Just wondering how you all refurbish and clean your GI Ammo Cans?

spraypaint works well for me for refinish

windex or whatever multi purpose cleaner for cleaning stuff off of them

Quoted: spraypaint works well for me for refinish windex or whatever multi purpose cleaner for cleaning stuff off of them

I use orange glow degreaser. Works great.

Don't forget to use a warm washcloth with a little soapy water to thoroughly clean the rubber gasket.  Then rinse with with a wet washcloth.  Let dry thoroughly and then spray down with silicone spray to protect the rubber.  I give it a good spray-down, let dry and then put another coating.  

The can itself I wash with warm soapy water, let dry thoroughly, then spray on primer and olive drab spray paint.  

not to hijack, but well it is. I have some large cans with the re-enforcing strips on the side, whats the best way to the rust from with in it?

First off - buy nice ones. They're cheap. If they aren't good cans w/ good seals I'd use them for something other than storing ammo. If good,  I just spray them w/ Rem Oil and wipe them out.

you can make new seals for em with gasket maker

I get mine at Mike's Merchandise in Guntersville. They not only sell them but use them as bins for the screws/bolts, etc they sell. I saw them cleaning a pallet of cans with disposable shop cloths and WD40 from a gallon can.

I get the cleanest ones I can- gasket is the big thing, and I can mix and match from their stock to get the best combo. If they've been on display long there is generaly some gunk on them I remove with kerosene and shop cloths. If they need to be touched up in spots I spray with brake fluid, sand, prime and spot paint. I store my ammo in a closed garage until summer, when I bring it inside and dole it out all over the house. I don't have any one place that will hold all of it, and I'm running out of places to keep it in the summer.

I used to sell them at gun shows, would pick them up from Bragg and other bases (bragg red dirt on them was bad). if it is a newer can wd40 will make them sparkle like new. I should know ive cleaned thousands of them.

Awesome, thanks for the tips everyone!

I got some nice ones at a gun show last week, just refurbished.  But I also had two lying around that were kind of nasty that I'd been meaning to clean out.  I just didn't want to screw 'em up worse.  Then again, they are GI and they've been through worse!  They're designed to take abuse, right?!  

Propwash.

I was thinking about a bucket of steam perhaps?