If any of you remember my post-Katrina posts in the Survival Forum back in 2005/06, I am a big advocate of ammo cans as a way to keep things protected to, well, to the next ice age. My dad had 400 M-1 Garand clips that were fresh as new after three weeks under 9 feet of water. But, will they last to almost forever?

You decide.

.....CLIFF
(like, who else?)

I would agree with the utility of the ammo can. I have collected several over the years. My eldest has been in service for a good thirty years and is holding up quite well. Mostly I have the ones holding 30 and 50 cal ammo. Just out of curiosity, what sizes and types are available?

I have 7.62mm (small), 5.56mm or .50cal(large), and 20mm (very large) Ammo Boxes. Most other sizes are fitted into these three sizes, mostly. I also have a 10ga flare box and they are square shaped.

Artillary shells come in metal canisters which also make great anchor buoys for small and large vessels.

I use ammo cans for many things. Here is one I use in my truck as a simple lock-box against opportunistic smash-n-grab thiefs. An ammo can with a large hole drilled at the opening end, a piece of electrical conduit with one end smashed (in a vise) and the other end drilled through, a cable for locking bicycle seats, and a padlock. I attach it to the metal seat frame, and tuck it away under the back seat.

This arrangement is actually more heavy-duty and more secure than the official lockboxes you see advertised for cars. I keep an old hand towel in the box to wrap things up in to protect them. Cheap, easy to make, and very functional.

The box is no longer waterproof with that hole drilled in it, but I figure if you have water that deep in the back seat of your truck, well, you have bigger things to worry about!

I have what appears to be a giant ammo can. I think it was originally for holding night vison goggles or some other kind of optic. It was originally full of thick foam padding stuck to the inside. I was able to peel that off and now it's just a giant ammo can. It's current job is to hold .22LR ammo. I believe I have 15 or 20 bricks inside at the moment (still boxed, not loose rounds). Holds a lot! Very strong. But also very heavy with all that ammo inside! Wouldn't want to carry it very far.

And here I was about to get rid of a few ....

I have some of the plastic copies holding ammo. Cheap enough so that I can have one for each kind then it looks like I have thise huge stock of ammo. I put my old re-useable floppy isk labels to use again but sticking them to the ammo cans.

I'm looking for a metal one which will hole 2-3 1lb propane canisters, anyone that has a few can you check size so I know what to look for?

Eugene... I can fit 2, 1# bottles in a standard 840 round 5.56 (50cal) can... but you have to force the lid closed

They are remarkably secure storage as cheap as they can be had for sometimes.

The 7.62mm cans are selling for $20 and the .50cal boxes are selling for $25 ea here in Louisiana surplus stores.