As I’m sure you can gather from various posts I’ve made, I tend to go for military ammo cans as my container of choice. Unfortunately, theyve gotten harder and harder to get over the years and when you can find them they are often not in new condition. Most of the time, any ammo can you come across is in a more-than-used condition. Broadly, as long as the lids close, the mouth of the can isnt deformed, and the gaskets are present, they’re good to go. However, the do tend to get a bit of rust at the corners and on the bottoms where they often receive a good bit of abuse and scraping.
Usually, I just wipe the cans down and hit the high points with a quick spray of Rustoleum in an appropriate color. I was doing that the other day and I ran out of spraypaint. Ok, no worries..head to the store and get another can. Here’s where it becomes a pain the rear… what brand Y calls ‘Olive Drab Green’, brand X may call ‘Hunter Green’ or ‘Moss Green’. And while ‘close enough’ will probably suffice, I really prefer to get the paint color as close to original as possible. In fact, I did pick up some spraypaint the other day that looked like it would be the right color but, no, when the spray hit the ammo can it was quite clear that while it was a nice matte green, it just wasnt the right green. Grrrr.
So, I decided I’d hit the major stores here in town and see if I could find the ideal paint. Was up at Lowe’s shopping for spraypaint (Home Depot’s selection of green absolutely sucked.) Found this:
This was absolutely perfect. Blended almost perfectly with the color of the ammo can. The nozzle produced a wide vertical spray, so a couple quick side-to-side passes did the trick, it dried fast, and it didnt drip or run. So impressed I went back for an extra can. So, if you’re needing to touch up your ammo cans, military gas cans, etc, and want the near-perfect color…this is what you want. “4293 OLIVE” UPC 7 24504 06895 2
I found it at Lowe’s for a few bucks cheaper than Amazon. High recommend.
Noted.
Was doing a batch of cans some years back. Took a pristine can to Lowe’s and had them color-match it custom.
Then blasted the rust off multiple cans to bare metal, and re-did them all.
Not as simple, but the results were worth the effort.
The OCD is strong in this one. We color code with yellow being medical supplies, blue for water filters/containers. Green is ammo. Recently painted one of these with truck bed liner spray to protect for a remote deep sleep. Coming up on 70 years old so it’s too heavy for me but once buried/hidden it can be accessed by one person. Water tight and air tight.
https://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/index/us-military-surplus-cnu-317-storage-container-used?a=604855&szc=000&clrc=000&utm_source=google&utm_source=google&utm_medium=pla&utm_medium=pla&utm_channel=pmax&utm_channel=pmax&utm_campaign=21775083018&utm_campaign=21775083018&utm_product=wx2*0171363000000&utm_product=wx2*0171363000000&gad_source=1&gbraid=0aaaaadzpao2ojnln1hmeqe-qg-fd_ydib&gclid=cj0kcqjwillabhcearisajys6ukelat8u-ufjq9w8woiugnlrntv3kvcdc7erswhgukt9ocqsctro9oaaub8ealw_wcb
Take it a step further and get your hands on some Carc paint.
Very timely article. I have several that need significant touching up and I also hate mismatched paint. Living in Florida about ten miles from the Atlantic coast, it is easy for rust to get away from you. I soak the rust with Rustoleum Rust Removal Gel, remove it, and wipe it down with toluene before painting it, Now I can get the color right,
The comment about the CARC paint had me thinking that I seem to remember from my time in the military, that that stuff, in and of itself, was toxic,
New water based formulation is said to be safer. Should always use your PPE when applying aerosols.
I recall making military equipment in California (late ’90s) that needed that CARC paint. It couldn’t be painted in Cal due to their excessive regulation. So all the metal was shipped to Mexico to get painted, then shipped back. I wonder if it would all be tariffed twice these days?