Back when I was a youth, I was in Boy Scouts. One of the things we did quite a bit of was rafting, mostly white water. There was a friend of the troop that was an outfitter in the summer time and he would let us use his rafts for short excursions in the offseason. I have gotten the opportunity to raft the Deschutes, John Day, North Santiam, Mackenzie and the the Willamette.

My first trip, was on the North Santiam and when the rafts were all blown up and ready to go, we were handed a fifty caliber ammo box for our valuables. This was our boats’ dry box. Military ammo boxes have a water tight construction and a durable seal that allows the box to float (as long as it is not full of lead).

It seems to me that in today’s world the surplus boxes have all dried up. I think for the one pictured, I paid $3 in the early 1990s. I remember distinctly paying $5/ fifty caliber box in the late 1990s. They can definitely be found online, but you will be paying $20 plus shipping. Fortunately new, non-surplus boxes can be found for around $12-20 if you are interested in picking one up. MTM makes a plastic ammo box for $10. It doesn’t quite stack the same with the metal ones.

I thought that I would talk a little bit about what they can be used for. Well, first of all you can put ammo in them. I like to put reserve ammo in them so that when there is a run, like now I know that it is safe and sound for when I want it. I already talked about using them for a waterproof container, very good use. You can buy trays to put inside the fifty caliber box, that turns it into a toolbox or parts box. I have seen them strapped to ATVs for that purpose. I know that there are plans so that you can build a self contained ham radio w/battery for grab and go use.

Surplus ammo cans come in a variety of sizes. Some of them are very large. Rafting companies on the Colorado have built mobile toilets on the largest of the boxes. They have to pack out waste to minimize the environmental impact of raft tours. I think that the most useful size is the fifty caliber. It seems to be the best compromise between size and weight.

I am always interested in what other people are doing or have seen. So let me know what you have done.