Is a govt. branch reducing the supply of ammo cans?

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This is probably baloney, but there were almost no .50 cal. cans at our last two shows in the last two weeks. The few available there were a bit rusted. Or was there a limited supply available before last winter's panic and the DOD only offers a steady very limited supply?

A very popular surplus gun website in NC (Indian Trail) has a comment about this in their ads, and an older gent here who today sold me 640 rounds of 8mm Mauser also mentioned that those cans (and maybe .30 cal. types) are difficult to order for his very small family business.
 
Well, an increasing number I'm GUESSING are probably being left laying around in the desert, and I doubt theres an intentional decrease in the supply really.
 
I was beginning to think the military wasn't using them anymore and had switched to some sort of new-age packaging. I was told by a friend that just got back from a foreign clime that they are still in use. All I know is I went to the usual store I shop at and all they had were the 50-cal boxes. I prefer the smaller 30-cal ones, but bought ten of the larger. I'll make do. :p

Way back when I was on active duty, I remember seeing pallets of them stored at the "surplus collection site" (don't know what they actually called the facility) on Camp Pendleton. The thing that struck me as ironic was that we had to turn them back in for collection, then they stacked them up on pallets where they just got rusted and weather-beaten. Seemed like kind of a waste as many of us would have liked to keep a few for personal use.
 
I was beginning to think the military wasn't using them anymore and had switched to some sort of new-age packaging. I was told by a friend that just got back from a foreign clime that they are still in use. All I know is I went to the usual store I shop at and all they had were the 50-cal boxes. I prefer the smaller 30-cal ones, but bought ten of the larger. I'll make do. :p

Way back when I was on active duty, I remember seeing pallets of them stored at the "surplus collection site" (don't know what they actually called the facility) on Camp Pendleton. The thing that struck me as ironic was that we had to turn them back in for collection, then they stacked them up on pallets where they just got rusted and weather-beaten. Seemed like kind of a waste as many of us would have liked to keep a few for personal use.
we did keep them-- I was in an M60 section in a rifle company, and I routinely brought 7.62 cans back-- I at one time had around 20 or so-- no one cared. I still have about 10 that I store ammo in, plus 6 or 7 .50 cal cans with ammo or cleaning supplies (and one with loose change)- -I wish though I could have snagged a Mark 19 can-- those were a little big-- I could have, but humping it back from the ranges or field would have sucked-- the 7.62 cans could be strapped to my pack, and I traded extra 7.62 cans with the .50cal/mk 19 guys in Wpns Co for some of the .50 Cal cans I have...
 
I have a "few" I collected. I do recall on occasion we turned them in to supply.
 
I read somewhere a few months ago that they were gonna stop releasing them to the public and start recycling or destroying them. I recently stopped by a surplus store that had two pallets of the NVG boxes and bought four of them. While paying for them the store owner mentioned to me that ammo cans were getting harder to come bye as the military was starting to crush them.
 
http://www.govliquidation.com/aucti...Lot Number|0&words=ammunition can&cmd=keyword

Bid away (though shipping costs might be a bear). :D

I doubt there's a conspiracy, just local supply and demand issues and cost of acquisition.

It makes sense as noted above that if most are now being used overseas rather than for CONUS training the overall domestic supply will be less, that's a lot of cube for the weight to ship it all home intact from across the globe for disposal, flattened for scrap is a better use of space.

Probably easier to sell them off in theatre either way, in which case crushing them and selling them as scrap makes sense as empty cans make for fine IED containers.
 
I bought some 2 months ago from gov liquidation.com. I bought a small lot. They had many pallets of them waiting for auctions to close. Fortunately I live close enough to 2 bases I can drive to easily.
 
Whenever there is a shortage of something people end up creating a government conspiracy...
 
There are lots of ammo cans in NE Ohio.

The gun shows have many venders selling them.

My local gun shop bought 700 cans 6 weeks ago. They are stacked every where!
 
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