Bought an entire reloading room!

[marlinman93]

I was asked by a friend to help his friend's son sell off his dad's reloading room. The estate sales company wanted nothing to do with the room in his basement as it was all ammo, reloading equipment, and gun related stuff. So I asked my son in law to give me a hand in loading it all into my old '69 Suburban yesterday, and told him he could have whatever he wanted for either free or what I paid for it.
We spent 3 hrs. loading ammo, bullets, reloading supplies, reloading equipment, and when we finished the only empty space in my truck was the driver's bucket seat! I didn't count it all, but guessing around 400 boxes of 12 ga. shotgun shells, a number of boxes of 16ga. and 20ga., about 5,000-7,000 rds. of 9mm, .38 spl., .357 Mag, .45ACP, .223, .22-250, .303 British, .308, .30-06, .338, etc. Plus several nice spotting scopes, including one Burris, and a Swarovski. Lots of misc. sheath knives, bamboo fishing poles, fly reels, holsters, and some bullet molds. Three MEC shotgun loaders for 12, 16, and 20 ga. Plus all the RCBS reloading equipment anyone would need to start up reloading!
Surprisingly we found a safe under the bench and it contained powder, but with a dozen cans, only two were full, and the rest had very little in and were rusty. We took the two pounds of Unique, and left the rest to fertilize the garden. Not a bunch of primers, but 4 bricks of 1000, and enough 100 packs to be near 1000.
We were both so tired when we got back here that I grabbed two plastic tarps, and just covered the load inside my Suburban, and locked it up. It's going to take days to sort and unload to figure out everything I really have!

[JBowen]

Sounds like a fun project! Do you know the family well enough to trust the reloads?

JBowen

[marlinman93]

Sounds like a fun project! Do you know the family well enough to trust the reloads?

JBowen

Yes, and I'd not hesitate to shoot any of them, or I wouldn't have even taken them if they were free. But reloads are always tough to re-sell, so whatever I don't keep will be sold to friends and family who know me. Even at the dirt cheap price I paid, I doubt most people want to buy or shoot reloads in my experience. Might be a little different today with pistol ammo being so tough to get. Or might be some shotgun shooters wanting cheap trap loads. All his reloaded 12 ga. was 1 1/8 oz. #7 1/2 or #8 shot trap loads. Some new shotgun shells he had are heavier game loads, not reloads.

[Paladin]

Well done, enjoy the process.

[GunnyMack]

I didn't get as much as you did in the estate sale I bought but I got more in once fired AAs, 12 & 20 than the 500 bucks I paid for the lot!
It included 4 grabbers-410,28,20 &12, a couple single stage MECs, wads, primers , 16 lbs of green dot, 12lbs of 296. How could I say no !

[Griff]

Cool score!

[Bill in Oregon]

Bittersweet find, Vall. I hope I don't leave burdens like that behind when my light winks out -- not even close, please, Lord.

[Ysabel Kid]

Cool score!

+1

[marlinman93]

My son in law has been busy spreading the word among the guys he works with, and a couple guys want cases of the 12 ga. trap that I told him to let them have for $3 a box. Just want to make $1 a box and get this to people who shoot it. They're taking a bunch of .45 and 9mm also at $7 a box too. We'll make another $2 a box on CF ammo to split. cheap shooting, and they'll give him back the brass and keep the MTM plastic ammo boxes.

Since I got several spotting scopes also among all the misc. stuff, I discovered one is an old Swarovski 20x-60x and contacted them about it. Got a quick reply stating the scope was made 1984-1996, and back then it sold for $1200-$1500! So it's going to be my new range scope! Son inlaw took a nice Burris I gave him, and the Simmons will be sold cheap.
Got three MEC progressive presses in 12ga, 20ga., and 16ga. Also a RCBA 10-10 that I'm keeping to upgrade from my old 505 scale. About 14 die sets, but all in cartridges I already have dies for, so will give some to my son inlaw, and sell the rest.
Discovered almost 20 old bamboo fly rods in the stuff, and 10 of them are in fitted old wooden boxes with fly gear in compartments. Have to check them out before I decide what they should sell for! Also a box full of holsters, all western style, and many are hand tooled Lawrence Leather holsters! Another bin full of pocket knives and sheath knives, but only a few nice name brands like Case XX, etc.

[COSteve]

I hopeful that when you 'part it out' and sell off what you don't need you find you made a great deal. One of my reloading buddies bought up an estate reloading room a number of years back and after he got done selling off most of the stuff he found that he actually made money on the deal.

He got the few pieces and components he wanted for free as well as some decent coin in his pocket. It did take him about 6 months to sell it all off but he said besides the money, he also made a couple of new friends in the deal.

[GunnyMack]

Jim some of those fly rids can be very valuable- do your homework!

[marlinman93]

Jim some of those fly rids can be very valuable- do your homework!

Not sure who Jim is Gunny? I've begun attempting to research bamboo fly rods, and overwhelmed and more confused than I previously was! Digging further through my truck load, I have found 15 of them, and still only identified maybe 6 of them for sure. I did discover some are marked on the reel base with a stamp, so need to go back and check them again before selling them.

[GunnyMack]

Oops, sorry Val- I had just posted on one of JimTs posted previously!

There were many bamboo markers, some are quite desirable by collectors.

[marlinman93]

Oops, sorry Val- I had just posted on one of JimTs posted previously!

There were many bamboo markers, some are quite desirable by collectors.

I spent some time yesterday looking into pricing of bamboo fly rods and came up with a few I have that are worth in the $200-$300 range. Most others were in the $40-$80 range. I priced everything at 50% of what I saw, so when I take them to our Sunday collector gun show maybe they'll sell quick.
My brother and nephew came over yesterday and filled the back of the canopy with ammo, reloading supplies and a couple fly rods, so took maybe 20% of what I have here. Made $1 a box over the $5 a box I figured I paid, and will mark the rest up a couple dollars ea. at the show. Expecting a feeding frenzy when I start setting up my tables. I still have about 200 boxes of 12 ga. trap and bird loads that I've marked $4 ea. to move at the show.

[GunnyMack]

I'm sure you'll move a bunch of that stuff at those prices!

[marlinman93]

I'm sure you'll move a bunch of that stuff at those prices!

I hope so! I want this to be a quick finish and get the back of my Suburban back without hauling stuff into my gun room!

[Griff]

Vall, if you're like me, you'll love that 10-10 scale. I had their mid-range scale, I believe it was a 5-10-5(?), anyway it started giving erratic results and contacted RCBS about it. They said to send it back & they'd try rebuilding it. A couple weeks after sending it in, I received a new 10-10! Invoice marked N/C - Warranty. Love the Green!

[marlinman93]

Vall, if you're like me, you'll love that 10-10 scale. I had their mid-range scale, I believe it was a 5-10-5(?), anyway it started giving erratic results and contacted RCBS about it. They said to send it back & they'd try rebuilding it. A couple weeks after sending it in, I received a new 10-10! Invoice marked N/C - Warranty. Love the Green!

Yes, I believe the previous one is the 5-10, which was a big step up over my 505, and only difference with the 10-10 is the 500 gr. weight to add to the scale.
I've been an RCBS fan for most of my reloading time, and started out with RCBS. Never had to warranty anything until just recently when I changed from my decades old Rock Chucker to my new Rock Chucker Supreme. Upon opening it I discovered the two priming rods and spring were missing. Sent an email to RCBS and was asked where I bought it, and replied. The next day I got another email telling me the parts were in the mail, N.C. and I got them a few days later. Just what I expect from RCBS.

[marlinman93]

We had our monthly collector gun show yesterday, and I drug in numerous loads to put out on my two tables for sale. I left 100+ 12ga. shotgun shells in my truck, as just to heavy to haul around. The scene was like a field of dead animals, and vultures swooping in! In a few hours all but a handful of reloading dies were sold, and one guy pulled his pickup over to my truck, and took all the 12ga. I had in the back!
It was what I hoped for, but never expected to happen in one morning! Several guys bought everything I had in certain ammo, or bullets, with others just piling things up and we made a volume discount deal. One guy bought all of the bamboo fly rods, which made me really happy, as I didn't want to get into that business!
Few things I had left beyond the dies I gave to my son in law. A neat Kukri knife, some bulk 9mm, a RCBS Uniflow measure, Forstner case trimmer, etc.

[GunnyMack]

That's what ya call a good day!