Mountain treasure: WW2-era water canteen

Post by **dima** » Sat Jun 04, 2022 4:49 pm

I found this cool old canteen in Eaton Canyon last week. It says "A.G.M. Co 1945" on it. The internet tells me that these were issues to military people. A mile or so upstream I found some plane parts last month. The thought was that these came from a 1941 wreck of an AT-6. Initially I thought the canteen might be related to that, but when that plane crashed, this this hasn't been manufactured yet. Where did it come from??

Post by **Sean** » Sat Jun 04, 2022 6:25 pm

Some war vet gave it to his son and his son promptly dropped it over a cliff.

Post by **dima** » Sat Jun 04, 2022 7:39 pm

Yeah. Probably in 2017, or something.

Girl Hiker · Post by **Girl Hiker** » Thu Jun 09, 2022 3:04 pm

It came from the aliens and they want it back.

Post by **tekewin** » Sat Jun 11, 2022 8:36 am

That's wild.

In the 1940s, was a metal canteen the most efficient way to carry water?

Was it made of aluminum or tin?

Post by **dima** » Sun Jun 12, 2022 12:20 pm

It's Aluminum. Searching for "agm co 1945" produces multiple hits. The "a" stands for aluminum. It's thick, and probably still usable, actually. Maybe I'll just use it!

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 1:05 pm

Awesome find. Serious cool factor.

One of the big debates when I was a kid was between aluminum vs. plastic water bottles/canteens. Plastic was frequently brittle but pretty quickly improved as I got older and eventually won out for the most part -- although lately I'm seeing a lot of people hiking with double walled steel (!) Hydroflask bottles. Hmmm. Maybe they'd like to carry a few lead ingots as well?

The debate these days is more hard-sided (like a Nalgene) vs. soft sided bladders. Bladders are no where near as durable but pack a whole lot better when empty and are super lightweight. A standard Nalgene is 6 oz. -- empty. A bladder, depending on the material, is maybe 1 oz for 1 liter. For short hikes, it doesn't make much difference, but if you need to carry 4 litters, you're carrying a pound and a half of dead weight if you're using Nalgenes.

HJ

Post by **tekewin** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 1:17 pm

Hikin_Jim wrote: Awesome find. Serious cool factor.

One of the big debates when I was a kid was between aluminum vs. plastic water bottles/canteens. Plastic was frequently brittle but pretty quickly improved as I got older and eventually won out for the most part -- although lately I'm seeing a lot of people hiking with double walled steel (!) Hydroflask bottles. Hmmm. Maybe they'd like to carry a few lead ingots as well?

The debate these days is more hard-sided (like a Nalgene) vs. soft sided bladders. Bladders are no where near as durable but pack a whole lot better when empty and are super lightweight. A standard Nalgene is 6 oz. -- empty. A bladder, depending on the material, is maybe 1 oz for 1 liter. For short hikes, it doesn't make much difference, but if you need to carry 4 litters, you're carrying a pound and a half of dead weight if you're using Nalgenes.

HJ

Great analysis HJ.

Post by **HikeUp** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 2:17 pm

tekewin wrote:
Hikin_Jim wrote: Awesome find. Serious cool factor.

One of the big debates when I was a kid was between aluminum vs. plastic water bottles/canteens. Plastic was frequently brittle but pretty quickly improved as I got older and eventually won out for the most part -- although lately I'm seeing a lot of people hiking with double walled steel (!) Hydroflask bottles. Hmmm. Maybe they'd like to carry a few lead ingots as well?

The debate these days is more hard-sided (like a Nalgene) vs. soft sided bladders. Bladders are no where near as durable but pack a whole lot better when empty and are super lightweight. A standard Nalgene is 6 oz. -- empty. A bladder, depending on the material, is maybe 1 oz for 1 liter. For short hikes, it doesn't make much difference, but if you need to carry 4 litters, you're carrying a pound and a half of dead weight if you're using Nalgenes.

HJ
Great analysis HJ.

Ask him about stoves! I dare ya.

Post by **tekewin** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 2:20 pm

HikeUp wrote: Ask him about stoves! I dare ya.

I've read his stove article a couple of times already

Post by **Sean** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 3:05 pm

Which type of container is best depends on a few factors, weight, durability, risk of damage, etc. These days my hikes usually involve a very low risk of damage, so I go for the lightest plastic bottles possible. If I had to fight German soldiers in the trenches, I might opt for an aluminum canteen.

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Tue Jun 14, 2022 11:12 pm

Sean wrote: Which type of container is best depends on a few factors, weight, durability, risk of damage, etc. These days my hikes usually involve a very low risk of damage, so I go for the lightest plastic bottles possible. If I had to fight German soldiers in the trenches, I might opt for an aluminum canteen.

I might opt for Kevlar. ?
HJ