Best way to get rid of a lot of reloading supplies...

[brassguy]

So, I had a friend pass away that had a mountain of reloading supplies. 90% of it went to close friends and family, the rest of it was left with me. There is possibly 75k to 100k different brass and nickel cases in multiple different calibers. To give an example, we have counted just the .308 with head stamp LC and I have 3200 of those. I have over 10k clean (non rusted) links for .308 machine gun. Guessing that there is another 2000 in mixed head stamp .308. This is just what I have found in .308 supplies.

I have boxes of projectiles, boxes of primers, and several reloading machines (RCBS Rotary/non electric). Two tumblers, and much much more. Just the other day I was looking through buckets and found a 5 gallon bucket about 3/4 of the way full of 6.8 SPC brass... these appear to be worth about $1 a piece on Gun Broker.

I wanted to get some reloading done, look into a FFL and decided... way to much work. I have started sorting the brass by head stamp and sealing them in 100 round bags to start selling on Gun Broker. I guess I am asking what would you do?

Should I sell it in 100 count bags, or attempt to sell it as a whole lot? Should I get an exact count of every thing I have and post that? What would be the best way to approach this? I have looked on Gun Broker to see what prices are going for, so I am not willing to just "give it away" as a whole lot. I also understand that I am not going to get retail pricing for everything if its sold as a lot.

What would you do in a case like this?

I appreciate any feed back on this and if needed I can post a bunch of pictures if needed.

Thank you.

 

[rockhound78]

308 I would sell in lots of 500. If checking for pricing, see what stuff is SELLING for, not what someone is ASKING for the stuff. 6.8 spc, bags of 100 might be OK.

 

[alf]

Brand new Starline 6.8 brass is available for $.64 a piece.....

 

[STORM2]

How long or how much time do you have or are willing to spend on the project?
Are you in a major populated location? Face to face sales for large quantities is easier than setting up a ship center.
Obviously an accurate inventory would yield the most accurate price but do you spend
2 weeks counting to gain $500 more money. Time is money. Find a local reloader and ask them to help with a ballpark estimate, then reevaluate your goal-and time commitment to decide how to proceed.

 

[hogpatrol]

Unless the brass is once fired, it could be hard to sell. Unknown firings on common brass, I send to the scrapyard. As others posted, what's your time worth and how much will you gain by counting, sorting, weighing, shipping, etc? After all is said and done, you may discover you worked for minimum wage.

 

[Herzo]

In that you can't know the history of the brass, I would suggest that 30% of new cost might be a reasonable expectation.

 

[jelenko]

Unless the brass is once fired, it could be hard to sell

This.

 

[SecondsCount]

I would see if you have a local classifieds, etc and post it on there.

 

[LVLAaron]

Get a free account on pirateship, get a bunch of boxes from your local post office, start selling it.

 

[brassguy]

Brand new Starline 6.8 brass is available for $.64 a piece.....

And used Hornady is selling for $.90 a piece. The head stamp is going to be where the value is in the 6.8.

 

[brassguy]

How long or how much time do you have or are willing to spend on the project?
Are you in a major populated location? Face to face sales for large quantities is easier than setting up a ship center.
Obviously an accurate inventory would yield the most accurate price but do you spend
2 weeks counting to gain $500 more money. Time is money. Find a local reloader and ask them to help with a ballpark estimate, then reevaluate your goal-and time commitment to decide how to proceed.

I already have in house shipping, I own an auto parts business so shipping will not be a problem. I am located just outside of Seattle. You think that individually bagging everything and counting will only yield another $500? I will reach out to a few reloaders in the area and see what they have to say, thank you.

 

[brassguy]

Unless the brass is once fired, it could be hard to sell. Unknown firings on common brass, I send to the scrapyard. As others posted, what's your time worth and how much will you gain by counting, sorting, weighing, shipping, etc? After all is said and done, you may discover you worked for minimum wage.

A majority is once fired, it was labeled as such when we started sorting it. I struggle with throwing away 7mm Mag nickel cases by sending it to the scrap yard. I must have 800 to 1000 .300 Win Mag once fired brass also, again... I struggle with just throwing that stuff away.

 

[brassguy]

Get a free account on pirateship, get a bunch of boxes from your local post office, start selling it.

I have all the boxes in my current shop, and have a shipping center inside of my current shop (auto parts business) so, shipping will not be an issue.

 

[brassguy]

In that you can't know the history of the brass, I would suggest that 30% of new cost might be a reasonable expectation.

Just about all of the brass was labeled as once fired, a majority of the brass came from LE shooting ranges. The original owner had accounts to pick up all the range brass from the LE shooting centers across the NW.

 

[DocBII]

brassguy,

Brass and other prices fall into three categories; so low you will buy it now, low enough to buy it if you need it, and expensive. You will probably want to sell powders and primers locally to avoid HazMat shipping. Otherwise, big lots are your friend when it comes to shipping.

Shipping is another problem. USPS is probably the best option for heavy load stuff like bullets, 75lb. in a large box. UPS and FedEx have become problematic, they have minimums for commercial accounts to get the best prices and they don't care how long you've had accounts with them. Don't know about pirateship, I quit using printers when printing hit a buck a page when you account for dried up cartridges.

Lastly, while you may have just joined this forum, if you go back through listing at the bulletin, you'll find tons of good info. It would be worth your becoming a Gold member with the amounts you will be moving. Contributing to the site is a good way to establish a good reputation. Lots of sales here are done via cross shipping.

HTH,
DocBII

 

[LuvDog]

Instead of counting it, I’d probably approximate it by weighing it or by box volume

Id fill up a medium priority flat rate box… then count how many cases were in it and put that approximate number when you sell, I’d be sure that at least that many cases fit…. So I’d probably advertise it as slightly less than you actually counted

 

[NorCalMikie]

Ended up with a BUNCH (2 or 3 Ice Chests full) of fired 30.06 brass when a shooting buddy (High Power Shooter) died.
Boxed it up (USPS Flat Rate Priority Mail) and sent it to Guys for the price of the shipping. On a BIG order, you would be surprised on how much (heavy) you can get in a Flat Rate Box. (wrapped with packing/shipping tape)

 

[STORM2]

I already have in house shipping, I own an auto parts business so shipping will not be a problem. I am located just outside of Seattle. You think that individually bagging everything and counting will only yield another $500? I will reach out to a few reloaders in the area and see what they have to say, thank you.

I didn’t say it would yield that, I was using it as an example only. I personally would not spend weeks chasing a few dollars more if some one offered 50% or 60% of a very experienced person’s estimate on site to walk away, I would probably take it. Do you want to start a business or get rid of it? If you start peddling it by lots, the hard to sell will be left behind.

 

[chkunz]

I had a lot of stuff that I had accumulated over the years that I realized that I would never use. So I have been taking it to matches and giving it away, juniors, new shooters and anyone who I think can use it. I have made a lot of progress and still have a lot to give away but my goal is to have what I need for the remainder of what life I have left but not leave much behind.

 

[nakneker]

If you have the time to bag it in bags of a 100, time to babysit the ads, box up a bunch of smaller orders then gunbroker will get you as good as price as you’ll find anywhere. If you don’t have the time or the patience for that kind of project I’d sell larger quantities and just list that on gunbroker too. Either way you’ll get a fair price. I would start it off as penny auctions, some will go higher than others but you’ll get a good average.

You can always list here too, ask what you want, if it doesn’t sell then your price might be a bit high. Only stating the obvious.