FOUND! 10,000-plus rounds of free ammo

[LoboGunLeather]

Retired in November, 2015. Moved out of the 2400 sq. ft. 5 bedroom 3 bath house, and wife and I moved into a 1480 sq. ft. patio home (no yard work, no snow removal, no exterior maintenance, so it sounds like retirement for me!).

Since the move I have set up the reloading bench and worked on getting all of my stuff organized (not an easy chore after more than 40 years of reloading, and being a bit of a hoarder anyway). Among my finds:

6,000 large pistol primers
4,000 large rifle primers
5,000 small pistol primers
4,500 empty .38 Spl. cases
2,600 empty .45ACP cases
1,800 empty .357 cases
500 empty .30-30 cases
2,000 empty 9X19 cases
800 empty .40 S&W cases
1,200 empty .44 Spl. cases
1,100 caliber .30 bullets
2,200 caliber .357 bullets
1,900 caliber .45 bullets
600 caliber .44 bullets
1,100 caliber .40 bullets
19 lbs. various powders (rifle, handgun), some with price tags showing purchases at about $9 to $12 per pound.
Lots of other goodies too numerous to list.

Also found hundreds of rounds with loading notes dating back to the mid-80's, still in pristine condition after good storage conditions for 3 decades.

Started about 3 months ago, processing brass in lots of 500 to 1,000, sizing, priming, etc. So far I have produced 1,700 rounds .45ACP, 1,000 rounds .357, 1,000 rounds .38 Spl, 500 rounds .30-06, 1,000 rounds 9X19, 500 rounds .44 Spl., and now in the middle of the .40 S&W. Couple of hours each evening after supper and it keeps adding up.

Still have enough stock on hand to do another 3-4,000 without a trip to the store for new supplies. Haven't even thought about setting up the bullet casting equipment, and probably won't need to for another year or more.

Going to the range at least once each week, frequently 2 or 3 times as I tinker with loads prior to producing in volume.

So far retirement seems to agree with me, especially since my hobby has been so inexpensive!

 

[robertrwalsh]

and I thought I had stuff laying around the house I didn't know about.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Good to hear you are back at it and having success.

One thing, enjoy it now because when you use up what you have the sticker shock just might floor you. Prices have gone up quite bit since you bought that $9 powder. Unfortunately even the current election results won't turn that clock back.

Still, your ammo will be better than anything you can buy for sure. Speaking of buying components, I'm off to Cabela's right now lol.

 

[growr]

Sort of like being a prospecter and finding a motherlode vein!!! Yeah!!

Randy

 

[Nevada Ed]

So what did you find...........
an old foot locker that was collecting dust ?

That is a great haul.
I am old enough to have some thing like that, maybe I
should start looking?

Have fun.

 

[MyDads38]

At 59 years old, I've been collecting as much supplies as I can now; so when I retire, I won't have to buy anything! LOL. Includes brand new bullet molds, for when I actually have time to do it. Powder and brass I've got covered; bullets and primers are a work in progress. Good on you for your "find" and enjoy your retirement-Im sure you earned it

 

[bananaman]

Retired in November, 2015. Moved out of the 2400 sq. ft. 5 bedroom 3 bath house, and wife and I moved into a 1480 sq. ft. patio home (no yard work, no snow removal, no exterior maintenance, so it sounds like retirement for me!).

Since the move I have set up the reloading bench and worked on getting all of my stuff organized (not an easy chore after more than 40 years of reloading, and being a bit of a hoarder anyway). Among my finds:

6,000 large pistol primers
4,000 large rifle primers
5,000 small pistol primers
4,500 empty .38 Spl. cases
2,600 empty .45ACP cases
1,800 empty .357 cases
500 empty .30-30 cases
2,000 empty 9X19 cases
800 empty .40 S&W cases
1,200 empty .44 Spl. cases
1,100 caliber .30 bullets
2,200 caliber .357 bullets
1,900 caliber .45 bullets
600 caliber .44 bullets
1,100 caliber .40 bullets
19 lbs. various powders (rifle, handgun), some with price tags showing purchases at about $9 to $12 per pound.
Lots of other goodies too numerous to list.

Also found hundreds of rounds with loading notes dating back to the mid-80's, still in pristine condition after good storage conditions for 3 decades.

Started about 3 months ago, processing brass in lots of 500 to 1,000, sizing, priming, etc. So far I have produced 1,700 rounds .45ACP, 1,000 rounds .357, 1,000 rounds .38 Spl, 500 rounds .30-06, 1,000 rounds 9X19, 500 rounds .44 Spl., and now in the middle of the .40 S&W. Couple of hours each evening after supper and it keeps adding up.

Still have enough stock on hand to do another 3-4,000 without a trip to the store for new supplies. Haven't even thought about setting up the bullet casting equipment, and probably won't need to for another year or more.

Going to the range at least once each week, frequently 2 or 3 times as I tinker with loads prior to producing in volume.

So far retirement seems to agree with me, especially since my hobby has been so inexpensive!

You did pay for it at 1 time, so should not be considered free. It probably means you won't have to pay high prices now. Probably won't have to buy much of anything ever.
You did plan it that way, right? Bob

 

[kraynky]

Try as I might, I can't come up with a better retirement plan than yours Bob! Being that I'm maybe 10 years away, I'm still packin' it in.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

As were cleaning out the farm house and my reloading barn....


We moved into a condo 2 1/2 years ago just before closing on selling the farm. During the pack-out, I found guns, ammo and components, all in astounding quantities. But my favorite find was a 12 pound cardboard keg of WW231, that I bought in the 80's for about $4 a pound. I kept the primers at hand, so I knew I had 65,000 of assorted sizes and brands.

The 400, ready to load 303 British cases are sitting there inviting me to take them out and play! Now where did I relocate the 500 bullets I have for them?

Ivan

 

[loc n load]

I am not alone

You guy's are making me feel better, I rehabb'ed my shop / reloading room last fall and "discovered" items that I had completely forgotten I had, and found stuff that I had been looking for on and off for years. My rehab project entailed building more shelving along my walls and above my benches.
To facilitate doing this, I had to empty out the entire room( which was a huge undertaking)so that I could move my four loading benches. One thing led to another, now I am much more organized and have components to load with that I have accumulated during the past several decades.
I also did this while my wife was out of town for a week with the granddaughter. This eliminated any "over sight" issues.

 

[m657]

Life is good gents.....

for a well organized retired reloader, it's even better!!!

Nicely done one and all!
oh....I just completed a little inventory control of my own....

pleasantly surprised myself as well....

 

[BC38]

NICE! Sounds like a lightly larger and more varied version of my accumulation. It also sounds like you are making good use of both your supplies and your free time as a retiree.

I probably ought to take stock of my inventory, just to know what I have on hand. I lost track some time ago. I definitely look forward to my days of leisure and the opportunity to pursue my hobby in earnest, just as you are...

 

[Nemo288]

Also found hundreds of rounds with loading notes dating back to the mid-80's, still in pristine condition after good storage conditions for 3 decades

If any of those are magnum (357 or 44) rounds loaded with ball powder you might want to dismantle one or 2 and check on the powder.
I have found that some 44 magnum rounds I made in the 80's and 90's have W296 that congealed into a solid mass.
Stuck a bullet shooting one of these.
I am in the process of pulling all these old magnum rounds down currently.
I have to pry the powder out with a crochet hook.
Some were loaded as "cold weather Bear" rounds and are slightly compressed.
They are the ones most likely to have gone bad.
One of several reasons I have soured on ball powder in general.

 

[gman51]

Yep you should be set for a long time. Moving from a big house to a smaller house really lets you know how much stuff you collected all those years.

 

[retiredbadge8091]

Bullets and golf balls... Squirreled away for the fixed income days.

 

[Hillbilly77]

I got excited last week when I found one bag of goodies that I forgot I had.

1 lb. of powder
500 bullets
1 case of primers

Not anywhere near your haul, but I was still pretty excited.

The primers were really exiting because I thought I was down to my last case. I'm still gonna go get more though.

 

[hdwhit]

Sigh. That's the downside to keeping meticulous records; I never find components that I didn't know I had because everything is somewhere in one of my notebooks.

 

[old 1911 fan]

A few years ago I retired. I moved from a house I had been in 48 years. There was a gun shop and reloading bench that I used for 40 years there. I used movers. Well, you may understand that I had problems thinking that any one of the movers would know the new location of this stash. So before the move, friends helped move the shop. I am indebted to those friends that moved the poundage. No small task. A couple of times that day that day someone asked "what's in the box, lead?"

old 1911 fan

 

[Derosa]

If you ever get "tired" of retirement, I bet the folks at Federal would have an interest in you...

Bless you for sharing.

 

[TAC]

I stumbled into an estate sale a few years back that had a similar cache of ammo, reloading components, and rifle scopes.

Of course none of the women shoppers had any idea what any of this stuff was, and a few of the men that were there, seemed uninterested. I made an offer on the entire lot, and couldn't wipe the grin off my face, all the way home!