needless waste of money or good idea... you decide...

M

Magnum Wheel Man

New member
so almost 20 years ago my FIL died... I know he was happy that his little girl married someone like me... after we were married, I think he begain to groom me to manage his fire arm collection ( he was pretty much responsible for getting me deeply involved in shooting & collecting )

when we took over his collection, I'm guessing there was between 1,500 & 2,000 rounds of handloaded ammo, & at least that many empty cases in various forms of ready to reload ( he had started me reloading several years before he died )

... now 20 years later I'm starting to think about retiring, along with those thoughts, I'm a bit of a prepper ( not the crazy single minded type... more like a boy scout ;) ) but I'm also thinking about what would happen ( what would i be leaving behind ) in case of my untimely death???

BTW... I've grown the collection to 4 times what my FIL had collected... so being a "crazy prepper" ( actually having lived through the last several panic shortages ) I've decided I want somewhere between 250 & 2000 rounds of ammo & or reloadable cases for each fire arm... ( depending on type & use level )

I was worrying about leaving 10's of 1000's of rounds of handloaded ammo behind... even though I'm really anal in my reloading, I thought my FIL was too... but I cracked a cylinder on a 44 Special with either one of his, ( or one of his buddies ) handloads I understand what someone can go thru after another dies & leaves behind handloads & reloading components...

I've revised my plan now ( man, does it cost more money ) I'm buying reloadable ammo that I like the brass, & that functions good in my guns, that I'll shoot 100-200 rounds & save those cases for reloading... leaving a reserve of factory rounds to SHTF, or if I should die, those that follow me to more easily dispose of...

anyone else out there that has considered how to make it easier on your relatives should you die, yet still allow you full pleasure while your still here??? or how would you handle my situation???

BTW... I just received a good deal on 200 - 375 H&H cartridges, that match my empties, to put in reserve, under the cases I'll reload :)
 
Besides verbal instructions to my wife, I have written instructions for "whut to do when I be ded". I have no children interested in reloading, but do have friends at church that reload/collect/shoot. I asked them in the instructions to help my wife sell which firearms she can/wants to, and which firearms I want to go to certain people. All my reloading equipment and ammo will go to a specific feller that I know that shoots and reloads a lot (I'm fairly certain he'll not shoot my reloads, but pull them for the components). As for factory ammo, what little I have can go to anyone from church that wants it...

My "prepping" is much like yours, Boy Scout kind; Be Prepared. I lived in L.A. for quite a while and near 4 major earthquake faults, and was prepared with 2 weeks of food, water, shelter, and self protection (min. 100 rounds each for my SKS, 1911s 9mms, and an M1). I had a 30' sailboat I kept 2 weeks of supplies on and ammo for a SS 12 gauge.

Hmm, seems my best friends all are from church!
 
Hopefully you've got another 25 years to work with !

You're doing the correct things :

a.) Considering the mess your demise will leave behind, and,
b.) Dealing with it in some fashion.

Most folks don't get around to such things.

Go ahead and trim your stockpiles down, if you want to. There will be ready buyers or donees out there, and, considering your prepper outlook, it's best to get the cash now while it still has value in an economy that hasn't collapsed back to the 12th century. :D

Do prepare some written instructions, and do make up a spreadsheet or inventory with approximate values of your reloading goodies and ammo, so the wife will have a general idea not to just dump it at the Goodwill.
 
One would think MRS. would understand the basic values, & would want to make sure her dad's items go to family...

unfortunately I have a tendancy to down play some of the value on both guns & on ammunition, to avoid argueing sometimes... ( like I'm betting a lot of us do )... so some of that misunderstanding the value, might be self induced...
 
As many of us get older....it is important that we figure out how to assist our surviving spouses...in how to get rid of the collection ( in my case, that she cares nothing about )...designate guns by make, model, serial number to one person or another....or where to take them, who to talk to, to sell them...

You had a bad experience with an old, unknown source, reload....so I'd pull those bullets - and dispose of the powder and primers in those cases because you have no idea what it might be...and recycle the bullets.

Keeping a stock pile of ammo is ok ....but if you reload it / make a label for it -- date, bullet weight, powder used and how much, primer type, velocity, etc.. you can print them or handwrite them..makes no difference. The alternative is to label each box...and put info in a log book ( if you loaded 20 boxes of ammo all the same / might not want to label each one )...but if its something that is going to lay around for awhile, like heavy rifle calibers you might not shoot much ...just label them with complete info.

Keep your reloading supplies in original containers....maybe put a date on them when you bought them / so someone can tell if they're really old.

My loading bench ...and work bench....accumulate all kinds of stuff....but its important to keep some stuff together....like owners manuals on each gun ( for one gun -use one bag and label it --- for all the manuals put them all in one storage container, a set of choke tubes for a shotgun, grips that you took off of one gun, stock you took off a rifle ... / put a label on them or if nothing else just put them in quart or gallon sized zip lock bags...and write on them with a permanent marker what it is. Holsters are another thing...drop them in a quart sized bag ...and label each one & put all 15 or 25 holsters in a storage box with a lid...( they take up a lot of room )....

As I've gotten older, I've also started giving some of the collection away to the adult kids....( so each one gets a good general purpose shotgun, a good Trap shotgun, a good 1911, a good double action revolver, a good basic .22, a good .22 rifle....).....and I'll keep the stuff I still shoot - some of the more expensive stuff...with a list in the safe, of where I want each gun to go ( and values, etc ) so she can sell them if she needs the money.

Same thing on my wife's jewelry.....I had her make up a list for me....diamond bracelet goes to kid X, sapphire bracelet goes to kid Y, etc..../ so I don't have to guess. She owes me a list on her "collectables" too....and I put them in safety deposit box and a copy in my gunsafe. As me over 60, at least in my case, I know I'll probably go before she does....but I don't want to assume anything on her stuff either....( some of the fancy collection of dishes, the equipment in her sewing hobby room, etc )...
 
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"...cracked a cylinder on a 44 Special...or one of his buddies..." They loaded with .44 Mag loads? Remember how many times you've told people not to shoot other peoples hand loads? This is why.
What you need to do is meticulously document all of it. What powder, primer and load for everything. Plus a label on every container of empty brass defining what it is. Don't know how many times heirs will post of the assorted forums about da's or Grand da's reloaded ammo they didn't document.
Really important if you have anything odd like the nearly 5,000 brand new IMI .41 AE cases I have. Worth a pee pot full of money these days. Nobody I know can tell one case from another. Been telling 'em all to get busy building the pyramid, but it's like talking to a brick.
 
BTW... I'm very meticulous about putting full data on all my plastic boxes of handloads, as did my FIL...

but I can tell you as someone put in that position... sometimes things are overwhelming, I was rushed to put everything together for the estate, deal with MRS. greedy over bearing sister that doesn't like guns, afraid that she was getting the short end of the stick as far as value... I just started putting things together by caliber ( so some different loads might get mixed in the same ammo box, while trying to condense everything ) also maybe a bad trait learned from FIL, but I use masking tape on the lids, & write every detail of the load on the tape... but with FIL's stuff, as I sorted stuff, I found a lot of tape had fallen off boxes as it dried out over the years... ( some became impossible to remove if I wanted, so I don't know if it was the type of plastic the boxes were made out of, or if the different quality of tape some dried out & fell off, & some became impossible to remove??? )

the reason I'm making the transition to factory ammo in my reserves, is handloads have very little value compared to factory ammo... even though I put the factory ammo in plastic boxes, I cut off the end tab that has the bullet info & lot numbers, & put that in with the cartridges inside the plastic boxes... I also write on my masking tape the fact that it's factory ammo, the brand, the bullet weight & type, & the lot number...

I'll still reload in hopes of improving performance of each gun / ammo combo, & for cost savings, but will keep factory ammo reserves that shoot decently for each gun as well...
 
Go to an office supply store....you can buy a package of stick on labels...pkg of 100 or so of 2 1/2" X 4" - or whatever size you need...are only a few bucks.

If you stick them on ...and use a permanent marker....they will last a lot longer and be readable way longer than any masking tape ( and they don't dry out and crack like masking tape )...
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I understand your aggravation with the FIL's estate...I had the same problem on my Brother in Laws gun collection...cardboard boxes full of cleaning stuff, at least 3 big cardboard boxes of holsters - many for guns he didn't have any more , old ammo - most of it unlabeled and not much of it look OEM, rusty knives, junk he bought at garage sales or from someone he knew..../ his tools in the garage were worse.../ nothing got put away where it was supposed to be...nothing was cleaned or wiped down...
 
I just hope my wife doesn't sell my guns for what I told her I paid for them. I have a list of all my guns and what to sell them for.

As far as my ammo goes, my son will take all of it. I did all the reloading for the entire family and they wouldn't buy factory unless they absolutely had to.

Every box or container of ammo I have has the entire recipe in it. Each and every box. That is the way it should be.

I also have about 3k of 9mm, 200 of all the rifle loads I keep, and so on. If I die I will just have to assume it will be scarfed up by my family. It is also assigned to the particular gun it was loaded for. There can be no mistakes unless someone can't read.

I can't see loading anymore than 200 for any rifle I have because It would never get used. I have to many rifles.

I do have the components for many, many more in stock so I would hope it would not go to waste.

But ultimately, When I'm dead, it will be beyond my control.
 
Well I am sort of doing like my pop did, he had some components for everything he had. Now I have those as well as several times what he had added on top.

Still I doubt seriously I have more than 1200 loaded rounds in the house. Well I take that back as I just finished loading up about that many 9mm, 38, 357, and 45 ACP rounds, but those will go very fast, I'm just playing around with some different things right now. However all of the load data is written on the zip lock bags in which they are all contained in.

Other than that everything else in mainly in component form, and I load what I need when I need it, and usually not in batches more than 50 rounds. I DO have some factory ammo but it is mainly for the less shot things like the 303 Brit, and the 300 Savage, 223's for my Contender, and some 30-30 for the same. Just don't shoot them enough to warrant loading for them.

My wife is fairly up on what I have in the safe and who I want it to go to if she see's fit. She keeps telling the grandson's that they ain't gettin nothing unless she thinks they deserve it. But she is just keeping them in line when they mouth off. LOL

I figure that with the loading equipment, the dies, molds, lead, and what ever primers and powder I leave behind they will at least have a good handle on what goes where and what to do with it. There is new brass for everything stashed away in the closet as well as plenty of jacketed stuff for them all to stay interested anyway. I figure they can pick out what gos with who on that stuff and fight it out amongst themselves. After all what are grandpas for anyway.
 
A fact of life is this: When a reloader passes, unless he mentored a next generation reloader, who learned and reloaded with him, his collection of reloaded ammo will most likely end up, trashed, or pulled, no matter how well documented. How many of us will shoot an unknown-to-us reloader's life's work.

That being the case, I keep a lot of components, and can put out a good supply as needed on my progressive, but I don't reload more than I will shoot up in a few months. When I die, my wife and/or kids will just have components to sell, with a minimum # of reloads to dismantle.
 
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