Surplus Ammo Cans

[ColinthePilot]

So I just bought a few hundred rounds of surplus Russian 7.62X54R and it came in those old sealed up ammo cans.
Like this.



I've seen this before, but last time I had to open one, my friend and I went at it with a screwdriver and a hammer, till we realized we didn't know which direction the primers were facing. By then we had enough of a tab to get a pair of vice grips on it and peel it open like a sardine can.

So what is the correct way to open these cans?

 

[buttrap]

with a can opener

 

[ColinthePilot]

with a can opener

Thats what the guy we bought the last one from told us, but we got back, rummaged through the kitchen drawers, and that can opener was woefully inadequate.
Is this some kind of special commie can opener or something? Is it something I could likely find at the gun show tomorrow? Pictures? prices?

Thanks

 

[PTK]

It should've had a can opener attached. It's a large green "bullhead" can opener that you need.

 

[takhtakaal]

Century actually has the the can openers listed for sale separately if you need one. I don't think they show up on their website but they're something around $2 each.

 

[Furncliff]

Standard issue commie can opener. One per each.

 

[SDC]

It's basically an enlarged version of the old-style "hook" can-opener, that you have to wrench trough the top of the tin, then pull around the edge while working it up and down. A hammer and chisel might be a little faster Your tin is marked in sort of an interesting way; it reads "7.62 PS Snajperskie", or "7.62 PS Sniper"; this would have been loaded for the SVD or SVU (the bullpup version of the SVD) Dragunov rifles.

 

[Threeband]

Try the can opener blade on any Boy Scout knife or Swiss Army Knife.

By the way, that can is labeled "sniper". Might be good stuff.

 

[PPGMD]

Those ammo cans come in crates containing two ammo cans, one has the can opener attached. The other, figures out how to do it their own way.

 

[Threeband]

"The man with the rifle shoots.

The second man follows him.

When the man with the rifle is killed,

The second man picks up the rifle and shoots..."


(Basic training at Stalingrad, from Enemy at the Gates)

 

[mekender]

slam it sideways into one of those little concrete things that are in every parking space in America... pick up the ammo that spills out and throw away the ones that are scratched too badly...

(this is why they don't have those little concrete things in parking lots in Russia)

 

[Funderb]

yeah looks like you got the short end of the ammo can opening stick.
it looks like a big black wrench hook thing. kind of mean.
but the only reasonable way to get it open.

 

[mrmeval]

Buymilsurp has them.

$2, don't know them, just say they had 'em

 

[ColinthePilot]

Your tin is marked in sort of an interesting way; it reads "7.62 PS Snajperskie", or "7.62 PS Sniper"; this would have been loaded for the SVD or SVU (the bullpup version of the SVD) Dragunov rifles.

Thats not actually my tin. I just found a pic of the type of tin cuz its easier than taking a picture of mine. I did notice that the picture i found said "sniperski"

 

[sublimaze41]

The can opener you are looking for looks like this:

 

[Trebor]

Be careful, when you use that can opener, the edges are sharp.

Don't ask me how I know...

 

[Sungun09]

not to worry, you could do it wit your teeth should the situation warrant it..

 

[takhtakaal]

Tip: wear gloves when you use this opener so that you don't bludgeon your knuckles into little shards of bone when you finally get traction and start to lever the opener back and forth.

Opener in use: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqaeX2KigSc

Conveniently, they don't show the guy pounding his knuckles into the can to make the first hole.

 

[Acera]

What? This won't do it!? It does everything else, lol.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Don't ask me how I know...

With you brother, bled like a stuck pig opening one.......

 

[fatguynlittlecoat]

Get a sludge hammer and pound it open...ok don't do that.

 

[Cannonball888]

I broke a kitchen can opener on one of these tins and still couldn't get it open. But a hammer and metal cutting chisel worked fine.

 

[h-word]

Shoot it open! I can't believe I'm the only one who thought of that.

 

[mudslinging79]

all else fails.....tin snips. if you do happen to find one of the monster can openers.... hang onto it.

 

[ColinthePilot]

So I walked all over the gun show today trying to find a can opener. nobody has them. even the guys selling the tins. But thats ok, because when I went to drop my new DPMS Lower off at my gun storage facility..err...my buddy's place, he showed me my ammo. It looks terrible! It looks like a homemade metal box, all welded, or probably brazed together, and theres a big metal tab on it that I'm hoping can be pulled with some vice grips and opened. The can opener wouldn't have worked anyway. Now I gotta figure out how the @#$% to get into this thing! I'm also worried about what the ammo inside is gonna look like.