Ammo Cans

[+Poidawg]

Is there a way to secure an ammo can - as in lock the flip handle to keep just anyone form opening it? If anyone has a way to drill, attached some thin cable and lock these boxes, I would like to hear from you, thanks.

[+gof1]

Try a google search.

You will find lots of these.

Ammo Can Lock

[+Team_Talisman]

First off there is different ways to lock an ammo box.............BUT

 

Ok I presume this will be a multi cache with last clue the combination, or a puzzle cache where each part has a number for the lock....Right???

 

2nd I have a military friend who also geo caches, but he advises against it....

 

They have been instructed to call in a team to remove the locked cans it even though they camo and has geo cache on the side of it.....

 

My 2 cents worth keep them unlocked

 

Dave from Team_Talisman

[+Poidawg]

Im not sure I get this, who is "they"? a team of who?

Is this when ANY ammo can is found or what?

I dont think it would be feasible or financially possible to go out with a team to remove locks from each ammo can which is imprinted with "cache" on it...

Do you mean in town or is this out in the woods or what?

By the way, no this is not a puzzle cache, but the cache will be in a high muggle traffic zone and I do not want the expensive FTF prizes stolen to say the least.

 

By the way thank you for the links to the locks, I appreciate it.

Edited May 2, 2006 by Poidawg

[+Team_Talisman]

A high muggle zone for a locked box hummmm.....A homeless person in area finds box...oh its locked it has to be worth something....

 

A drug dealer or user in high muggle zone...must be my buy or sell

 

A money laundrier humm here is the curancy I am suppose to pick up...

 

Teenage kids....lets see what is in it....

 

bam expensive FTF gone

 

My 20cents worth

[+Tsmola]

yeah....a lock on it will not stop someone who really wants to see what's in the cache, in fact it will probably increase the odds of it being stolen by someone who wants to see what's inside.

[+briansnat]

Here is what I did using an eye bolt, two rubber washers and two metal washers:

 

 

 

Since this really isn't a getting started issue, I'm moving this to the general forum

Edited May 2, 2006 by briansnat

[+briansnat]

By the way, no this is not a puzzle cache, but the cache will be in a high muggle traffic zone and I do not want the expensive FTF prizes stolen to say the least.

 

If this is your only reason for locking the box, don't do it. A locked box will only pique people's curiosity and increase the likleyhood that your box will be stolen. That way they can get inside it in the privacy of their garage/basement, etc...

 

At least if its unlocked, someone who stumbles on it may open it, see what it is and leave it be. Lock it and you're almost guaranteed they will cart it off.

[+Poidawg]

Im hoping to shed some light on this.

The area I will be placing the cache in, is pretty much free from homeless encampments, and drug deals. Although some teenagers live within a mile - they are mostly busy riding horses and mountain bikes. The cache will be off a main trail where many hikers pass by. IE: the high muggle zone.

I dont think many of those hiking in the area would be interested in hauling the cache down the hill to get into it. But if someone were to stumble onto it, they would probably be curious enough to open it. This is not an issue for me after the FTF prize is gone.

The camo on the cache is really pretty good, but the only place in the area I can place the cache is somewhat out in the open. I would just like to secure the box for the first person and then after that it can remain unlocked.

I love the washer and bolt idea briansnat - I think I might give that a try.

[+yumitori]

I locked an ammo can in a manner similar to the way briansnat did. In my case the cache is a travel bug hotel, so I felt it important to protect the contents as well as the container itself. We've already had one such container in the area discovered and damaged, the bugs stolen or destroyed. I'd like to avoid a repeat of that.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

. . .2nd I have a military friend who also geo caches, but he advises against it....

 

They have been instructed to call in a team to remove the locked cans it even though they camo and has geo cache on the side of it.....

 

My 2 cents worth keep them unlocked

Dave from Team_Talisman

 

Dave, I find large portions of your post incredibly apocryphal, confusing and vague. Here are a few of the questions which it raises for me:

1) why do you assume that a "military friend" has any greater knowledge or authority in the matter of cache containers and locks than someone else? Are you assuming that "military friend"=police=police-spokesman-who-is supreme-police-authority-on-geocache-container-locks?

2) Who is "they"?

3) What precisely do you mean by "the locked cans"? Are you referring to locked geo containers for caches listed at geocaching.com and other listing sites, or are you talking about something else?

4) Another question about the removal of the "locked cans" -- where were they located?

5) It always helps, when you are making extreme and unexpected statements like this, if you expect others to take your words seriously, to cite a few specific instances, such as:

"On November 3, 2005, military police and backup infantry and EOD units from Fort Simmons were forced by federal geocaching protocols to enter a state-owned forest in Thanatos State Park near Boise, Idaho and to search out and remove for immediate destruction three geocaches whose containers were surplus ammunition cans marked as geocaches and bearing locks."

 

Absent these examples, and absent the answers to the glaring questions above, I wonder strongly about the veracity and the real-world usefulness of your statements. BTW, this is a good example of is how folklore and urban legends are created! Reminds me a bit of the "box found in forest with wires, possible geocache, removed by bomb squad and EMS" geocache urban legend which an Idaho poster tried to create a half-year ago.

[+JSWilson64]

How 'bout including the lock in the FTF spoils? Make it clear on the cache page and the notes inside that FTF is supposed to keep the lock.

[+headybrew]

To me this is very simple. Yes, there are ways to lock your cache. But if you do, you greatly increase the chance of someone stealing it. So instead of locking it find a better place for it.

[+ByrnedFish]

This cache GCMT4M integrated a Key lock with the ammo can. YOu must find a travel bug with the key on it to open the cache

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

To me this is very simple. Yes, there are ways to lock your cache. But if you do, you greatly increase the chance of someone stealing it. So instead of locking it find a better place for it.

 

Headybrew is right, and you also drastically increase the chances that someone (not a cacher, but a muggle) will become so entranced by the lock and the promise of valuables within that they will go out and fetch a large boltcutter and come back and crack the lock just to see what lies inside. We had a new local cacher who placed his first hide last year, and it was a locked ammo can. Amazingly, in the very short time (a matter of a few hours) before even the FTF cachers could get there, a muggle found it (it was majorly not well hidden, and in an area where teenagers and transients hang out to party) and stole it. If my memory serves me right, I believe that after the hider replaced the container, another muggle cut the lock within minutes of his placing the cache container. Amazing efficiency!

[+cqedens137]

was reading this thread and had to point out what 'they' do not only to locked caches but unlocked ones to.

 

May 24, 2004 by BBadMonkey (237 found)

I have not verified it yet, but it's been reported that a group of Chatham County's finest armed with a water cannon have violated the Cache. I'll disable it for now, until the container can be replaced with something less menacing. I knew better than place an ammo can in such a high traffic area.

 

you can read the rest of the story at BBadMonkey's lake mayor cache GCJ19Z.

[Ghengis Jon]

I was in Canada recently and came across a locked ammo can. It was chained to a tree in a secluded part of a rest area. According to the log, since locking it, muggles ceased to be an issue. Wasn't any problem for me as the lock combination was displayed in the GC Cache listing.

[RexBloodman]

I have been to many caches that were locked. These caches were in California by Tommy Trojan.

[+DaveA]

A potential way to secure the FTF prize while avoiding having to lock the can would be to only have coords to the FTF prize in the can, not the FTF prize itself.

 

From there you can stash the FTF prize in an area much less likely to have muggles around. You can also give hints that will make it very easy for the cacher to find once they are in the general coord location. This will prevent muggles from getting it as they aren't likely to know how to get to the listed coords.

[+Team_Talisman]

I would respond to vinnys strong statement but that is not for this post......

 

So I say as I did before in one of my earlier post about muggles...

 

email box is always open for questions on my posts

Edited May 7, 2006 by Team_Talisman

[+jadeskyline]

I recently hid a cache with a lock kit I bought at the surplus store (right next to the ammo cans!) So Far, So Good is all I have to say! I hid the key a few hundred feet away and put the coords to it on the ammo can. I don't think any drug dealers or such will find my locked ammo can. If the militay ever comes and cuts it open----- I'll be on a new misson to destroy all of their locks!!!!!! []

[70mmkrypto]

ammo can lockup

 

the eyebolt is a great idea, i like to put a NYLOCK (self locking) nut next to the "eye" of the bolt, then a washer, then i smear some silicone sealer on the hole and the washer and insert the bolt. Then on the inside i put another washer and more silicone and a nylock nut. Makes it so you cant just twist the bolt out.

 

I also put in a can of moisture absorber (get it at a gunstore or make you own with silica crystals). Keeps the box DRY from any ambient moisture. i also treat the outside of the box with a heavy Primer coat or four...and then metal paint in whatever color.

 

[+Thrak]

I have one done with an eyebolt as well. It's off a trail in the foothills and is the final cache in a series. You get pieces of the coordinates and pieces of the combination at caches 1 - 4 and at cache 5 you get the info to put the pieces together and then you can go open up the final cache.

 

The .30 cal cans have a nice big hole for the eyebolt. I was bummed that my .50 cal can had a very small hole. The biggest challenge was enlarging the hole so that the eybolt would fit through it.

 

If you do decide to lock your can get some TriFlow and spray the lock mechanism with it. Don't use WD40- it's not good for the lock and it collects dust and grit as well.

[70mmkrypto]

VAPOR Corrision Inhibitors!!!!!!

 

nuff said!!!

[aqx99]

You could try doing something like a multi I found yesterday. The final stage was in a heavily wooded area of a local park. The ammo can was tied with rope, and hung about 20 feet up in a tree. It was simply a matter of figuring out the knots in the rope on the tree trunk, and lowering the can down in order to open it. Of course, this wouldn't work if you hung it from the only tree in a park, but I think it worked well in this park.

[+Team Dromomania]

This cache GCMT4M integrated a Key lock with the ammo can. YOu must find a travel bug with the key on it to open the cache

 

Keys? Who needs keys! Read the instructions a few lines above the "Snow Mtn. Challenge 2005 Conquerors" caption. GCQZCV