Acrylic copolymer solutions having a T.sub.g less than 0.degree. C., a weight average molecular size ranging from about 20,000 to about 50,000 and consisting essentially of about 4-14% ethylenically unsaturated acid, about 80-95% methyl acrylate and/or ethyl acrylate and about 1-8% lower alkyl methacrylate are obtained by copolymerizing the comonomers in the presence of an organic solvent which functions as a chain terminator. Water-borne, heat-curable, internal can coating compositions may be prepared by formulating these acrylic copolymer solutions with aqueous ammonia and a water-dispersible, cross-linking reagent.