Opened one of the 12 boxes full of old ammo from the lot I bought a few weeks ago.  I think this must be one of the better boxes, although several are like this.  Some have more mundane, more modern in them.

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Instant collection !

i especially like the box for the 50 shot cartridges for the Winchester Model 1873.

Never seen that one.

Spud wrote on Mar 19^th, 2024 at 5:33am:


Wish there was an easy, magical way to just connect those that want with those that have.  I'm no collector, these are of essentially of no interest to me, other than a few that I picked out for myself.  However, I do know the value of them, so not just going to dump them or donate them to a low ball buyer.  That just makes it inconvenient to own them.  But, I got some things I really wanted by buying the entire truckload of mixed gun stuff from this estate.  And, the boxes are mostly full of the correct cartridges.  About 1/4 of them are unopened.  If I remember correctly there were 130 boxes of ammo, about 80 of which are highly collectible.  I literally saw these for about 5 minutes or less during the buy/not buy decision time at the time of sale, I just did a quick count, multiplied by my guess at value, and determined it was worth buying the estate.  Now, I have to figure out a strategy and pass them on to someone who appreciates them.  I do feel an obligation to do that.  Although it is very tempting to shoot some of them.   

marlinguy wrote on Mar 19^th, 2024 at 11:01am:


I may do something like that eventually.  I don't have the time at the moment, I'm going to have to take another 3 weeks to clean up my dads estate.  For now, I'm going to try to make enough space to lay everything out, separate the modern and low value stuff to dispose of as shooter ammo.  Then, pack the valuable stuff back up so it won't deteriorate, and deal with it when I get a chance.  I'll probably just take pictures of the good stuff, and sell as a lot to one of the dealers.   

However, it may turn out like the colt single action parts from this lot.

I didn't want to deal with them.  I offered them to 5 of the biggest dealers in the US as a lot for $4000.  Just counted cylinders, barrels, grip sets, and described the small parts and sent some pictures.  None would take a chance on them.  Two tried to low ball me, said only a couple of the parts were worth anything, and they'd take those off my hands for $50 each if I threw in the rest.  Two wanted a detailed inventory.  One was pleasant and professional to deal with, but wanted a bit better pictures to see what he was getting.  He pointed out that the two parts the lowballers had tried to get were quite rare and desirable.   

I'm relatively competent at selling gun parts.  If I have to do a full inventory, I can, and will.  So, I set out all the parts, sorted them, and skimmed off $4800 of higher grade parts from the lot.  Then took 65 detailed pictures of the remainder, sent them to the polite professional dealer and sold the lot for $3000.  I'm slowly selling the high grade parts, and have been getting more than expected for them, so will probably exceed the $4800 I projected.

I'd do the same with this lot; I'd sell all for $25 per box, take them all and pay whatever quantity is in the unsorted cans.  There's about 120+ boxes.  There's some $10 ammo there, and some $150 a box stuff.  If I have to sort it, I'll sell the mundane for $10 to $20 each, and get $150 for the stuff that's worth that.  It will just take me time and effort.   

I've made more on the Colt stuff alone than I expected to from the whole lot already!  And, still have the Winchester parts, which are potentially more valuable than the Colt.  That's another sorting exercise.

What's disheartening and that I dislike about the gun show and gun trader culture is the number of guys out there just trying to take advantage of someone who knows less than they do.  The good thing is I now know 2 colt dealers to never do business with!   

The guy I bought this lot from was unbelievably glad to sell to me as one lot, at his price, after sitting at a gun show for a day and a half and dealing with those type of guys!

I have been collecting old ammo boxes for several years one at a time and you have an entire collection instantly.