Some thoughts on Cache tubes

[OREGON FALER]

There will be a few of you folks are into this, most maybe not. Some years ago I put three tubes into the ground with AR mags and ammo in them. Well with all the hard times finding ammo and the prices going up I thought I'd check my tubes and inventory the contents. So of the 3 I put in the dirt, I found 1 of them,
These are my observations on what i'd do differently next time.
1) Find some way to mark the location, an example would be lining the hole up with a tree or something, line of sight.
2) use a set depth when possible and measure that depth.
3) lay some brightly colored flagging tape across the tube, maybe in a cross pattern wider than the top of the tube and possibly a couple inches higher.
4) Mark the tube itself as to where it should be cut open at to minimize damage to contents.

I'll say that it was 4" pvc with caps glued on and then siliconed on the outside. The contents were in excellent condition and showed no signs of leakage. The ammo I pulled out was Winchester Q3131 with headstamps of 07/08. so I guess about 3 to 4 years in the ground. I'm 6 mags richer now too.
Post up with your thoughts I figure most will want to keep it to themselves.

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[pyromancer]

So what area do we go to if we want to rent a metal detector and go treasure hunting for the other two?

 

[Kevinkris]

1000 years from today, Headline reads: young boy finds cache of ancient weapons and ammunition, strange how well preserved it is. such items have been illegal for 999 years.

 

[Boats]

You bury something, plant something non woody from a nursery over it, distinct from the other vegetation in the area. Take the identification tag from the plant and put it in a junk drawer. You really need to dig it up, identify and kill the plant to get at it.

 

[Kevinkris]

thats pretty good advice. would also be a good idea to make sure its not something wild life would eat. another thing you could do if youre a hunter is bury it under your blind or tree stand. this way you will have a marker over the top that people would expect to be there and not suspect something buried under.

 

[WashCoDad]

put a cross above it, with your pet animals name.

 

[taylor]

I'm an experienced metal detectorist and have spent many years looking for buried caches. One way of telling if there is an item buried is to look for plants that don't seem to fit in or stick out. When someone buries something they are actually tilling the soil bringing moisture up to the top, and wild plants will start there. I would go back to the area you buried them and look for any plants or foliage around the age you buried your cache. Its deceiving most people look around the plants when its under them.

 

[wolfcreek]

Better that burying is to sink the cache in a lake or other suitable body of water. Just make sure to carefully mark the gunwhale of the boat at the exact spot where you dropped it (adapted from old German folk tale)

 

[taylor]

GPS?

 

[Kevinkris]

i personally wouldnt bury it though, surprisingly easy to hide something up in a tall tree. camo it up and hang it out and youll be able to find it later and if you do it right no on will ever see it.

 

[OREGON FALER]

All good tips. I found one of the other two this morning. The last will be the hardest. its in an open area and the vegataion has changed around it. These were a trial just to make sure my stuff wouldn't leak.

 

[MountainBear]

I had a thought/concern about caching items underground in tubes, especially over in Central Oregon. Most of our area is susceptible to wildfires. I would be curious to see how deep something would need to be buried, so as not to be adversely affected by the heat of vegetation burning above it. If it's a PVC pipe with a screw top sealed with silicone tape or a metal mortar tube with a rubber seal, how much heat can the seal take before failing? How about the items in the tube? Will they be affected by the high heat?

 

[oknow]

I had a thought/concern about caching items underground in tubes, especially over in Central Oregon. Most of our area is susceptible to wildfires. I would be curious to see how deep something would need to be buried, so as not to be adversely affected by the heat of vegetation burning above it. If it's a PVC pipe with a screw top sealed with silicone tape or a metal mortar tube with a rubber seal, how much heat can the seal take before failing? How about the items in the tube? Will they be affected by the high heat?

if the fire was that hot we would be in a world of ship

 

[OREGON FALER]

I would think the dirt would be a pretty good insulator from the fire above. I would tend to be more concerned about the fire burning down any point of reference you may have used to try to locate the hide.

 

[mosinguy1]

They will be fine if just even at 2 feet underground. The heat rises up and unless there is a stationary fire above it for a while the heat wont penetrate to the cache. A wildfire normally moves pretty fast.

here is an article that should help yall out with this kinda thing Bury a gun and ammo for 15 years by Charles Wood Issue #115 hope it helps

 

[Mark W.]

You can go down to the local Model airplane hobby shop buy a 3ft section of 3/16" D Piano wire.

Then to the hardware store for a 8-10" 3/4" section of water pipe.

Drill a hole through one side of the pipe in the center lenght wise 3/16" D only go through one side.

Place the piano wire through the hole and if you have the ability tack weld it in place. if not you can get away with brazing or maybe even roughing up the end of the rod and pouring a big glob of epoxy around it. Your making a handle.

now on the other end of the piano wire build up a little welding rod to double the diameter of the rod for about 1/2" then grind the blob into a point on one end. Your trying to make the end of the rod larger diameter then the shaft. And putting a point on it.

You now have an excellent ground probe it will allow you to shove the probe into even clay soil to at least a couple feet. It will not allow you to pass through rocks glass pvc old toy trucks or anything else solid.

You can use this to work a grind pattern to fin your lost goodies.

My dad and mom collected antique bottles and dad made and sold these types of probes to help find where people had buried their trash in the late 1800s. Worked pretty dang well and cost very little.

 

[MountainBear]

I'm an experienced metal detectorist and have spent many years looking for buried caches. One way of telling if there is an item buried is to look for plants that don't seem to fit in or stick out. When someone buries something they are actually tilling the soil bringing moisture up to the top, and wild plants will start there. I would go back to the area you buried them and look for any plants or foliage around the age you buried your cache. Its deceiving most people look around the plants when its under them.

Why are you trying to find other people's caches?

 

[SIG383]

Another way to make finding a cache easier is to bury it with 3 landmarks near it. Take a measurement from each landmark to your cache. Write these measurements down someplace safe!!! When you want to find it later on, just match up your measurements and you will be set. Also put a large amount of scrap metal like nuts, bolts, screws, etc in the area and in the ground. This will be able to fool those with a metal detector. This will fool the operator, not the detector itself. Pretty much overloading it and you hope that by the time they are sick of digging up old hardware, they give up and don't find your actual cache.

 

[vanillaguerrilla]

good thing i know where the op lives

 

[civilian75]

Why are you trying to find other people's caches?

Finders keepers?