The Rimfire Report: How Many 22LR Rounds Fit In An Altoids Tin?

Hello and welcome back to another edition of The Rimfire Report! This ongoing series is all about the rimfire world, including guns, gear, shooting sports, history, and of course weird projects like we’re going to talk about today. I’m sure you’ve seen the idea floating around the internet, or within your circle of friends for a long time - “How much ammo can I stuff in this empty Altoids tin?” 

Altoid tins are often reused by people for neat little bushcraft and survival projects, mostly because they’re a convenient size for stowing smaller items, and can be combined with first aid gear, spare batteries, cleaning supplies, gloves, and much more. The long and short of it is that the humble Altoids tin is often used as a makeshift storage container, and that means today we’re going to see how many .22LR cartridges we can fit into one and talk about why or why not you might want to do this yourself.

More Rimfire Report Articles @ TFB:

• The Rimfire Report: Federal 22 WMR 45 gr Punch - A Look At The Numbers
• The Rimfire Report: A Neat CB 22 Short Ruger 10/22 Magazine Conversion
• The Rimfire Report: CCI's Maxi-Mag 40 gr JHP .22 WMR

The Rimfire Report: How Many 22LR Rounds Fit In An Altoids Tin?

I am not the first person to pose this question and the concept of stuffing a bunch of .22LR cartridges into an Altoids tin has been around for as long as the cartridge has been around. Altoids and their distinctive metal tins actually predate the invention of the .22LR cartridge. Altoids started hitting American shelves in 1918 so I would imagine that at some point shortly after that someone had the bright idea of packing some of their favorite plinking ammo into a tin to carry it around with them.

After some quick shopping on Amazon, I was able to get 6 tins for $9. I could have easily gone down to the gas station to pick up an actual tin of Altoids but I prefer the blank slate that these generic tins come in. I also spent a few more dollars and picked up another handful of Ranger Bands - these are handy for keeping the tins closed when they have heavier objects (like ammo) inside them. Just like the real Altoids tin, these generic ones don’t have lids that stay closed very tight on their own.

You Can Fit a Sleeve Of Ammo In One Tin - But Should You?

Using an alternating stacking method you can see below, I was able to get three layers of 36 cartridges each into a tin for a total of 108 rounds of Federal 36-grain copper plated hollow points. I picked this ammo specifically because I knew I’d be handling it a lot during the stacking process and I wanted to reduce my exposure to lead. If I were packing out one of these to take on a hike with me, I’d probably throw in some CCI Mini Mags.

This whole process took me about 5 minutes to complete. I’m sure with more practice I could drastically reduce that time but this made me ask the question of if the stacking method is worth the extra time it takes. I took a fist full of ammo and another tin and stuffed as many rounds as I could into it without any rhyme or reason and then counted them - 94. With a few small adjustments you could probably fit another 6 rounds in there for a full sleeve of ammo but if you had a sleeve to begin with, would you even want to re-package the ammo in this way?

Altoid tins aren’t any more weatherproof than your standard plastic sleeve CCI ships a lot of their .22LR ammunition in. In fact, they may even be less so. However, if you’re not carrying around CCI ammo, and you want a slim, inexpensive way to store about 100 rounds of other ammo, the Altoids tin is an inexpensive and crafty way to do it. The tin itself definitely takes up less space than a 100-round sleeve of CCI, but it does it in a way that will eventually have rounds start rattling around once you start resupplying from it.

Closing Thoughts

This little DIY project isn’t for everyone, probably not even for most people who shoot .22LR. However, if you like bushcraft/survival DIY stuff, this could be a fun project or gift for you and your family to do together on a weekend. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this and if you do it yourself. If so, what is your preferred ammo and packing method, and most importantly: how many rounds can you fit in the tin? Thanks as always for stopping by to read The Rimfire Report, we’ll see you again next week!