Old shotgun shells

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I have several boxes of old shotgun shells. Is there a market for these? What's the best place to find a buyer?
 
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FWIW, I recently sold some shotgun shells from the early 80's for a friend on GB. All were 12 gauge, 186 total rounds, mixed pellet sizes, fetched $32 (then had to add $38 for the labeled ordinance shipping!!)

YMMV
 
I have some REALLY old 12 gauge Browning shot shells, head stamped Browning (Belgium made) that someone gave me about 20 years ago. Just for laughs I tried two of them and they were both duds. I don't really know how old they are, but from their looks I would guess 1920's or so. They are made of tan paper and are corrugated. Never tried the rest and have no idea what they are worth but they look cool in my gun room on display.

Chief38
 
I'm new here so please forgive me for intruding but I have some shotgun shells from Purdey 2 1/2 inch 12 ga. I wonder if they have any collector's value too.
 
Just caught up with this older thread, so I'll resurrect it for a moment. You might try Wards Collectibles (wardscollectibles.com). They have several auctions throughout the year (just finished one last week) and much of their auctions is dedicated to shotgun shells and boxes (empty, partial, and full). The results of the last auction are on the website.
 
My father in law had three boxes of old paper hulled 12 gauge shells, that he was storing in his barn. we suggested he find somewhere more climate controlled for them so he went to the barn where he had stored them. Some raccoons had eaten the paper hulls off of every one of them.
 
I have several boxes of old shotgun shells. Is there a market for these? What's the best place to find a buyer?

I would be interested in buying them and would pay shipping. Please let me know if you still have them and what you want for them.
 
Generally, unless they are either very old or very unusual, they are not worth much, especially if they are loose shells. Often, most of the value is in the box, and those must be in excellent condition. Then you have the very big problem of selling them. There are just not that many shotshell collectors.
 
Many old paper hulled shot shells are shootable. Those old paper shells have a habit of burning thru right at the brass base and the paper hull going down and lodging in the barrel before the choke. Caution! Use them only in a break action shotgun where after every shot you can look down the barrel(s) and determine if there is any of that old paper hull lodged there before the next shot. Take a barrel swab brush and push out the piece of paper hull and go on to the next shot. It makes for a fun day at the do-it-yourself trap range.
................... Big Cholla
 
I have been reading some books about old Best Guns:

"Vintage Guns" <Hadoke>
"Boothroyd On British Shotguns" <Boothroyd>
"Best Guns" <McIntosh>

and one thing mentioned was that it was not unknown for the paper shells
to separate even when they were new.
Many of the cased sets came with a wooden ram rod to remove the jams.

===
Nemo
 
Many old paper hulled shot shells are shootable. Those old paper shells have a habit of burning thru right at the brass base and the paper hull going down and lodging in the barrel before the choke. Caution! Use them only in a break action shotgun where after every shot you can look down the barrel(s) and determine if there is any of that old paper hull lodged there before the next shot. Take a barrel swab brush and push out the piece of paper hull and go on to the next shot. It makes for a fun day at the do-it-yourself trap range.
................... Big Cholla

Just squeeze 'em. If they break, throw 'em away. If they don't, just shove 'em in your sawed off double barrel. You know, like Mad Max did in that movie :p
 
I have a box full of assorted old paper hulled shotshells. I think they are all 12 gauge.
Now I'll have to look at them to see.
 
I have a complete box of federal shells from the 50's. I don't think it's worth much. I was born in the late 40's and I'm not worth much, at least that's what my last supervisor thought. ;) He didn't get to vote though.
 
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