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November 7, 2015
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JWA said
Mike,My bulk ammo inventory is on a similar system but I will not post it here because I think I am a few rounds within the maximum local fire department ordnance…..
For powder and primers I treat those the same way I handle my kitchen food stock, I keep a fair supply in rotation, when I hit a certain level I order more. (use one, buy one). If there is a drought, I have enough to see me through for several years, the same as canned and dry goods in my kitchen. Some people call that “prepping” but in actuality it is simply buying opportunely and having a reserve which costs LESS and eliminates localized shortages (and the accompanying price spikes). I have always considered ammo, powder and primers to be “money in the bank” for normal use and “gold” when it becomes a Mad Max society. There is NO downside to having too much. Just like food, rotate FIFO (first in, first out).
Sorry about your damaged reloading room and the effort it is taking to relocate your gear, from the photos that looks like a total PITA. You have my sympathies.
Best Regards,
Jeff-
I’ve been “sufficiently supplied” since my first primer “shortage” decades ago. Quite honestly I’m mainly interested in a dollar figure for this point in time. While the quantity of ammunition and components I keep on hand may seem astronomical to some folks it’s really quite modest IMHO, I’m thinking the big surprise will be the value of my reloading tools. My casting operation at one end of the house and the lead ingots anchoring a safe at the other end of the house may have kept my house from blowing away! I’m not concerned with keeping it up to date as I am not buying many new tools and won’t need to buy components in any significant quantity any time soon. I’m thinking any serious reloader would be surprised if he knew what he had invested in tools. When you realize a simple flash hole deburring tool costs $15-30 it’s not hard to imagine how quickly things add up before you even get to progressive presses, casting furnaces (4), electronic scales, die sets and bullet moulds. Like many of you I started reloading decades ago and I simply have no idea what it would cost to replace all the shiny bits that make the magic happen. With the price of powder I’m thinking that may be a bit of a surprise as well.
Bert-
Thanks for the offer but have you ever tried cursive with a chisel? If I could do that I’d be engraving guns, not stone tablets! I found an empty three-ring binder a little while ago that should suffice to hold my “spreadsheets”, now all I need is a card file and index cards. Wish me luck, the folks at Office Depot looked at me funny when I asked them for Rolodex cards awhile back. All (well, almost) kidding aside I seem to recall my MS Office “suite” includes Excel and on a good day I can find it. Not today, tho. I need to get my old analog butt into my reloading room to pack awhile before cocktail hour finally rolls around.
Mike
TXGunNut said
Wish me luck, the folks at Office Depot looked at me funny when I asked them for Rolodex cards awhile back
Don’t deal with imbeciles.
Others, too.
November 7, 2015
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clarence said
TXGunNut said
Wish me luck, the folks at Office Depot looked at me funny when I asked them for Rolodex cards awhile back
Don’t deal with imbeciles.
Others, too.
Thanks, Clarence. I’m retired now so my Rolodex files are mere souvenirs. An alarming number of the contacts in there are no longer taking or placing calls anyway. My mother was a bit of a hoarder and the office supply cabinet I inherited from her (and she inherited from her mother) is solid proof. I’m sure there are hundreds of index cards in there and I see at least one plastic card file box that would be a pretty good start. I can’t see any 3-ring notebook paper in there but certainly won’t bet against it. If it comes right down to it I do have a serviceable three hole punch. I’m not saying her supplies are old but her sticky notes came with a jar of paste. The cards are yellowed and the lines are faint but I’ve been known to color outside the lines on occasion.
Speaking of antiques I found an old badge in a fanny pack (remember those?) while I was packing my loading room. I hated the thing but I loved my road bike and it was the only way I could figure to keep acceptable social equipment nearby on long rides. I always teased my superiors about mounting a 12” pistol grip 1300 riot gun on my patrol bike. It also seems I have more modern rifle scopes than I do modern rifles. I don’t have a problem with that. Also found a steel tube Weaver that I’d lost track of. I think I have a rifle to put that on!
Mike
November 7, 2015
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Loading room inventory FINALLY moving forward. Unpacked, inventoried and put away powder today. Over 70 pounds of powder in 32 varieties. Some of the cans may have collector value! I may need to get a table at a local gun show and peddle most of it. Inventory of my safe ballast wasn’t nearly as interesting but I did find several hundred missing lead bullets. Those data still need to be transferred to index cards, I developed the format tonight with the powder. I settled on an old school method; I found several hundred 3×5 index cards and a few plastic file boxes in my mother’s hoard of office supplies. Some originally were lined, all appear to be blank today. I think I have enough cards.
Mike
Mike, I still have my battery operated Rolodex from days when I was the OPS officer for the 40th Sig Bn (the S-3). Haven’t looked at the names or contacts but damn sure not going to throw it away. May donate it to our museum! When you finish organizing your loading room, would you deign come here and organize mine? Might pay you even as long as I can find things afterwards!! Tim
TXGunNut said
Loading room inventory FINALLY moving forward. Unpacked, inventoried and put away powder today. Over 70 pounds of powder in 32 varieties. Some of the cans may have collector value! I may need to get a table at a local gun show and peddle most of it. Inventory of my safe ballast wasn’t nearly as interesting but I did find several hundred missing lead bullets. Those data still need to be transferred to index cards, I developed the format tonight with the powder. I settled on an old school method; I found several hundred 3×5 index cards and a few plastic file boxes in my mother’s hoard of office supplies. Some originally were lined, all appear to be blank today. I think I have enough cards.Mike
I will urge you to document your inventory using an Excel spreadsheet. It can be readily adapted to record all of the specific details needed to fully document 100% of the contents of your newly remodeled loading room. If you need help creating the spreadsheet, my fees are reasonable
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
I only use 4 powders and buy my lead/jacketed bullets. Sold the 12 gauge reloader, no more red dot.
load the following
25-20WCF
25-20SS
25-35WCF
32-20
32WS
32-40
38-55
38-56
38-70
40-65
40-70
40-82
45-70
45-90
50-110
Store powder/primers in large ammo cans, only use large and small rifle. All loaded ammo in stackable green ammo cans. Had ,many Winchester loading tools bullet molds–all sold. Had 50 original boxes of WRA ammo, all sold except 50-100-450..KISS Bill
November 7, 2015
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Tim, Bert and Bill-
That’s one thing the powder inventory revealed, Bill, the majority of my powders are best suited to the classic bottle neck cartridges (three varieties of 4350, for example) with a healthy amount of Unique. I load many of the same cartridges you load other than the 1876/1886 cartridges and the quarter bore stuff. Several partial cans are from failed experiments over 40+ years of reloading and I’d never miss them if they were converted to fertilizer. I would like very much to get down to six or eight powders, maybe I’ll have some fun along the way.
I don’t think the primer inventory will be nearly as interesting but it’s too muddy to retrieve the bullets and brass from my onsite warehouse. I also need to clear my loading presses, bench vise, drill press and related equipment out of my guest bedroom and reinstall them in my loading room. Loading dies, bullet moulds and resizing dies are in there as well. Don’t know what I’ll do with those shooting trophies, they’ve done a fine job of gathering dust and I’m about tired of dusting. They may go out to the warehouse. And yes, Tim, my Rolodex file is in a safe place. I downsized from the big round model I used thirty years ago, mainly because that particular one was company property. I replaced it with a smaller one that I could gather up on a moment’s notice.
Bert, believe it or not a part of my college education thirty-odd years ago was designed to teach this country bumpkin to build an excel spreadsheet, I may actually remember how. Just between us a large part of my professional career involved using sophisticated inventory control software so I’m very familiar with the concept but quite honestly have no desire to create an electronic record of my inventory. Come to think of it the first parts department I managed (late 1970’s) utilized a Sort-a-post card inventory system so I know how to make that work as well. No worries, tho. I formatted the data on the cards to make it very easy to transfer to that Microsoft thing.
All this is going to have to wait. My business bank account is getting low and my money bag is full so I need to head across the room to my newly remodeled office to work on a deposit.
Mike
I do as Bert says. I have a spreadsheet for my loading dies, shell holders, brass, bullets etc. I have another just for the powder and primers.
Each of these need updating.
Mike, if you wish I could send you some blank spreadsheets.
November 7, 2015
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Chuck said
I do as Bert says. I have a spreadsheet for my loading dies, shell holders, brass, bullets etc. I have another just for the powder and primers.Each of these need updating.
Mike, if you wish I could send you some blank spreadsheets.
Thanks, Chuck. Index cards will meet my needs for now. I set out to do a snapshot inventory and have no intention of updating the inventory levels on a regular basis. If I feel the need to include my computer in this endeavour I’ll do so but I’m gonna keep it old school for now
Primers are inventoried. A little over 10,000 primers; mostly Large Rifle, Small Pistol and Large Pistol. I’m a bit of a slacker when it comes to primer hoarding but I haven’t run low since my first primer “shortage” over 30 years ago, I even loaned out a thousand during a recent shortage.
I finally got a count on bullet moulds, a nice even 40. Mostly semi-custom but several classic Lyman moulds. I love casting with those old-school Lyman moulds, almost therapeutic. Inexplicably I found two Lee round ball .45 moulds. I’ve never had an accurate count. Some have been out on loan and always a bit disorganized. I feel better now but I think I need to thin the herd a bit.
And no, I’m not going to count my inventory of the bullets I’ve cast. Each container has a scrap of paper inside with a count based on weight.
Loading dies should be interesting. I’ve never had an accurate count there, either.
Which one of our Commiefornia members won the MegaMillions lottery?
Mike
TXGunNut said
Which one of our Commiefornia members won the Mega Millions lottery?
Mike
Don’t know who yet but it was sold in a old mining town north of Sacramento. Cottonwood I believe.
November 7, 2015
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Inventory process is certainly slowing down the unpacking! I’m up to over 200 cards and just brought in twelve more boxes of components and tools. I honestly have no idea how all that stuff was in that little room!
Rotation gremlin got me again. I think I’ll go iron my WACA table covers. Pretty sure I can function on that technology level.
Mike
I got myself two old cabinets and sorted all the components for one caliber each. When I load I only need to take out the corresponding drawer and I have everything I need.
Stefan
November 7, 2015
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steff said
I got myself two old cabinets and sorted all the components for one caliber each. When I load I only need to take out the corresponding drawer and I have everything I need.
Stefan
Stefan-
I like those drawers very much! It appears they were surplussed from a bank. They’d be ideal for my moulds, sizing dies and similar tools as well.
Mike
November 7, 2015
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Hard to believe but I’ve run out of boxes to unpack in my loading room! I’m leaving some items in storage to reduce clutter and I think I’m missing an electronic scale but everything else is accounted for and all equipment is installed and in good working order. We have a cold and nasty weekend forecast and my loading room is looking pretty inviting! I had to upsize my file box and I haven’t gone thru and assigned values yet but that can wait. I’m ready to bend some brass! One issue is that I was unable to get all the glass and other debris out of my tumbling media and I only have a handful of new media on the shelf. I’d forgotten that I replaced the media recently and hadn’t replenished my supply.
Mike
TXGunNut said
One issue is that I was unable to get all the glass and other debris out of my tumbling media and I only have a handful of new media on the shelf. I’d forgotten that I replaced the media recently and hadn’t replenished my supply.
I’m sure you have some rice in the cupboard- that’s what I’ve used for a few years now.
Technically, the glass is always full; half liquid, half air....
WACA #10293
November 7, 2015
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rwsem said
TXGunNut said
One issue is that I was unable to get all the glass and other debris out of my tumbling media and I only have a handful of new media on the shelf. I’d forgotten that I replaced the media recently and hadn’t replenished my supply.
I’m sure you have some rice in the cupboard- that’s what I’ve used for a few years now.
I’d forgotten about that, only have a few pounds anyway. I slipped down to my nearby Cabelas and trolled the orphanage while I was there. Only left with the tumbling media I went down after, not much fun when entertainment budget is essentially zero.
Finished up in the loading room with a job I wasn’t going to do. Some of my dusty old trophies survived the tornado, I dusted off the survivors and put them back on the shelf. I used to shoot a pistol now and then, never was much good at it.
Mike
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November 7, 2015
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Jeremy P said
Anything of note in the orphanage?
I was sorely tempted by a very nice late Model 75 with apparently period scope. Something about it caught my eye as unusual but it turns out I was having a senior moment. I understand Kurt and another buyer purchased a collection recently (+/- 70 guns?) but it was still in the back being processed. Rocky wasn’t there but he generally won’t tell me much.
Mike
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