Sell them separately or assemble them?

totaldla

New member
I'm pondering parting with my Stainless Guide Gun in 45-70. I have a lot of reloading components for that cartridge, and I'm wondering if I should load up 300 rounds to sell with the rifle, or sell the components separately.
 
I would not load rounds to sell. Many people are wary of someone else's loads.

Past that, your call, but selling together may put off folks that don't load. You could always just set a price on the loading gear and supplies and make it an option. I am considering making a similar sale, and that's what I plan to do.
 
Matter of what you want to do and what you expect to see for the rifle plus components/ammunition. Me? I would likely price the rifle out and offer the components or price the rifle out with the components and make it clear buyer gets all. Will you ever be looking to load or shoot 45-70 Government again in the future? Also, I would not sell loaded ammunition which you loaded. I would sell or keep the components.

Ron
 
Another vote for not making reloads.
Keep the components as they are.
The only reloaded ammo I would ever buy would be from a professional reloading company.
Not that they can't make mistakes, but so do factory ammo companies on occasion.
After a few experiences, I wouldn't shoot reloaded ammo from friends they gave me for free.
 
I wouldn't sell anybody reloads either. Just not worth the potential hassle. I definitely do not shoot other people's reloads as I value my fingers/hands/eyes/teeth etc., etc. etc.
 
I shoot others reloads - don't understand the paranoia.

If you ever price 45-70 ammo, $40/20 is average. A lot of guys don't reload.
 
If I shoot my shooting ranges reloads, and something goes wrong, who am I going to go after? -CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED- happens. I'm responsible for my own loads, but I'd never sell my reloads to someone else.

Personally I'd sell the components separately.
 
Liability is something you forum old women make up - you will never find a single legal case of it.

A lot of guys don't reload, and 45-70 ammo is expensive.
 
I agree that I dont really trust or shoot anyone elses reloads for pistol and most rifle loads. I would however agree that 45-70 reloads are not a bad idea to sell with gun. I would load some rounds up with a powder such as trailboss to sell with gun.
 
Totaldla:
I shoot others reloads - don't understand the paranoia.

If you ever price 45-70 ammo, $40/20 is average. A lot of guys don't reload.

Where the potential problem comes into play is if you sell the gun and your reloads to someone you open the door to potential problems with the hand loads you made.

I sell you a rifle and you go to Walmart and buy some Remington or Winchester factory ammunition. You fire a few rounds and the rifle blows apart injuring you. The rifle proves to have been functioning fine leaving the ammunition at fault. Your only recourse is with the ammunition maker and not me, who sold you the rifle. However, if I provide you ammunition and the rifle blows apart seriously injuring you then where does the liability lie?

It's not as much an issue of paranoia as a liability thing. You asked for thoughts and people answered. If you feel comfortable selling the rifle with your hand loads then by all means do so.

Ron
 
If I were buying the rifle, I would rather have the components and any ammo known to certainly be factory ammo. I would take any reloads if they were thrown in with the deal, but I wouldn't buy them or shoot them. Instead, I would dismantle the reloaded ammo, and start over, so that I would know, confidently, what I had.
 
I'm not sure of the legalities, if not an FFL, can you even sell reloaded ammo in a package deal?

I wouldn't buy the reloads. i would buy the components/dies/etc and make my own.

I would offer them up to another reloader getting into that caliber.
 
Personally, I wouldn’t sell reloads without an ironclad, lawyer-of-my-choosing certified, non-expiring, notarized release from liability signed in blood by the buyer. Actually, not even then. There’s a difference between paranoia and caution.

Besides, just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean somebody’s not really after me. :cool:
 
Totaldla said:
Liability is something you forum old women make up - you will never find a single legal case of it.

I assume you have searched all the courtroom records in all 3,142 counties and parishes in the country so that you actually know what you are saying is true. If not, you've just made a gratuitous assertion in the form of opinion masquerading as fact, and worth exactly what we paid you for it. There is no national database of county level court records, so such a search is the only way to find out. At least 97% of all civil litigation is settled pre-trial with insurance companies settling on condition the interested parties not disclose the amount of the settlement. But you can bet they keep track of it internally for their actuaries, which is why liability insurance for making even small amounts of ammunition commercially has annual premiums that would buy you a house¹. Bottom line: it's not a zero risk proposition.

That liability issue completely aside, I won't use other people's reloads either. I've been handed bags of them before from guys who had odd numbers left after moving on to some other load or gun, or who figured they'd outwitted the large ammunition manufacturers and come up with the next best thing in punishingly effective self-defense ammunition since sliced bread. I know they don't own pressure test barrels. I know most of them don't have charge checkers on their loading presses. About half of these glories have had high primers among them. I pull these gifts down and inspect the brass and use everything except the mystery powder, which in one instance was the maker's own "blend" of stick and flake powder, and it finds its way onto the lawn.

I think your original inquiry was to try to determine whether you would increase the value of the sale by making someone the ammo. I think the honest answer is that it depends who that person is. From the responses here, you can probably guess that if the person is an experienced reloader, it will probably be counterproductive to your sale. If the customer doesn't know too much, he probably doesn't reload himself and wouldn't know what to do with the separate tools and components and may prefer to buy them loaded. If you satisfied the liability risk is acceptable and won't cost you your retirement savings, then that may get you ahead on price. IIRC from the last time I looked at the firearms regulations, I don't believe you are required to get an ammunition manufacturing license unless you are trying to make profits that contribute substantially to your living. But these things can change, so I would double-check that.


¹Several board members looking into getting into the business have reported on this in the past. Use the board search engine to find the threads.
 
Liability is something you forum old women make up
Guess that's why shooting clubs and matches have Liability Wavers to be signed by participants.
Archery clubs, too, come to think.
Sorry you don't like the advice given here.
If your mind is made up to selling reloads, why did you bother to ask us for advice in the first place?
P.S.
Most of the gun shows around these parts require liability insurance from their vendors.
There must be a reason.
 
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My mind is not made up - I just find the liability angle silly. Not much different than when folks get to arguing over handloads for self-defense.

Unless a fellow has experienced tbe sticker shock of factory 45-70 ammo, I dont think they can appreciate the value of handloads.

Thanks for your input.
 
Liability concerns are silly.

Until you're looking at the possibility of giving away pretty much everything you've ever owned because you made a stupid and easily avoidable decision.

I, personally, won't even sell unopened cans of powder.


A simpler question is... what makes you think that the load you choose is something that the new owner might want?
 
One option would be for the buyer to try out the rifle along with the seller's reloads and then go from there to see if the buyer would consider purchasing additional reloads at a low price. This could work well especially if the rounds were loaded down with Trail Boss powder as mentioned in a previous post.
 
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