Painted ammo cans

[.cheese.]

I saw this image on THR of PAShooter's ammo stockpile.

It's great:

I would love to redo my cans to look that good.

What paint do I use to match the green color of the cans as they come? I see some green paint in surplus stores, is that the stuff to use?

What's the best way to make stencils?

On my cans I specify:

Caliber
Brand | Type of Bullet | Bullet Weight
Lot Number (if applicable) | Number of rounds​

what should I get to redo my cans to look so organized?

Awesome setup PAShooter.

 

[brekneb]

It's not so impressive when you consider those are ALL empty of course. Just kidding. I'm just jealous.

 

[Sunray]

"...What's the best way to make stencils?..." Don't know where to get the paint, but stencils aren't difficult. Shirt weight cardboard, a plastic letter 'outliner'(any office supply shop), a pencil and some arcylic or enamel paint will do nicely. Acrylic paint is cheap in any Walmart or hobby shop.
Mind you, the ammo cans I'm seeing, up here, are kind of collectable, if you're a bit daft. I'm seeing 5.56 NATO, ball, trace and AP, etc. And some 7.62 ammo cans with assorted NATO issue stencils. Like the can next to the post.
Who stores 9mm and .45 ACP's or .38's and .357's or 5.45x 39 and 7.62 x 39 in the same can anyway? Geezuz!

 

[.cheese.]

yeah, mine are all marked currently by the military as 5.56 tracer, blank, ball... 7.62 mm ditto ditto ditto, .50 whatever.

Don't care about those markings. Would paint over them in a second. I already wrote over them in paint marker.

 

[jobu07]

OD Green CARC paint I believe.

 

[DMK]

You can get OD and yellow Krylon at Walmart.

Anything previously stenciled on the ammo can usually comes off pretty easily when wiped with a rag soaked with acetone.

In my experience, surplus cans come in different colors, just give the whole can a fresh coat.

 

[.cheese.]

what's CARC? Chemical Agent Resisting Coating?

 

[PAshooter]

Wow! I'm famous

Thanks for the compliment(s)!

The paint I used is "Forest Green" Rustoleum which is offered in their Camo line. It's a flat finish paint, so it will show handling marks, but seems to stand up well. Mainly I wanted to cover the original stenciling in order to add my own.

"...What's the best way to make stencils?..." Don't know where to get the paint, but stencils aren't difficult. Shirt weight cardboard, a plastic letter 'outliner'(any office supply shop), a pencil and some arcylic or enamel paint will do nicely. Acrylic paint is cheap in any Walmart or hobby shop.
Mind you, the ammo cans I'm seeing, up here, are kind of collectable, if you're a bit daft. I'm seeing 5.56 NATO, ball, trace and AP, etc. And some 7.62 ammo cans with assorted NATO issue stencils. Like the can next to the post.
Who stores 9mm and .45 ACP's or .38's and .357's or 5.45x 39 and 7.62 x 39 in the same can anyway? Geezuz!

Bingo on how to make stencils, though I used 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of cardstock (lighter than shirt cardboard) for mine. I found some cheap house brand yellow enamel that came with a nice fan-spray nozzle that works well in that application.

As for your other comments ( ):

The can(s) next to the post are Aussie 7.62x51. I didn't paint those because that's the way the ammo came (appropriately marked), so I left them as-is.

As for mixing 9mm & .45 ACP (etc.) - the cans with the yellow dots are my "range ammo." Non-dotted cans are intended for longer term storage. So the "mixed" cans are the odds and ends left over after packing full cans. Just trying to conserve shelf space, while keeping everything (odds and ends included) buttoned up tight.

My collection and interests are weighted more toward long guns and semi-auto pistols - not too many revolvers in the stable - hence, the combination of .38 & .357 which I keep in only limited supply.

Oh, and the kind of data .cheese. mentions is what the little yellow tags are for. Here's a close-up of the tags. Also shows what I meant by "handling marks" on the paint. Still - they got there honestly, and the setup works for me.

 

[whitetiger7654]

That does look nice. But a cheaper way to do it is what I did. I just have all the cans with the handle toward you since that is a blank side. Then I used a label maker to make labels for all the cans.

 

[strat81]

OK, that picture got me a little excited.

I'm lame, I just use a piece of duct tape and a sharpie.

 

[mbt2001]

I'm lame, I just use a piece of duct tape and a sharpie.

+1

But for amatures like PAshooter with a few boxes, I guess he can take more time over them...

 

[EShell]

We just got as bunch of .50 ammo cans through a group buy by participating in a local .guv auction. We ended up with two pallets of cans in excellent condition at $3.28 USD each can.

 

[ColinthePilot]

If you're just going for practical labels and don't care about the look of the stencils, I would recommend a label maker.

 

[lee n. field]

Note to self: get more ammo cans.

 

[ScottyT]

It's not so impressive when you consider those are ALL empty of course. Just kidding. I'm just jealous.

No no no! Not empty, but full of various scrapbooking materials and other arts and crafts items. For example: .45 ACP = glitter glue, 9mm = pipe cleaners and other fuzzy things, etc...

 

[Templar223]

I bought quite a few cans a couple of years ago that were mint inside, but beat up and a little surface rust on the outside.

A little wire brushing and wiping down with a rag took care of the rust problem.

I used up some old spray paint and had several colors (black, dk green, lt green, orange, "rust" colored primer, etc.).

I went with the color coding as much as labeling.

For me, the black cans are 5.56 training ammo. Black with green lids is .30-06. Primer colored cans are training .38s. The orange can (takes a lot of fluorescent orange paint to cover a can) is my range ammo (a little of everything). Lots of green cans which are labeled with masking tape. I got serious about labeling stuff while photographing everything for insurance purposes last month.

John

 

[PAshooter]

No no no! Not empty, but full of various scrapbooking materials and other arts and crafts items. For example: .45 ACP = glitter glue, 9mm = pipe cleaners and other fuzzy things, etc...

You peeked!

 

[JohnBlaze]

:lol: nice setup PAShooter.

 

[gaowlpoop]

If you have a sample of the color you want, you can go to WalMart. Lowe's, Home Depot..........and they will use their super duper scanner and custom mix what ever color your want, in water or oil base, no extra charge.

 

[.cheese.]

they can't make spray paint though.

 

[.cheese.]

I bought mil-spec paint from the local surplus store. It's supposedly essentially the same paint used on the cans. It seems to be the same color at least. They had a bunch of colors. I had seen the paint in another surplus store, but assumed that it was baloney, and that there was no such thing as military surplus paint. However, this second store had the same stuff.

I bought 1 can to try out along with another .50 cal can while I was there.

I got a can of yellow gloss enamel at HD for the lettering, stencils and cardboard at OfficeMax, and the only thing I need to figure out is what to put on the can to hold a printed label that can be swapped out if I change out the ammo for same caliber, different brand/weight at some point. I was hoping to find the same kind of metal frame used on file cabinets. Then just a typewriter for the labels.

 

[PAshooter]

See my close-up pic above. I got some self-adhesive clear plastic sleeves from Office Depot. They're intended for labeling the spines of 3-ring binders, but work great for the little slide-in cards I use to list the detailed contents.

 

[.cheese.]

I looked for something like that in OfficeMax.

I'll go to Office Depot. It's in Labels right?

Thanks for all the help.

The mil-spec paint is kind of strange. It tends to leave a textured powdery finish. I think that may have just been because it was a rainy day though.

I'm going to paint all of my .30 cal cans and 2 of my .50 cal cans (the ones I had put oil on early on before I knew it was a bad idea) and use them for hurricane supplies (flares, batteries, etc.).

I'm pretty much starting from scratch with 2 .30 cal cans and 2 SAW cans. I'll need to buy more cans, I put all of my ammo in plastic baggies on my L shaped office desk. I hope it can hold the weight.

PAShooter - did you just paint the cans while they were closed, or did you remove the top and do the rim as well? I assume you didn't paint the interior? (I'm not planning to)

 

[PAshooter]

I popped the lids off and painted them separately... but no, didn't paint the interiors. Be careful not to get paint on the gasket underneath the lid.

The label holders were near the 3-ring binders. Some stores might not carry them, but I know they're available through the catalog.

 

[.cheese.]

thanks.

Ok, so here's some helpful info for any others who are obsessive like me.

Don't bother getting paint at the local mil-surp store. Here is what you'd get:

http://www.aervoe.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=3&idproduct=4

you can buy by the case directly from them. Colors are compliant with federal standards. Paint seems to be ok. Might need to do a few coats though. 2-3 at least of light coats.

I got Forest Green, it seems to be the closest color match to the original can color.

I already went through 5 cans of paint, so I ordered 12 more directly. The price is the same before shipping.