Where have all the ammo cans gone?

[+LightHouseSeekers]

Our Costco had them and sold out.

They are back again. In a 2 pack as mentioned in a prior post.

Keep checking stock or ask at member services

[+bflentje]

Our Costco had them and sold out.

They are back again. In a 2 pack as mentioned in a prior post.

Keep checking stock or ask at member services

 

The cans sold at CostCo are not milspec and not the real thing. They may look the same, but they're usually lighter gauge steel and have very poor gaskets.

[+kunarion]

The cans sold at CostCo are not milspec and not the real thing. They may look the same, but they're usually lighter gauge steel and have very poor gaskets.

The info I've read (on sites selling the 2-packs) is that these ammo cans are made in the same factory, and of the same material as military grade cans. Is there other info about this?

[+LightHouseSeekers]

RE: Costco cans

 

Haven't put them on scale or measured actual thickness,

but comparing them to ones I bought years at a surplus store.

 

Feel same weight, look identical even the spec number imprinted through metal.

Gasket quality looks good.

[+J Grouchy]

The cans sold at CostCo are not milspec and not the real thing. They may look the same, but they're usually lighter gauge steel and have very poor gaskets.

The info I've read (on sites selling the 2-packs) is that these ammo cans are made in the same factory, and of the same material as military grade cans. Is there other info about this?

 

Yeah...they're very hefty. If there is a gauge difference, it's not enough to notice and I doubt it would affect the life of the cache.

[+geekgrl1]

I have no problems with any container in any location. As long as I am having fun, who cares what size the container is? Size doesn't mean better.

 

Agreed! I live in Miami, so if I held out for a 5k hike and an ammo can, I wouldn't get much geocaching action. A lot of caches here are micros in urban locations because that's mostly all we can do here. We have parks, of course; but nothing remote except parts of the Everglades

Edited June 10, 2016 by geekgrl1

[+J Grouchy]

I have no problems with any container in any location. As long as I am having fun, who cares what size the container is? Size doesn't mean better.

 

Agreed! I live in Miami, so if I held out for a 5k hike and an ammo can, I wouldn't get much geocaching action. A lot of caches here are micros in urban locations because that's mostly all we can do here. We have parks, of course; but nothing remote except parts of the Everglades

 

I'm less concerned with size than I am about durability.

[+bflentje]

The cans sold at CostCo are not milspec and not the real thing. They may look the same, but they're usually lighter gauge steel and have very poor gaskets.

The info I've read (on sites selling the 2-packs) is that these ammo cans are made in the same factory, and of the same material as military grade cans. Is there other info about this?

 

Yeah...they're very hefty. If there is a gauge difference, it's not enough to notice and I doubt it would affect the life of the cache.

 

Then perhaps my local superstore had a one-off pallet of the not-real ammocans, last time I checked. I ended up buying my own from the Army.

[ZeekLTK]

I'm with you. At one time all you needed to do was turn on your GPS and 90 percent of the time it would take you to some place special.

 

I have hidden most of my caches with that in mind, to bring cachers to special places. To find most of my caches a round trip hike of a mile or more, sometimes 4-5 miles is required. The logs are pretty rare these days, but the few people who enjoy those sorts of caches still seem to really enjoy them.

 

Ten years ago I couldn't keep up with the logs on these caches. Now I may get a handful of logs a month on those caches together, even though I still own over 200 active caches.

 

I'm not interested in getting 100 finds on a 7-Eleven dumpster cache in a month. Now I'm lucky if I receive 100 logs a year spread out among my 200+ caches, but I keep them there for those who enjoy that sort of cache. There are some cachers who are still into that and it is that segment that I cater to.

 

I'm not alone, they are out there. Lots of them, but it takes a lot of winnowing through the chaff to find them.

 

You also have to consider that once someone has found a cache, they aren't going to try to find it again. As time passes, there are simply fewer and fewer people in any given area who haven't already found the local caches. At that point, the only way someone new would look for the cache is either if another local started geocaching or, much more likely, a geocacher from somewhere else is passing through AND has the time to look for your cache.

 

Since most traveling geocachers are typically on a time constraint, a lot of them simply won't be able to attempt to find a good hide that takes a while. They'll opt for something quick and easy so that they can continue going where ever they are headed.

 

For example, when we drove from Florida to Maine, we made sure to get a find in each state. However, we also made sure to try to go for the easiest possible finds, because we weren't about to spend 2-3 hours in Georgia looking for 1 cache, or multiple caches if we wound up with some DNFs. We just wanted one that we could find on a 5 minute break and then get back on the road so that we could get to Virginia before midnight.

[+edexter]

There's nothing quite like finding an ammo can hidden deep in the swampy woods. They are built for it: waterproof, fireproof, with a built in tether attachment: they can be neglected for years and still be dry. But in 2016 half the "hides" are on or above pavement and only one cache in ten requires a walk longer than a half mile round trip. And in my area, they cost about twenty bucks, which really stings when some idiot decides to walk off with one. So I use lock & locks of various sizes in the woods and know I may have to replace them if they get cracked (or stolen). The majority of cachers these days think bison tubes and nanos are real caches, so don't expect an ammo can revival...

edexter

[+LycanthroFee]

Ammo cans truly are an exciting find, though I'm a much newer player who's barely been playing for a year yet, I agree that it's sad that there's less big caches in beautiful remote locations, it's about the place as much as it is the cache, aye?

 

I think a reason ammos are becoming an endangered species is because I've only seen ammo cans for £10+ which just cannot rival 80p for some tupperware sadly... Even micros and bisons are abot £1 a pop. We as people favour the cheaper option half the time, so most players are much more likely to pop up to the shops for a nice bit of tupperware.

[+hukilaulau]

I know the answer to "Where have all the ammo cans gone?"

NEW JERSEY. And briansnat is responsible for a bunch of them. For real, when I want to spend a day hiking and finding good hides in interesting places, I head for one of the huge parks in NJ. And I think I've still got a couple of years worth of finds left there...

[+hal-an-tow]

And I know the tune to "where have all the ammo cans gone ?" , and it's been rolling around in my excuse for a mind ever since I saw the thread title .

 

Where have all the ammo cans gone?

Long time passing

Where have all the ammo cans gone?

Long time ago

Where have all the ammo cans gone?

Muggles stole them every one

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

 

Where have all the muggles gone?

Long time passing

Where have all the muggles gone?

Long time ago

Where have all the muggles gone?

Gone to hunt pocket monsters everyone

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

 

Where have all the ammo cans gone?

Long time passing

Where have all the ammo cans gone?

Long time ago

Where have all the ammo cans gone?

To a junk heap in a garage corner every one

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

 

Where has all the garage junk gone?

Long time passing

Where has all the garage junk gone?

Long time ago

Where has all the garage junk gone?

Gone to yard sales, every one

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

 

Where have all the ammo cans gone?

Long time passing

Where have all the ammo cans gone?

Long time ago

Where have all the ammo cans gone?

Gone back out as caches, every one

When will we ever find one ?

When will we ever find one ?

 

With profuse apologies to the ghost of P. Seeger.

[+Ambrosia]

There's nothing quite like finding an ammo can hidden deep in the swampy woods. They are built for it: waterproof, fireproof, with a built in tether attachment: they can be neglected for years and still be dry. But in 2016 half the "hides" are on or above pavement and only one cache in ten requires a walk longer than a half mile round trip. And in my area, they cost about twenty bucks, which really stings when some idiot decides to walk off with one. So I use lock & locks of various sizes in the woods and know I may have to replace them if they get cracked (or stolen). The majority of cachers these days think bison tubes and nanos are real caches, so don't expect an ammo can revival...

edexter

 

I do think they're the best kind of cache container. But they are not always fireproof. If the fire is hot enough, it will destroy the ammo can. We've lost a fair amount around our area. A cacher I was talking to recently said that they will explode in a hot fire. I did find one recently that went through a fire and it was still intact. The rubber seal was charred, and the bag on the inside had bubbled.

[+Harry Dolphin]

I know the answer to "Where have all the ammo cans gone?"

NEW JERSEY. And briansnat is responsible for a bunch of them. For real, when I want to spend a day hiking and finding good hides in interesting places, I head for one of the huge parks in NJ. And I think I've still got a couple of years worth of finds left there...

 

Warning. NJ State Parks are having archived caches in state parks caches without permits. I recently found three ammo can caches in Wawayanda that are now archived.