Rows of Just Loaded, or Stash of Empty

[bula]

Just found out the subject line has its limitations. Had to shorten and makes less sense. But which makes you happier, rows of gleaming just loaded ammo or finding a stash of empties you'd forgotten and now the mystery, and adventure..!  Being an endless tinkerer at the press, the latter for me. Just found a baggie of fired 44spec brass and skipped joyfully to the tumbler(um, no, skipping ain't happening)but you may understand. Shopping the bullet inventory now. The possibilities.. Yipee ! 

[magnumwheelman]

1st off you must realize, that I'm totally not normal... & this topic has a lot of relevance to me... when MRS dad died, he had a lot of handloaded ammo, in quite a few different calibers ( also lots of cases formed from others, with incorrect headstamps )... when it came to assess value to the shooting collection, the reloaded ammo was assigned no value ( a good deal to my wife & I at the time... although after cracking a cylinder about 3/4 of the way through shooting up his handloads... years later... I see why they assigned no value to it, & I promptly pulled down all the rest )

My current "ammo library" ( yes that happens when you have close to 80 different calibers you reload for, & you want at least 500 rounds for each firearm ) consists of 500 rounds of same brand factory new reloadable ammo for each gun ( this cost me an insane amount of money )

then I keep 100 cases on top, for reloading... my goal here, is when the cases wear out, to take 100 of the factory rounds off the top of the stack, shoot them up, & continue to reload those, & replace those 100 factory rounds, putting them on the bottom of the stack...

as I said, this cost an insane amount of money, but if I should die, the factory ammo has a real value, ( honestly into 5 digits ) they are all the same brand, with in a caliber, & properly labeled... this way I also have loaded rounds, if SHTF ( or I just decide at the last minute I need to go Prairie dogging )... I used to keep just the brass cases, & only had 50-100 rounds loaded at a time... but I get the warmest feeling opening up my ammo library & seeing all those shiny new cartridges ready to shoot & reload... & knowing MRS could live quite well off the auction, after I'm gone...

[lazytcross]

As a guy that doesn’t get to spend enough time in the loading room, and after the process of casting sizing case prep and testing. I guess I would have to say that having a stack of full boxes would have to be the gratifying moment for me.

[bula]

Normal is highly overrated and have been called, politely, since Kindergarten, weird myself. Just wondering if the bretheren here a brass empty or joy only in full kinda crowd.

[magnumwheelman]

Well I used to get great joy from 500 freshly wet tumbled & shiny "poor man's gold" cases per gun... but will admit I get more joy, knowing those are all "ready to go" now days...

[bula]

Understand.

[contender]

Due to aging,, and seeing older shooters pass,, with a lot of loaded ammo left behind,, I changed my thought pattern.
I USED to think I needed to keep all my brass loaded. Then,, as I saw friends pass,, and the ammo left behind not being sellable or suspect to many for shooting,, I realized I needed to re-think my ammo & such.
Now,, I keep shooting older stuff,, loading fresh when the need arises,, and making sure the brass is clean & ready to be started on the path of reloading. I also keep plenty of components on hand,, to make sure if I need ammo, I can assemble it quickly.
So,, I guess I'll be shooting up a whole bunch before I have to reload any for certain guns & pet loads. But,, the stuff is there if I need it.

[whiterabbit]

I like both.

But the MOST gratifying is when I am physically at the loading machine, in operation, loaded and in high output.

[squawberryman]

Magnum, pics?

[AxeHandle]

Ha! After 40+ years of reloading I've got some interesting stuff here and there... My favorite is the ammo can half full of 45 ACP loaded January of 1992 on the morning of my cancer surgery... It is special...

[bula]

Axe, very nice.

[lobo]

Normal is boring. A few weeks ago I found 150 pieces of .308 win brass that has already been prepped. All it needs is powder & a bullet. Oh happy day !!

[Markbo]

I have buckets full of different calibers of brass. I don't have buckets of loads of anything - even those I shoot most of - so your question makes no sense to me.