When I was still in the Marines I found four cans of belted M-60 ammo submerged in a muddy creek while hiking around the base on my own time. They had been there for a long time too. Unfortunately troops in the field have a habit of jettisoning extra ammo after the exercise is over to avoid having to hump it back then wait in a long line to turn it back in. The cans were rusted all the way around but after I got them open all the ammo was still dry. I just stashed them in the bushes then came back later with a shooting buddy in his 4X4, picked them up, smuggled them out to town to the garage I was renting and we had some .308 pop off the next trip to the desert.

Those old gentleman did their jobs just as they were intended to do. Impressive, thank you for sharing.

This is extremely comforting. Thanks for uploading!

Yea the military thought about ammo getting wet, that's why ammo cans and battle packs are waterproof.

My dad usually puts his reloads in lots of 50 or 100 in the food saver vacuum bags before he puts them in cans. Seems to work well. Looks like those old fellas worked as intended.

Sorry to hear you’re having floods. Thank you for taking time out to share with us.

Before you close your ammo can or if you put ammo in a plastic bag try to put a desiccant packet in because you can actually seal moisture in

I tried this with several ammo cans including old military surplus as well as new and polymer cans and what I found is that they can all handle being under water basically indefinitely BUT as long as you don't flip the can upside down, once the can is upside down the weight of the ammo and the buoyancy of the air inside create gaps and water gets in.

Those ammo cans rust a lot less when they aren't packed in cardboard which hold water. They normally rust very little even with water present. I have been putting all my ammo into cans, mostly to keep the 80%+ humidity from getting to it.

The cardboard probably made this worse cool though they could be cleaned up

Very awesome video. Real world worst case scenario results. Thank you.

I work for a large ammo manufacturer and I have on occasion had to work at our Materials reclaim facility, a few nights I spent there was unpacking ammo hundreds of ammo cans filled with 300 win mag sniper rounds, & thousands of rounds of 5.56 on stripper clips that had been shipped back to us from the gulf war, they has been sitting out side uncovered in wooden crates that had all but rotted away. they had been sitting in the weather since the 1990s and every round of ammo was in like brand new condition. the only ones that showed damage or water intrusion were crates that had been severely damaged and had been punctured and then only the outer most boxes of ammo in the cans appeared to have gotten wet. what the cans didn't protect the cardboard inside did. I have since always stored my ammo in old military ammo cans, I don't store my rounds loose, I keep them in the box till ready to use, In my opinion after seeing the old military surplus ammo in the well preserved condition. I will never store my ammo any other way. wont even think twice about storing in non-climate controlled areas they would be perfectly fine sitting outside if it weren't for thieves. I wont trust them to plastic containers, they might be fine but I've seen what the real steel cans will do.

Dry the can. Use a shop wire brush and remove all the rust visible. Repaint can with Rust-Oleum or something like it. After paint dries, one may reuse the can.

The can did its job. I've heard of ammo cans being swept out to sea by a hurricane to be found months later on a beach and all the contents perfectly preserved.

Tupperware for Men

I was given a couple cans like that full of primed .38spl. From a old gentleman down the road. They were being stored in a Very damp stone pantry type room. I was concerned about the exposed primers drawing moisture but tested a few cases without powder and all went bang. Reloaded a bunch and no duds yet! Very tight sealing cans apparently.

Not long ago there was a Vietnamese story covering the discovery of a damaged and sunk PBR river patrol boat from the Vietnam war. They were recovering and opening ammo cans that had been submerged and buried in mud since the 1960's. It was surprising to see the ammo inside looked as if it had just been packed, very little tarnish or discoloration- corrosion. No doubt that all of it would have fired off.

The main problem is you should have taken them out of the cardboard boxes along time ago. That's what caused the significant rest

We have used GI Ammo cans to move equipment through sumps down to 10 feet in depth with not issues. Harbor F versions are questionable.

And that boys and girls is why we use ammo cans in the first place.

Once, when I lost my boat anchor, I used one of the same type of ammo boxes filled with lead bars as a temporary anchor, and after about six months in brackish water the outside of the can showed rust but the inside was dry.

My uncle was NYPD and said to NEVER store ammo in the basement or leave on the floor. ALWAYS store ammo up in the air on a shelf so in the event of a flood, the ammo is UP IN THE AIR.

Yeah, same thing happen to a dozen plus cans recently when we has a busted water line for 3 months and did not catch it...Set in eight inchs for 90 plus days...Ammo ok!

Good old HXP from the CMP. Seeing you open that took me back!

And that’s why we don’t store our ammo in cardboard boxes. Ammo cans work. Thanks man

Just subbed. Great video. Answered a couple of questions to boot. Thanks and GBU.

Awesome video! That's a lot of $$$ in that wet ammo can!

Uncle Sam knew what he was doing, 👌👍🪖🇺🇲

Sees water on ammo can, doesn’t dry it off, opens it up, doesn’t dry hands, opens bag with wet hand. I’m having a damn heart attack over here.

Good to see ammo cans working as designed.

Don't wrap items in material that hold moisture.

Amazing to se what you found, thanks for sharing and cheers from France

Ammo cans were made to protect ammunition in storage as well as transport. A lot of transport is by sea, so they were designed to keep water out. Whether sea water or rain. However with time the the rubber seal gets worn. It is a good idea especially with surplus cans to brush them down and apply another coat of paint. Make sure the rubber seal is in good shape with no cracks. If any cracks replace the seal. Then pack the ammo in plastic bags and then in the ammo cans. It should be good for many years in all types of storage conditions.

So happy for you that you didn’t lose your ammo. Grace and Peace

This is a great example of how sturdy these things are. I just filled a dozen 50 cal boxes today with my ammo.

Great 30 second video

I wouldn't discard the can. I buy Mil-spec cans from a local pawn shop and some of them are rusted, some worse than this. Brass wire brush, maybe sandblasting then a coat of Rustoleum Underbody Coating or Truck Bed paint (I give two coats. Lastly, ALWAYS check the rubber gasket. A none Milspec can will often not have the seal. If the seal is defective, remove it and use steel wool to clean the channel , clean it with acetone or alcohol and and apply a bead of silicon that is even with the channel. Viola! A nice can that may even seal better than Milspec.

I could smell the inside of that can as soon as you opened it. God I dealt with a lot of those cans.

open the can already!

I had a flood come through my house. Had some metal cans and some plastic ones. The contents of the plastic cans were a little wet. The contents of the metal cans were bone dry.

The can served its purpose😏👍

Always a good idea to throw a few desiccant packs into the cans as well..........

Oh God, don’t say you’ve been swamped.

Nice 30 caliber!

Good thing 1 or 2 inches of water didn't get to the top of the 8 inche can. WOW

Perfect. I have cans but might wanna check their status of the seal up top with a silicone gel check.

Checking that the rubber gasket is in good shape on these old cans is the key.

got lucky with your ammo! Sorry about you house flooding though man thats rough

why are they wrapped in cardboard. Never never never as you learned..Yeah, metal ammo can for the win!!..that investment paid off.

Just purchased surplus cans surprised how rusty they look(surface rust) but everything functions as it should

I LOVE the smell of nitrocellulose when i pop open one of my 50 cal ammo cans. Smells like Victory.

one time when my basement took on water, several ammo boxes were on the floor. I learned and dont do that anymore. But anyway, the military ammo boxes kept the contents dry, the civilian plastic ones, some of them leaked and were then full of water after I got the water in the room pumped out. you live you learn.

Love ammo cans and try to get them when I can..the o ring really helps

Thanks for showing us your cans

In a basement alone from the concrete, cardboard will hold moisture anyway.

Longer than a few days...

Im glad I bought a shit load of these over the years. Im very fortunate. Now they are priced through the fing roof ! I remember 20 years ago you could buy 30 cal cans for .50 cents and $1 for 50 cal.

brass does not rust anyway. I'd worry about electronics not a seal can of ammo.

Good containers!

Nothing beats GI ammo cans

I had 12 inches of water in my basement last summer. I had 8 ammo cans on the floor...submerged. Every can did what it was supposed to do and none leaked. I don't know if it made a difference, but I had wiped all of the rubber seals with a silicon product a few years ago.

Go to Harbor Freight and invest in sump pumps and shop vac

Thanks that's good info to have.

How stressful but what a relief!

.Real ammo cans should seal pretty well as they were designed for our military...I do own one plastic box..my first purchase..but all metal cans from now on I get at A Military supply store.. Much love from We The People.

🇦🇺😎👍Thank goodness for that

I had a flood and the Harbor Freight Cans were under water for a month. All water was penetrated 3 out of 5 cans.

No cardboard and you would have been fine. It just holds water against the steel can.

I love a happy ending.

I've got mine (in the basement) on cheap dunnage-racks from the local restaurant supply store for just that sort (of crappy) situation.

Nice

put blocks under the cans to keep them off a wet floor in case of a burst pipe or leaking water heater.

Note to self. Put stuff I want to protect up on shelves, particularly in an area that it is even possible for water to get in.

Who stores ammo in a humid and dingy basement? Maybe it’s just me.

I bush hogged my Grandsons pasture full of Dog Fennel and lost a part of my tractor, while walking the field looking I came across the top edge of an old ammo can rusted and stuck in the ground. Upon opening it I found plastic bags and debris that appeared to be dried leaves, an old pot stash it seems forgotten years after the people who lived there before moved.

You really dodged a bullet there! 😂

open an ammo can and what do you get.........ammo !

If you’re worried about any of that ammo I will take it off your hands lol

Good ammo. Those cans stay sealed.

I was nearly killed by a 50 cal can of 5.56 thrown from a helicopter for reasons never made clear, it was so close to hitting me I had to jump to avoid being struck by it after it bounced

Did all of them keep the water out ?

Awesome!

Perfect example why u buy real ammo cans

Dang, you had me worried.

Rusty cans are the best, new cans look way to Gucci lol.

I’ve been experimenting with paint cans for storage.

Well that's what the military design them for And that OD GREEN Paint that the military use STOP the METAL FROM RUSTING

You did not think these were made to keep water out????? German WW2 can are found all the time with perfectly perserved ammo inside. If the rubber seal is good you have little to worry about. If you ever buy ammo cans, always replace any worn or damaged seals. Its just that easy.

That’s not bad for being flooded

Maybe those cans are really good rather than getting the plastic versions

The gasket will last long time if you use your head Dont stack them the weight will cause the gasket to fail just saying

Dry inside, isn't that the point of the design of the can?

Nice , these days it’s like finding a bucket of money.

That ammo can has been wet a long time, that rust is old, those can will not rust that bad in a few days. You know they have been wet a long time so don't try and tell us it just happened in a few day, I call you out on this, yes the cans did what they were suppose to do but don't blow smoke and tell me it is just a few days.

Clean it up and paint it!

Good gasket!

This video prompted me to preheat my oven to 400 degrees

Put a little oil on the seal and it will seal back up.

👍

Did you (can you?) replace the gasket on these vintage cans, or are they original as shipped from CMP?