cardboard boxes that looked and shot just fine.

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Perhaps. This was still in the original sealed green carry bag. The material is a heavy plastic with ten cardboard boxes sealed inside. I doubt is was ever opened after being manufactured. The boxes themselves showed no signs of ever being wet. From the outside things looked pristine. This seems to be a common occurrence with MEN and some DAG. Perhaps it was stored improperly or exposed to something during manufacture. I just found it odd that only rounds that were in direct contact with the cardboard boxes were corroded. Rounds that were in the interior of the boxes were shiny and perfect. If you guys are storing ammo in cardboard without issue, then I'll just write this off as an oddball occurrence and not worry about it.

Some of the MEN and DAG had issues. Some of the later Port had issues. (All .308). I have surplus that is as old as 1955 and it is stored in cardboard and has no issues. Do a little searching and you will find what is bad.

Hmmm.....

I have some ammo in paperboard boxes that date back to the 1940's and are fine. But they are all Win, Rem.

I've read on the CMP forums about ammo reacting with glues and/or chemical residues in cardboard packaging. I prefer to take old ammo out of the packaging and put it in GI ammo cans.

A lot of paper (cardboard) has acid residue in it. I made the mistake of leaving some sheets of aluminum in the shipping paper it came in and had some surface corrosion to deal with.
If the original packer was aware of this, they would pack it accordingly, but only if the ammo was expected to be in the packaging for decades! You have to remember that the stuff packed for WW2 wasn't expected to be around in 2014.