USGI canteens

[Ranger99]

What the bleepety bleep happened?
I was taking some gear out for checkout
and preparing for possible use, and
took the box with some canteens and
a couple of other items off the shelf,
and the 2 quart jobs pretty much crumbled
when I touched them to take out of the
box. I really couldn't even pick them up.
I had to remove them from the box in
pieces. The old reliable 1 quart jobs are
as good as new and ready to use for
I don't know how many decades.

[ironglow]

Not sure I am familiar with the 2 qt. canteen..are they made from some kind of plastic?   The ones I used wouldn't crumble with age..
  they were I believe, made of stainless steel.  On the other hand, My grandson often used a "camel pack" when operating in Iraq..
  although when on a mounted mission, he often simply carried govt supplied bottles of water .
 

[O-mega]

The plastic becomes brittle over the years, and yours are probably at that age.  Most of us transitioned to the camelbak some time back, much better to carry and keeps you hydrated better due to the easy access.  Now, all GIs are issued camelbaks, in at least 100oz, which is 1qt more water than the old 2qt, and much easier to carry since they come with their own back straps and all rucks have a camelbak pouch built in.

[Ranger99]

Yeah,  probably just old and a
crappy grade of plastic.
I used to have one of those
camelbak rigs in a nice compact
cammo backpack thing, but I
never could get rid of the plastic
taste after filling it and water
being in it for half a day.
After a while,  I had it hanging
up with the big cap off to air it
out per the instructions,
 and it started crumbling.
I reached to pick it up and the
hose just fell off. I reached down
to pick up the hose and it crumbled.
The slim little pack is still sturdy
and useable, and makes for a
nice compact rig for a bottle of
water and a sandwich if not wearing
a regular hunting vest or carrying
a daypack

[ironglow]

Yeah,  probably just old and a
crappy grade of plastic.
I used to have one of those
camelbak rigs in a nice compact
cammo backpack thing, but I
never could get rid of the plastic
taste after filling it and water
being in it for half a day.
After a while,  I had it hanging
up with the big cap off to air it
out per the instructions,
 and it started crumbling.
I reached to pick it up and the
hose just fell off. I reached down
to pick up the hose and it crumbled.
The slim little pack is still sturdy
and useable, and makes for a
nice compact rig for a bottle of
water and a sandwich if not wearing
a regular hunting vest or carrying
a daypack

   Makes one wonder if it is Russian army surplus...and originally bought by one of their corrupt procurers..  

[Ranger99]

no sir
"US" molded into all my military water containers.
pouches and LBE things similarly marked
all water containers were bought new from a man
i've known for decades that deals in military and
law enforcement goods. i'll never have a used
unknown drinking water container. a good friend
and hunting buddy bought a big european surplus
jerry can looking water container and brought it
on one of our hunts, and within a day suffered
vomiting and severe diarrhea and cramps from
drinking from his surplus container. he'd have
been in a bad fix if he'd been alone and i hadn't
had my first aid supplies. we were at a wilderness
area, and there's times that there's not any passers
by for days at a time

either way, i used those for some years and i guess
it's just fate that they broke apart at home and
not far away somewhere with me depending on
having what water was inside before they broke apart

[O-mega]

no sir
"US" molded into all my military water containers.
pouches and LBE things similarly marked
all water containers were bought new from a man
i've known for decades that deals in military and
law enforcement goods. i'll never have a used
unknown drinking water container. a good friend
and hunting buddy bought a big european surplus
jerry can looking water container and brought it
on one of our hunts, and within a day suffered
vomiting and severe diarrhea and cramps from
drinking from his surplus container. he'd have
been in a bad fix if he'd been alone and i hadn't
had my first aid supplies. we were at a wilderness
area, and there's times that there's not any passers
by for days at a time

either way, i used those for some years and i guess
it's just fate that they broke apart at home and
not far away somewhere with me depending on
having what water was inside before they broke apart

One more thing I thought about, you didn't have any chlorine, tabs, powder or liquid, in the immediate vicinity did you?  I stored some pool shock with some plastic items and they too suffered some damage, even the plastic bag it comes in will deteriorate with time.

[Dee]

I had a WWII issue canteen in boy scouts and as I recall it was aluminum.

[gene_225]

As a boy, we used WW I & II aluminum canteens. I still have some of them, but don't use them anymore than I do aluminum frying pans.

[Ranger99]

One more thing I thought about, you didn't have any chlorine, tabs, powder or liquid, in the immediate vicinity did you?  I stored some pool shock with some plastic items and they too suffered some damage, even the plastic bag it comes in will deteriorate with time.

No sir
Had some older bottles of a good grade of
car wax right close on the shelf, and those
still have integrity to the plastic bottles.
Plus my one quart plastic canteens were
unaffected by any outside influence of
chemicals having shared the same box
as the 2 quart crumbly units
I'm just believing old age was the culprit

[ironglow]

Some canteens were aluminum, although most were stainless.  I always sought out the stainless variety, since the water seemed fresher when coming from the stainless one.
  The more important part, was the cup, which we used for everything.. heating shaving/washing water, cooking up C-rations, and scooping some coffee from the 10 gallon pot of coffee, brewing in the mess tent, when in the field..

   It was of course accompanied by the SS mess kit..

[O-mega]

This is my favorite style of canteen cup, I kept it for over 20 years while in the military and even when I retired because my CIF said they never issued that cup (fools), all to about last June when my hunting trailer was broken into and they stole it.  The new ones with the two wire handles suck IMO, the old handle would help stabilize the cup in a campfire and when you set it down. I also loved my steel pot (helmet), it was used many a time to boil water and do an impromptu shave and/or a field bath.

[ironglow]

This is my favorite style of canteen cup, I kept it for over 20 years while in the military and even when I retired because my CIF said they never issued that cup (fools), all to about last June when my hunting trailer was broken into and they stole it.  The new ones with the two wire handles suck IMO, the old handle would help stabilize the cup in a campfire and when you set it down. I also loved my steel pot (helmet), it was used many a time to boil water and do an impromptu shave and/or a field bath.

  Yep..those old cups were the best.  That handle was a stabilizer, and it has that little slide lock that keeps the handle in place.  When locked in position, the handle was equal to the height of the cup, thus providing a nice "outrigger" brace for the cup.

   And those mess kits would be great for a camper today.

[Ranger99]

I haven't seen one of those
fold up handle types in a very
long time
I have a couple of the "newer "
butterfly wire handle type
Still fairly indestructible if you have
the real thing and not the knock off

A while back there was an aftermarket
stainless canteen offered that was the
same dimensionally as the older GI
units and would work with the cover
and all that. Might have to see if they
still make those

[gene_225]

Can't say which the ones I have are, but one of the mess kits corroded so that it looks like the corrosion on aluminum, hence my comment.

[ironglow]

 " Can't say which the ones I have are, but one of the mess kits corroded so that it looks like the corrosion on aluminum, hence my comment."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 I haven't seen any GI issue mess kits, that were made of aluminum.  I am/ not saying that such doesn't exist, but just that I haven't seen one.  We now know that aluminum would be a poor choice to cook in..
 
  Of course, there are likely some knock offs made of aluminum too, but you can test the aluminum appearing one with a magnet.

   Stainless doesn't have as much magnetic pull as mild or carbon steel, but it is still there..

[Ranger99]

haven't seen or heard any feedback from
the sites or articles concerning the titanium
users. i don't have any experience with such
other than a titanium fork and spoon i've had
for years that i pocket carried at a job where
there weren't any lockers for personal items
such as your lunchbox and other things.
as far as i can tell, they didn't poison me in
any way

[ironglow]

In fact, that knife shown with the mess kit above, is an oddball.  The proper one is pictured below.  I have one of those yet, in my utility drawer, and it has proper, spring steel in the blade.
  I could easily sharpen it and use for general outdoor work, but I have plenty of knives for that, so I am keeping it original...for nostalgia's sake.