Darn good gear

Guns Magazine, Jan, 2004 by Jim Gardner

Being an inveterate gun trader, on more that one occasion I've swapped off to one of my shooting amigos some handgun or rifle that didn't hold a lot of interest for me at the time. It never fails that sometime soon after, when were at the range together, I'll see my buddy enjoying that piece of iron, and I'll begin thinking, "Why on earth did I part with that?" It seems we sometimes don't appreciate something until we're reminded of how good it is.

Recently, I was packing up for a day at the range with my friend Zachary Foster. who was watching the process. As I Slid each firearm into its case, I slacked the ammunition for it in my range bag. Soon the pile included .40-70 SS loads for my Ballard, .44 Magnum loads for the Model 29, a petite box of .32-20s and several boxes of .308 Win.

"Dang Jim," Zach stopped munching my leftover pizza long enough to sputter, "how many of them plastic boxes have you got?"

The answer, I realized later that day When unpacking my gear, was quite a few. And moreover, Foster's flippant question caused me to think about just how good these MTM cartridge boxes are and what an improvement they have made over the way we used to carry our ammunition.

The Not So Good Old Days

As a school age lad in Florida, I used to bicycle down to the local hardware store each fail and buy two boxes of 12-gauge shells for the upcoming duck season. The money came from mowing lawns or doing odd jobs for neighbors, and I can tell you that every one of those beautiful Remington high-brass No. 5s was precious.

That's why it was such a heartbreak one fall when I reached behind the canoe seat for my second box, only to have the wet cardboard box disintegrate, spilling half its contents over the side.

Later, when my interests shifted to handguns and reloading, my loads were always put up into pasteboard Factory amino boxes, which didn't hold up well to constant use, requiring structural reinforcement with masking tape after comparatively short service.

Again, it was a shooting buddy who had the first MTM plastic cartridge boxes I ever saw. These were great! They were inexpensive, available in wide variety, kept my handloads clean and dry and were seemingly indestructible. They've been a part of my shooting kit ever since.

MTM Today

After so many years of taking this good equipment for granted, my curiosity was aroused, Cruising the MTM Website showed this family-owned company offers an amazing variety of products for shooters, archers mad hunters. Wanting to know more, I called and spoke with Al Minneman, president of MTM.

Rather than some stuffed shirt corporate bigwig, Minneman proved to be a straightforward, down to earth guy. "Every one of us is a trigger puller," Al admitted when asked about the inspiration for the company's product line; "Perhaps 50-percent of our new items and product improvements result from customer feedback, but the rest is likely something we wanted for our own shooting needs."

MTM was founded in 1968, the first product being a 50-round medium rifle Cartridge box. One feature that sparked interest in and even a little suspicion of be company's early offerings is the "living hinge" used on hinge top boxes. You must remember that in the late '60s, anything made of plastic was a little suspect, and many doubted that the living hinge could stand up to much use.

"No, we didn't invent that," Minneman corrected, "the living hinge had recently been introduced, but my father learned how to design a truly durable hinge that would withstand approximately one million cycles."

"In fact, we set up a machine at some of the early trade shows which rapidly cycled the hinge hour after hour. People would stand around for a while waiting to see it fail, before finally moving on."

The design has certainly withstood the test of time, and when asked how many of the signature cartridge boxes had been produced to date, Minneman estimated, "between four and five million."

A Style For Every Use

Cartridge box is a pretty all-inclusive term, but glance at the MTM catalog (or my loading room) and you'll soon seen there are many different styles available. For my .40-70 SS loads, I like the H-50 series boxes, which let me keep track of one 50-round lot of carefully prepared brass at a time. For my Steyr SSG, I adopted the Case-Gard 20 boxes. A built in belt clip makes it a cinch to keep Several gun loads in reserve if I take a long hike up some canyon.

Another favorite of mine is the Case-Gard Ammo Wallet. A J-frame S&W usually accompanies me on fishing trips and the Ammo Wallet keeps a small supply of wadcutter, hollow point and snake shot loads rattle free in my fishing vest. A version for rifle cartridges is also available, and it beats the heck out of loose cartridges rattling around in your pocket when hunting. MTM also offers a great variety of shotshell boxes in styles accommodating five to 100 rounds.

More Good Things

MTM may make mole types of cartridge boxes than Carter has pills, but that's just the beginning of what's available. One of my absolute favorite means of organizing and carrying shooting gear is the MTM Dry Box. Surely you've seen these, in fact you probably have several of your own. They're available in several sizes, from 14x7.5x9 to a whopping 18.5x13x15.1; and with or without internal trays or external compartments.