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Plastic Ammo Boxes


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Does anybody know how well plastic ammo boxes hold up? A local farm supply store has Plano Ammo Boxes on sale for $5.99 and a rebate brings the final price to $2.99.

 

Oh gosh. It depends, I suppose. Are you talking about one of the four on the left, or the one on the far right, which is more of a plastic ammo can? BING search link

 

I've found exactly one plastic ammo can, up around Toronto, Canada. I would imagine the cost is a major factor in why I haven't seen more. I've seen them at Gander Mountain stores, and they wanted like $25 for them.

 

From my memory, the one I found was gasketed, was made of very heavy plastic, and was doing just fine in it's hollow log hidey hole after a few years.

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I placed one like the photo on the right in early November. I got it at Cabellas on sale. So far it's still dry. It doesn't look to me like it'll be waterproof (more like water resistant). If you push on the sides of the container, they cave in pretty easily. Mine was the .50 size, and maybe the smaller sizes would be a little sturdier. It was, however, strong enough for me to stand on the edge of the lid for a boost up. :)

 

It was way cheaper than an ammo can, so I decided to give it a whirl and see how it held up. It's a little early for me to call it right now.

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It looks like the ammo can on the far right and has a gasket in the lid.

Looks like the same ones I get from Dick's Sporting Goods that have the Winchester logo on them. They are free with 4 boxes of Winchester brand shotgun ammo of different types. We shoot alot of clays and have a few cans, that's a good price, but the cans are kinda wimpy for ammo cans. They make good .12 gauge ammo range cans. :unsure:

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but the cans are kinda wimpy for ammo cans.

But do they seem wimpy for a geocache? Not comparing to a 'real' metal can but to other container types at that $3 price point?

They may make nice geocaches, and that is a good price. I just think because they are a cheap type of plastic they would not weather well and become brittle. They are not like the military plastic ammo cans that I have. Still for that price they would be hard to beat for a well maintained cache. I have quite a few different kind of ammo cans, some the size of foot lockers. They work great for storing ammo in. :laughing:

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They may make nice geocaches, and that is a good price. I just think because they are a cheap type of plastic they would not weather well and become brittle. They are not like the military plastic ammo cans that I have. Still for that price they would be hard to beat for a well maintained cache. I have quite a few different kind of ammo cans, some the size of foot lockers. They work great for storing ammo in. :laughing:

Good to know and thanks for providing the info.

Someone actually gave me a metal ammo can to use as a geocache, I keep ammo in it instead :laughing:

They are good for that.

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I had one of these in my hand on Saturday, but ended up putting it back on the shelf. I think they were $4.89. Thought that was a decent price, but didn't know how they would hold up...Maybe I'll go get one and try hiding it and see how it does. It can't be any worse than some of the others I've found re: getting wet, etc.....

And if it only lasts a year, or two, it's not that expensive!

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It can't be any worse than some of the others I've found

Maybe my expectations are just too dern high. I actually shuddered when I read that line. "Can't be any worse"? Has that become the acceptable standard these days? Since there are X number of soggy, moldy caches out there, it's OK to risk another one? I recall when the mantra was, "Use the best container available in the size you choose to hide". I sure miss those days. (OK, I'll step off my soapbox now...)

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I recall when the mantra was, "Use the best container available in the size you choose to hide". I sure miss those days. (OK, I'll step off my soapbox now...)

 

Oh I agree with what you are saying. It is just in some areas 'real' ammo cans are not often available. The only army surplus store within 50 miles (that i am currently aware of) finally got a shipment of 100 real ammo cans and had them for sale at a decent price of $15. They sold out in like two days and have yet to get another batch. At the last gun show I attended the cans were $25 which is a little steep for an item that is attractive to thieves. With shipping factored in most on-line sources seem about the same or higher then the gun show.

So trying to find an alternative to the optimal cache container while trying to maintain the size aspect and not being cost prohibitive can be a daunting task.

 

So with available being the key factor and ammo cans did not meet that criteria yet that size was desired, what container alternative would be acceptable to you?

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The Plano "ammo box" shown on the Bing link says that it is "water resistant" (not water proof) with "tongue and groove" lid. There is no mention of a seal. Probably wouldn't be good enough for geocaching.

 

On an interesting sidenote, I recently saw this Plano product in a hardware store.

Plano waterproof boxes

 

The seal on it looked very rugged. One side was hinged and the other three latched very securely. It was a relatively small container (small to medium sized Lock n Lock). I did have some concerns with how the plastic latch and hinge points would hold up to cold temperatures and long sunlight exposure. (Most plastics become weaker or deteriorate when exposed to these.) The pinned hinges may hold up better than the "living" hinges used on Lock n Locks. The $5.00 price for the smallest one seemed a little higher than a Lock n Lock of similar size.

 

medoug.

Edited by medoug
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There are different types and different quality plastic ammo cans. The things to look at is what type of seal do they have? If if is a foam seal they will leak. If it is a rubber seal and the latch is tight then the seal has a better chance of not leaking. Next look at where the handle is attached. If it is in a recess in the lid and goes though the lid water will flood in the box. check the hinges to see if the seal is tight at the hinge end of the lid or if the hinges are hidden but the seal is not in place at the hinges. The good orange boat storage boxes are waterproof but there are a lot of the cheap storage/ammo boxes that are nowhere close to waterproof. I just found one today with the recessed lid that the handle goes through holes in the recess and it had standing water in it.

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