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Clear Containers vs. Ammo Cans


kitsune

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Does anyone else feel even the least bit skittish when approaching and opening an ammo can cache? If I were to come across one in the woods without knowing it was a cache, I'd be a bit suspicious.

 

I've never had any issues with caches before, but I tend to feel a bit better being able to see what is inside the cache before I open it. I was reminded of this as the local school systems have become paranoid, resulting in the requirement for clear backpacks. icon_rolleyes.gif

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woods are poor places for terrorist targets. in sensitive areas the host may require visible containers, but you still can't beat an ammo can for durability.

 

i don't think i'd open any old ammo can i found out there, but one at a location where it says its going to be posted on this site seems safe enough to me.

 

but then again, i consider caches on islands to be drive-ups this time of year.

 

it doesn't matter if you get to camp at one or at six. dinner is still at six.

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quote:
Originally posted by flask:

woods are poor places for terrorist targets. in sensitive areas the host may require visible containers, but you still can't beat an ammo can for durability.


 

I'm not really thinking along the lines of terrorists as I am considering the neighborhood vandal.

 

I also love the ammo cans, as you can abuse them heavily with no ill effects and they blend in nicely with their surroundings, whereas a lot of plastic caches are prone to moisture damage and, if uncovered, appear as litter to people passing by.

 

Not being able to see what is in a cache hasn't, and won't, prevent me from opening them, as I haven't heard of anything serious happening to a cacher or any content that was harmful.

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Ammo cans are the way to go in the mountains. They are durable, cheap and keep the contents dry through the winter. We have never had any trouble with them where I live. I also find army surplus stores much more interesting than Tupperware parties when I purchase my cache containers.

 

Lake Tahoe Geocacher

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Never felt any hesitation regarding ammo boxes as the coords took me to the area and ones I've found had been marked with geocaching.com or cache name. However, I'm thinking of planting a cache nearby a hospital and in this case, I will be going to a clear rubbermaid type container so it's obvious it's not malicious and it will be well-marked. In the woods or similar, ammo boxes rule!

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I think even before caching I would have been pretty excited to open an ammo can found in the woods, it just wouldn't occur to me to be harmed by something in a can in the woods. Urban setting is a different story and I agree with the tupperware mentality there. For each it's place... but in the woods the ammo can is irreplaceable.

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I admit, I've only got 2 finds under my belt, but in both circumstances, the tupperware caches were wet. The first one I found was literally soaked...I'm talking an inch of water in the bottom of the cache. I consider it to be poor cache maintenance by the owner, but, it was wet nonetheless. The second one was relatively dry, but the humidity had gotten into the tupperware container and just made everything a little damp and nasty. Although I've never found an ammo can cache (I'm going hunting for my first one tomorrow), I'd much rather find an ammo can cache than a Tupperware cache simply because I'd know the contents were dry, and possibly worth trading for. There's no way I'm gonna trade for a drenching wet baseball card or two AA batteries swimming in a ziplock baggie full of water.

 

As far as safety goes...if someone wants to make a bomb look like a cache, they can make it out of Tupperware or Ammo Cans...I don't see how one is safer than another. Just because it's clear doesn't mean you can see everything that's inside of it. What if it's laced with a chemical agent? What if the logbook is laced with Anthrax? What if the tupperware container is actually sitting on a trigger for a land mine? What if there's a sniper sitting in the tree waiting to kill clueless cachers? Better break out the duct tape!

 

If you want to make a sturdy cache that you can see through, consider making one from 1/2" lexan glass and some 2 ton epoxy. Just gotta figure out a way to make the lid seal tightly. It just might work.

 

My $0.02

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...why some people are so skittish about ammo cans.

 

I can almost understand the "clear container" concept (though it's really a *big* stretch for me), but why is camoed painted (insert your favorite container type here) OK, but an ammo can isn't?

 

A pipe-bomb could just as easily hide in a tupperware container as an ammo can. Heck, a pipe-bomb wrapped in gift-wrap would look perfectly innocent in a clear container.

 

Just what is the rationale? It really seems like some silly paranoia is going on here.

 

George

 

[This message was edited by nincehelser on March 06, 2003 at 11:41 PM.]

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I never even hesitate to open an ammo box. In fact I'm glad when I see one. I know the contents won't be soaked and covered with green slime.

 

BTY most Tupperware and Rubbermaid containers aren't clear either. If someone is intent on placing something harmful in a cache, I doubt a clear container will stop them. They can easily disgiuse

the object as something else.

 

A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away. -Barry Goldwater

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How about calling them, "watertight metal boxes generally found in army surplus stores." Recently there was a policy made in the Arkansas state parks about caching. In short, they wanted clear containers. In my letter to them I used that exact phrase hoping it sounded less threatening than ammo can. Due to the number of cachers present and written comments presented at the meeting, it worked out in our favor and ammo cans are OK in AR SPs.

 

When GPSr's are outlawed, only Outlaws will have GPSr's.

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So far i haven't found a wet ammo can. I sure have found wet Tupperware. I have two caches out and one is in a saltwater enviroment. That one is in a ammo can, i could guess what it would look like if it were in tupperware. The second is in tupperware and in a better enviroment that would not get it too wet. I know i favor the ammo box but will see how the tupperware holds up.

 

Altree

(you will not starve with a p38 and a can of food)

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quote:
Originally posted by BrianSnat:

Hmmmm, paging through the posts, several others expressed basicially what I wrote. I could just have written "ditto" under them.

 


 

Ditto.

 

SteveL

 

These are my opinions and only my opinions, unless you share them as well, which would make them our opinions, but I am not of the opinion that I can express your opinion as my opinion without your prior expression of said opinion, and then my re-utterance of that opinion would, in my opinion, be foolish unless I were expressing agreement to your opinion, and then it wouldn't be my opinion but your opinion to which I only agree.

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