Refurbishing Ammo Cans.

[miko]

I bought some 30-cal and 50-cal ammo cans from Cabela’s store. I was able to pick up those in decent conditions, especially inside, but there is some chipped paint and even some rust outside.
I’d like to stop further rusting as well as get uniform color without all the markings, etc.

What would be a good way for me to paint them with least hassle? Do I need use the rust-oleum or will cheap Krylon spray from Wal-Mart be sufficient?

miko

 

[Steelcore]

If you had a bunch to refinish a sand blaster would work well.I would use the cheapest spray paint I could find.They're just ammo cans.

 

[Firehand]

Wish I had access to a sandblaster, would've made cleaning some old ones up easier.

I used a wire brush on my grinder, though could use one by hand, to clean off the old rust & finish. I wanted to stay with the OD green color; found it both at some auto parts stores and a surplus store. If not worried about the color, buy some decent spray paint such a Krylon or Rustoleum in whatever color you choose and paint away.

What I really needed to find was some new seals; found some WWII .30 and .50 caliber cans in decent shape, but the seals were shot. Had to use some rubber seal for car windows to make new ones.

 

[Justin]

I sand off any serious external rust areas and roughen the rest of it with sandpaper, and then paint over it with Rustoleam.

Should be fine for years. And even if in a few years the rust shows up, or the cans become unusable, I'll just toss them and get some new ones.

 

[dfaugh]

Clean the rust off as best you can, with a wire brush..Mechanical (drill or grinder is easiest, but by hand is OK)...Get some "Extend" Rust inhibitor from local Auto parts store, and apply to rusted areas...Or use Zinc Chromate Primer, if rust is mostly gone/thin... Then coat with spray enamel of your choice (Rustoleum is good, but I've used the "cheap stuff" as well)... Will last about forever, either way

 

[Mr_Dictionary]

You should really use a sandblaster followed by a wipe down with ammonia or gas to get any of the dirt off and get good adhesion from the paint. If you're just looking for quick, spray them with whatever after wiping them with a solvent. However, to really make it last, you need to use a metal primer and then two coats of an enamel on the bare metal.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Rusty ammo cans

Gee, other guys put a lot more effort into it than I do! They're just ammo cans.

I think Justin has the right attitude.

For my rusty ammo cans, when I bought them, ca. 30 yrs ago, I just made sure the rust was quite dry, and sprayed them with whatever canned spray paint came to hand. Didn't even bother with color matching, so I have brown cans that had to be painted all over, and brown/olive cans that were only rusty on the bottom. Probably I wiped off the loose dirt and/or rust with a rag before painting; don't remember. Maybe I put on 2 coats of paint. But to get better treatment than that from me they'd have to be a lot more precious than plain old ammo cans. BTW, still have all the cans, they still all work, none has rusted any further. (Of course, I don't leave 'em out in the wet.)

The ammo cans I really like are the ones where the top hinges open along one side, rather than on the end, and you can open them one-handed. But those seem to be very rare. Now a few of those I'd pay extra for, and maybe even take care of!

 

[phoglund]

Nothing wrong with having nice looking ammo cans. I just got a snide comment from the wife a few days ago for the effort I put into painting an old jerry can I had. It shouldn't take long to get the cans in great shape. Use a wire brush, light grinding, or sandpaper to get the heavy rust off if any then a couple of coats of Rustoleum Primer followed by a couple coats of the color of your choice of Rustoleum paint and you are good to go. Both the Primer and Paint can be recoated either within an hour or after 48 hours. I just wait until the last coat doesn't look wet anymore and put on the new coat. They look great afterwards and I don't expect to ever have to paint them again...even if they are left out in the "wet" a bit.

-phoglund

 

[Oldtimer]

I only buy G.I. ammo cans that are clean, rust-free inside, and have good gaskets. I could care less about exterior rust, unless it's really bad. Just sand off as much of the rust as you can, spray it with LocTite "Extend" rust neutralizer, then a thin coat of primer. Your local surplus store probably carries "mil spec" camo spray in various colors.

If you're serious about wanting to retain the print on the sides/top of the cans, that might be impossible to do if you refurbish with a new coat of paint. I guess that you could make your own stencil, like I did. The only thing is that my stencil isn't "military". It is my initials, so that my cans don't get confused with someone elses.

 

[Firehand]

Smokey, the side-opening are the WWII-era .50 caliber cans. Those and the WWII .30 M1 cans I found are why I did so much wire-brushing & painting, and got them despite the bad gaskets on some.

They're hard to find and worth fixing up. At least to me.

 

[engineer151515]

Since you're going to clean them up and paint, pick up a couple cans of cammo color paint at Walmart (non-reflective finish) and try out a cammo pattern.

You'll have the coolest ammo cans arround.

 

[entropy]

Wal-Mart does sell a rust preventive flat paint similar to Rust-Oleum, probably even made by them. I'd just clean 'em up and coat 'em with that.

 

[Preacherman]

You could always paint 'em pink . . . then no self-respecting gunny would ever touch your cans!

 

[Soybomb]

Check out http://www.por15.com/ I've been incredibly happy with it.