The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: Big Frank on February 19, 2024, 06:22:12 AM
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One of the few personal things I had in Germany that made it home to me, besides my big @$$ 105mm brass ashtray, was a .50 cal. ammo can. I painted it gloss black while on call 24/7, on a 45-68 day straight tank gunnery support at Grafenburg. On one side I have a sticker of an eagle that said ZUNDAPP below it, but I cut that part off. Zundapp was a German motorcycle company founded in 1917. The sticker is one of the things I got with the tickets I won at the carnival during German-American Friendship Week at Storck Barracks/Illesheim Kaserne about 41 years ago. The bumper sticker on the other side is from Claire's Klosterstube. Or Close To Stupid as Sarge and I used to call it. We were always close to stupid, if not well beyond it, by the time we got back to the barracks from there. Klosterstube translates into English as monastery room, so I think the building used to be a cloister. The image on the sticker would seem to support that. I can't find any Zundapp logos with an eagle except this Badgeboy patch. Claire was a wonderful frau who owned a few different bars and really cared for her American boys. Besides Claire's Klosterstube, she had a place called Die Quelle I used to go most of the time, and Claire's Pub. It looks like Die Quelle translates as The Source. The source of what? I don't know, but it was a source of entertainment. They had music videos playing on a TV behind the bar. That's the first place I saw a lot of of music videos. Like when me and Sarge saw Culture Club's Do You really Want To Hurt Me? We couldn't figure out if it was an ugly woman or a guy in a dress. We just knew, as drunk as we were we still wouldn't f*** it! ;D Sometimes I here a pop as the pressure on the outside of the ammo can is too low or too high for the pressure on the inside, and the metal buckles. It's kind of weird to here that in my bedroom in the middle of the night.
https://www.7atc.army.mil/GTA/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%BCndapp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storck_Barracks
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I have stickers on every side of the ammo can except the bottom. It's been a long time since the NRA had the Proud, Strong, United campaign. And I think it was even longer ago that I got the hunter orange NRA stickers. I believe the Frank The Tank label was made with a label maker my platoon sergeant had in Germany. That was a nickname I usd back then. And I can't think of a more perfect place for the Viridian Weapon Tech sticker than around the hole in the latch. Where the sticker is too wide, then narrows down to fit on the bottom of the latch, it almost looks like it was sized to fit there. You can fit a lot of 5.56mm NATO ammo in a .50 cal. ammo can, especially if it's in 30-round boxes the way the Israelis pack it, with no divider inside the box. They're about the same size as most 20-round cardboard boxes.
P.S. If you have any old cassette tapes, .30-cal. ammo cans are good for carrying them. I don't have any to get the measurements off of, but compact cassettes fit the narrow width just about perfectly IIRC.
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I have several old ammo cans that still POP like that occasionally. When I first got married, it scared the crap out of the wife when it did it. ;D
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I should probably open the ammo can a few times a year whether I use it or not. Maybe burp it like Tupperware once each season when the temperature changes. :) I thought I didn't have any .30 caliber ammo cans, then I remembered the one in the car with my tow chain in it. It just barely fits in there, and I lave to lay it back and forth when I put it in. Some of the jeeps we had in the army had 20mm ammo cans between the front seats like a center console. Those things are huge and have diagonal reinforcing ribs on the sides. I had .50 cal. cans U-bolted to the rear racks of several of my ATVs, with a hasp welded on and the hole in the latch enlarged for it, so I could slap a padlock on. The nuts on the U-bolts were inside the can, usually with a metal plate instead of washers, and covered with black RTV silicone. Ammo cans aren't just for ammo.
When I was in Germany and we went to the field for tank gunnery support, I took a wooden ammo crate like one of these full of pogey bait. (US, military, slang: Snacks, candy, and similar food items that are not generally available to soldiers in the field.) Pogue is American pejorative military slang for non-infantry MOS (military occupational specialty) staff, and other rear-echelon or support units. Also spelled POG - for People Other than Grunts. Sometimes we were called REMFs - Rear Echelon Mother F***ers, usually by DATs, Dumb Ass Tankers. I didn't care what anyone called me, as long as they didn't call me late for dinner. But if they did, I could fit a lot of ramen, jerky, chips, and other stuff in my ammo crate. ;D I know I mentioned it before, but our mess sergeant gave us loaves of bread and cases of shelf-stable UHT milk. IIRC it was 24 200ml cartons with straws attached like juice boxes, but before I eer heard of juice boxes. The milk didn't need to be refrigerated, but if you kept it in a fridge it would last 10 years. In the winter we threw a case on top of one of the trucks and took a carton out to thaw whenever we wanted. If I wanted toast, I tossed a slice of bread on top of the tent stove. There's nothing like that good old diesel flavor to give a man an appetite. ;) The bread, milk, and pogey bait supplemented the C-rations and army chow we had every day and made life more bearable. The treated wooden crates were poisonous but no one cared. We didn't eat the wood.
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(https://www.archerytalk.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,onerror=redirect,width=1920,height=1920,fit=scale-down/https://www.archerytalk.com/attachments/20231208_202612-jpg.8000624/)
Cost co has these for $20. 4 small cans in a tray. They have gaskets and claim to be water proof. I have about 10 sets of them
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I switched to using the plastic ones also. I store ammo by caliber and stack the cans in a safe that is dedicated to ammo only.
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My name is Tyler, and I’m a metal ammo can addict.
That and chrome wire metal shelving.
Wellllll….I do have two WrightLine media cabinets that were military surplus/DRMO. They have a roll up style or tambour style door in the front. I reload my own ammo, so let’s just say I have a lot of accoutrements and reloading related paraphernalia. The first media cabinet I bought had a lot of “shelves”. They are more like drawers. They pull out. So they hold a lot of ammo cans full of brass and bullets. The second one only had two drawers, so I took those out. I made my own wooden shelf standards, and added plywood shelves. Again loaded down with more ammo cans. I have a label maker so that is how I am able to keep track of everything.
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Well, admission is the first step Tyler. Good on you.
The next step is to get rid of all that pesky stuff, put it out of your iife to recover further.
I'll pay 1/2 the shipping for you to send it to Arkansas...if your addiction was really bad I may just drive up with my truck and trailer and haul it off for you.
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I have two of the large Husky 6’ tall cabinets. One specifically for ammo the other for reloading supplies and shooting accessories. Both of which I inserted wooden vertical supports on each side and in the middle. I far exceed the per shelf weight rating. I still have a lot of ammo in bags, but for my “everyday” competition I went to boxes. Neater and easier to label and track. The only ammo cans I have are used as paper weights to hold the target papers on top of the cabinets.
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I switched to using the plastic ones also. I store ammo by caliber and stack the cans in a safe that is dedicated to ammo only.
I needed the safe space, do now I just stack it in my home office. Not even sure how much is there to be honest. I have not bought ammo in at least 2 years. Been mainly shooting my reloads for the past 5 years.
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Well, admission is the first step Tyler. Good on you.
The next step is to get rid of all that pesky stuff, put it out of your iife to recover further.
I'll pay 1/2 the shipping for you to send it to Arkansas...if your addiction was really bad I may just drive up with my truck and trailer and haul it off for you.
Let’s see if I can get the image posting function to work.
I don’t come here very often.
(https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.toeNqNA14f4otL_c8qHKUQHaE7?dpr=3&pid=ImgDetMain)
My collection probably looks like that quantity wise.
But neater since I have a label maker
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I took everything out of my ammo can and put my 30 year old UMC yellow box .223 Remington 55 grain FMJ ammo in. The 20 round boxes are way bigger than the 30 round boxes of M193 ball that were already in it, but I figured out how to put 4 20s and 5 30s on edge lengthwise, with another 30 round box sideways at one end, like the illustration I just made. Then I added another layer just like it, oriented the opposite direction. And there was enough room left for 2 more 20 round boxes of UMC, plus 2 20 round boxes of Winchester White Box lying flat on top of those. The way I figure it that's 600 rounds, but if all of it was in the 30 round boxes, I could fit 10 boxes lengthwise plus 5 standing on end in the first layer, like the 3rd illustration, and 10 more boxes in the second layer. That's how I had it filled before. That's already 750 rounds, and plenty of room left for more. I don't remember how many rounds were in it when it was completely full but it was heavy. After I vacuumed there was always an impression left in the carpet. The way they pack is why I really like those 30 round boxes. That, and each box is a mag full. There are no plastic boxes with foam inserts to hold each individual cartridge, or 2 10-round plastic shell carriers to put on your belt, or anything else. Just ammo. I managed to put almost all of the rest of my rifle and pistol ammo, except what's in mags, in my footlocker. But not 2 cardboard boxes full of .357 Maximum ammo. There's no way I can make room for that. I have most of my rimfire ammo in the footlocker too, except for a few boxes of CCI Stangers.
https://www.cci-ammunition.com/rimfire/cci/stinger/6-50100CC.html
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I needed the safe space, do now I just stack it in my home office. Not even sure how much is there to be honest. I have not bought ammo in at least 2 years. Been mainly shooting my reloads for the past 5 years.
I had not been buying but recently I figured that ammo prices had bottomed out. So some 5.56 and 9MM slipped in there. If something jolts the price up....and it will...I'll sell of the old stuff. And..I've picked up some 30-30 that has not been so available and a little 243 because I only had a partial box or two lying around. Now I need to pick up a couple of boxes for a 257 Wthby Magnum but I'm waiting for my loan to be processed.... :o
<snip>
My collection probably looks like that quantity wise.
But neater since I have a label maker
So, what are you saying here Tyler? Are you taking the next step to cure your addition? Are we going to ship it here or do I have to come up and get it? Heck, I can put that in the back of the pickup I don't even need a trailer....we can do this today if you want!!! ;D
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I had not been buying but recently I figured that ammo prices had bottomed out. So some 5.56 and 9MM slipped in there. If something jolts the price up....and it will...I'll sell of the old stuff. And..I've picked up some 30-30 that has not been so available and a little 243 because I only had a partial box or two lying around. Now I need to pick up a couple of boxes for a 257 Wthby Magnum but I' waiting for my loan to be processed.... :o
So, what are you saying here Tyler? Are you taking the next step to cure your addition? Are we going to ship it here or do I have to come up and get it? Heck, I can put that in the back of the pickup I don't even need a trailer....we can do this today if you want!!! ;D
Sorry, Rastus….no deal.
Although I might just try winning one of the government liquidation auctions, and going to some Army base with a rental box truck or a flatbed trailer to pick them up.
If I ever do that, you’ll be the first to know.
;-P
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I brought in my .30 cal. ammo can. In the army, I think we normally got 5.56mm ammo in .50 cal. ammo cans when we went to the range, but maybe it came in .30 cal. cans too. I can't say that it did or didn't because they had a supply clerk dealing with it, not me. It was in 10 round clips in 7 pocket cloth bandoliers, 20 rounds per cardboard sleeve, with one clip guide per bandolier.
Here's my .30 cal. can with my tow chain and extra hook and quick link, and with some cassette tapes when I took the chain out. It will hold 18 tapes as shown plus 2 stacks of 3 lying on top, for a total of 24. If you lay them all flat in 2 piles it will only hold 23. I remember some guys putting some of their favorites in an ammo can when we went to the field. 24 tapes will hold A and B of my collection, but only up to Jackson Browne. I keep my comedy tapes separate, and most would fit in the ammo can. I never tried putting CDs in an ammo can but I have over 500 of them and it would be a hard decision which ones to take if I could only keep what fits in an ammo can. If I want to grab whatever fits in the car console for a weekend up north, I grab 6 or 8, but mostly listen to SiriusXM.
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So Frank, convert those CD's to flac files. I have 130 albums on a 128 GB thumb drive....with room for more. Heck you can put all 500 of your CD's in a CCI Stinger box with room to spare.
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If I did convert them I would indeed use FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec), not ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec), WMA Lossless (Windows Media Audio Lossless), or one of the less popular ones. And not a lossy codec, like AAC or MP3. Then I would have enough audio files to listen to 8 hours a day for over 2 months, but it would take a lot to time to rip all those CDs ans download them.
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I've lost count of all the cans I've had over the years. I went through a downsizing as I sold some of my rifle collection and the ammo went with it in cans. I have an odd assortment of .30 and .50, including more than a few side latch .50s, plus a couple of 20mm, and one Russian 7.62x39 wooden box - with the Russian writing still on it.
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I gave away a bunch of ammo for Christmas years ago so I'd have room to keep what I put in the footlocker and ammo can. I think I gave away all of my Korean 5.56mm ammo and a bunch of 12 gauge. Maybe some other stuff too.
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I put the M855 ball ammo I got from PSA in my footlocker and put more M193 ball ammo in my ammo can, along with some 55-grain .223 Remington FMJ to fill the can up. It's 870 rounds if I counted right. Here's a pic of the ammo can but it didn't turn out very well. The picture of my footlocker, on the other hand, turned out much better. It looks almost as attractive as pictures at an online candy store where I shop. On the far right you can see the left edge of the second layer of 5.56x45mm ammo. After I put all my M855 in the bottom and started the second layer, I put all my .223 in according to weight; 77, 75, 64, 62, 60, 55, 53, and 40 grain. No 45 or 50 grain ammo, but some of the 55 grain is Sierra Prairie Enemy. - Prairie Enemy ammunition utilizes our world famous BlitzKing bullets that offer high ballistic coefficients and high velocities. Our 55 grain ammunition utilizes the same 55 grain Blitzking that has terrorized varmints for years. That should work better in fast twist AR barrels than lighter bullets. The upper left corner of the footlocker is all .45 ACP, and the lower left is a little bit of .45 Colt and .410 bore. Next to that is .44 Magnum, then .380 ACP, and .22 WMR, with .22LR behind them, between the .45 ACP and .223 Remington. I can't get all of my rifle, pistol, or rimfire ammo in the footlocker, but I can get most of each in there, not counting what's in the ammo can and cassette tape case. I still have a few cardboard boxes of various ammo, plus 2 boxes full of .357 Max. and a few boxes full of shotgun ammo. Whenever I get around to it, I'll take the cheap .22 ammo out and make room for the Stingers or more centerfire ammo. I should take all the .22 LR out and see what I can fit in in its place.
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(https://www.archerytalk.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,onerror=redirect,width=1920,height=1920,fit=scale-down/https://www.archerytalk.com/attachments/20231208_202612-jpg.8000624/)
Cost co has these for $20. 4 small cans in a tray. They have gaskets and claim to be water proof. I have about 10 sets of them
Was there last night they had 2 pallets of then. So I bought a couple more.
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If I quit working on my guns and buying new parts for them, maybe I could afford to buy more cans of ammo too. I got 250 Rounds of AAC .45 ACP 230gr FMJ packaged in a .30 Cal Plano Ammo Can from PSA. I didn't take it out and count it yet, but I will. My Pocket Samurai knife is setting right here, and it's good for cutting open plastic bags like the one in the ammo can. It's good for cutting rail covers and everything else I've used it on so far.
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I pulled the heavy-duty plastic bag of .45 ammo out of the ammo can and there were a few loose rounds in the bottom of the can. The bag was splitting at the seam and more ammo was squeezing out, so I flipped it over and pulled the seam open from one side all the way to the other. I have regular cardboard boxes of ammo with plastic trays that make it easy to count out 50 rounds. So I took 4 boxes of Blazer "Flying Ashtray" 200gr. JHPs out of my footlocker, took the ammo out of the trays and put it back in the boxes. I put a piece of Scotch tape on each end of each box and put them back. I was still a box short, but had a box of Aguila ball ammo in a milk crate and took the tray out of it. I cut it in half with a Stanley knife so I can fit all 5 boxes, 4 high, in the ammo can. I put the ammo back in the box, taped the ends, and put it back in the milk crate. It will be there the next time I go camping and set up my tent. I use 2 milk crates stacked up with a piece of plywood on top for a nightstand in my tent. All 5 boxes of ammo were bought in 2006. There were 3 little squares of cardboard in the bag of ammo, and 3 free bonus rounds.
After they quit loading Speer ammo like Lawman with the Flying Ashtray, they still loaded it in Blazer aluminum-case ammo, for several years I think, before they quit selling them altogether. I always told people this bullet had a 1/4" hole surrounded by 1/10" of lead. But I just held a fired .30-30 Winchester case up to the end of one. And the edge of the jacket is roughly the same size as the outside of the .30-30 case. Wikipedia says that's a neck diameter of .330". So, it's a gaping hole in about a .33 caliber nose of a .45 bullet. No matter how you measure it, that's one big hollow point. At the edge of the jacket, it's almost as big as a 9mm bullet. About 8mm. :o