WDITOT: Ammo Can Magnets

In this week’s addition of ‘Why Didn’t I Think Of That’ (or #WDITOT – come on Twitter trending!) are Ammo Can Magnets. Last week I stopped by MAC Tactical, my FFL/SOT, to pickup a new review gun (one that rhymes with Kimber) and on the way out the owner showed me a set of simple-but-elegant magnet labels that are specifically designed for .30 and .50 caliber ammo cans.

Surplus ammo cans aren’t perfect for storage: they can dent, chip paint, scratch, rust and can’t be locked without modification. But for the money, there is really nothing that comes close in terms of solid, dry storage containers. Like every respectable American gun owner, I own a “handful” of .50 cal cans.

But labeling the cans has never been a strength of mine.

I’m a fan. These magnets are inexpensive, well made, easy to read at a distance and can be quickly swapped between cans. I’ll definitely be buying more.

Out of curiosity, I decided to drop the owner, Wade Leishman, an email to as how he got started making magnets. He writes:

AmmoCanMagnets.Com came into existance in early 2013 when I was first getting into shooting and I was trying to buy and store a bit of ammo for range time at my local Sportsman’s club. I purchased enough that I decided that I wanted a few military surplus ammo cans to store the ammo that I was buying.

I soon encountered what I assumed was a common problem of identifying what was in each can quickly without opening each one. To label the cans, I didn’t personally care for the look of handwritten labels with tape or stick on label maker labels . I also found myself moving my ammo between my cans often as I was organizing and adding new calibers. Because of that I had the idea to use small magnets to identify what was in each can. Like most things on the internet, I searched to see if anyone was already selling something like this and at the time I didn’t find anything similar.

I decided to design a few magnets for my own personal ammo collection, and thought they looked great, were reusable and gave my stash a very “professional look and feel”. I shared a few photos on a shooting forum because I thought it was a cool idea and that’s what people do on enthusiast forums. The positive response was immediate and amazing and things took off from there with requests for new calibers (many I’d never heard of and a new shooter), different magnet sizes (smaller for .30Cal sized cans), fonts, colors and designs for things other than ammunition that people also store in ammo cans.

3 1/2 years later, we now stock almost 500 different magnet and 70 Sticker (for plastic ammo cases) designs of various caliber, font and color combinations. We are still a small family owned and operated business and we are a proud supporters of the NRA, NRA Business Alliance and support as many 2nd Amendment causes (both in California and National) as time and funds allow.

Why didn’t I think of that?

From the AmmoCanMagnets.com website:

These professionally digital printed vinyl magnets will stick to any side of any metal military ammunition cans and are a convenient and quick way to determine what is stored inside with opening them. No more tape, markers or stickers and give your ammo can’s a “professional appearance”. They could also be affixed to anything magnetic (auto’s, refrigerators, etc.) for more of a fun, gun/ammo themed display piece. Great for personal ammunition storage, dealers or gun shows!

Over 350 Caliber, Font, Color and Size combinations in stock and custom designs upon request.

.50cal size are 3.4″w x 1.9″h / .30 cal size are 1.9″w x 1.7″h

A small sampling of labels and designs available from Ammo Can Magnets: