Dessicant packs

[Slow Hand]

I like to keep dessicant packs in my bulk stored ammo and my ammo cans with my primers in them. i don't know if they're really needed, but it makes me feel better. Anyways, I just found these:

Desiccant Packets from PackagingSupplies.com

and it seems like a great price. I don't need that many, but I guess one could buy them and store the extras in a good ammo can. Maybe someone would buy a bunch for a group buy.....

Doug K

 

[VostocK]

Buy a lot, melt them down and make holsters out of them.

 

[HighStrung]

I bought one of the big ones from Dicks. I think it was Winchester or Remmington brand. Either way, it's got a color indicator on the front that lets you know when it's absorbed it's limit of moisture. It's also reusable by baking on low heat in oven for a couple hours. It only cost about $20 IIRC. Thats what I keep in my big safe, in my little bedside safe I just use the little packs like you mentioned (luckly we get them at work all the time with out incoming shipments of parts) which I rotate often.

 

[tv1217]

Every time I buy a product with the little silica packs(like shoes or whatever) I take them out and put it right up under the loading gate on my 870 Express, hasn't gotten orange since.

 

[Sgt Rock]

I think group buy is a great idea. I would buy 20 or so.

 

[WEB]

I use the renewable version mentioned above. The only draw back about the pouches like in shoes boxes, is once they are full of moisture, they are done. just my 2 cents

 

[djl02]

Check this out if you dont believe it,but Rice will work as well as Decicant.and its a lot cheaper. Both absorb moisture and humitity

 

[CountryBoy19]

I use the renewable version mentioned above. The only draw back about the pouches like in shoes boxes, is once they are full of moisture, they are done. just my 2 cents

I disagree, nearly any dessicant can be reused by baking the moisture out of it. And a good portion of those found in shoe-boxes are silica gel and can most definitely be reused again by baking it.


But if you guys are really looking for a cheap source of silica gel dessicant you're looking in the wrong places. Go to your local pet-store (I can't recall which ones carry it anymore) and buy the 100% hypoallergenic cat litter that looks like small clear and blue plastic crystals. Don't get the stuff that is part clay litter and part crystals, it has to be 100% clear and blue crystals. That is silica gel in a crystal form; it's not the pretty little pellets but it will do the job just the same. Then, put it into socks or other small cloth pouches and use it just like any other silica gel packet.

 

[dleeharrison]

My med prescriptions come with little cylinderical dessicants. I save the dessicants and place them in my reloading die boxes.

 

[Zoub]

I use one called Desi View Desiccant Bags I noticed you can request samples.

I got a bunch from a project I worked on a few years ago. They were kept in a can similar to a paint can, lid always resealed after some were taken out. They can be baked in an oven and reused, at home I toss them in my dehydrator. They are tyvek on one side, clear plastic on the other.

I keep my spares in a small pelican case or ammo can.

I wondered about those cat pee crystals. Now we know. Grab some Tyvek, fold to any size you want, load it up and seal it up.

 

[Sgt Rock]

Well, I'll be a SOG, the crystal kitty litter in an old gym sock, tied off with string and hung in my gun safe works like a charm. I also put small ones in my gun cases, bow case and ammo boxes and yes, even my tackle box. That stuff works. Countryboy19, you sir, are a genius!

 

[CountryBoy19]

Countryboy19, you sir, are a genius!

Thanks, but I have to be honest, I'm not the one that came up with that. I read that on another forum a few years back when I was having trouble finding a source for cheap silica gel. I haven't had to look for a source since then.

 

[M9Hoosier]

How do you know when its absorbed all the moisture it can hold?

 

[CountryBoy19]

How do you know when its absorbed all the moisture it can hold?

You don't normally know unless you have "indicating" silica gel. Indicating silica gel can be most easily identified by its blue or pink color. Blue means it's dry and pink means it's full of moisture. When you buy the cat little with the clear and blue crystals you know that it's dry (the blue crystals indicate that it's dry) and when it's exposed to moisture the blue crystals will turn pink.

If you don't have indicating silica gel it's tough to tell, but one way is to monitor the humidity in whatever container you're trying to keep dry. If the humidity all of the sudden begins to rise, then it's likely that the desiccant can't absorb anymore and it should be renewed.