Well I am going through this right now. I was asked by an older couple we knew only through church to help them in their later years. No kids. No close family. We agreed blindly. Fast forward 10 years.. Both passed from short and serve battles with cancer. Thankfully her battle was short. His wasn't as forgiving. His estate had 70 plus firearms. More than 30 calibers. Reloaded everything. Hadn't reloaded anything in over 20 years. Hundreds of coffee cans, jelly jars, cool whip containers, etc. with 10-20 loaded rounds and a hand written note with very basic load information.
Trying to get stuff ready for an estate/farm auction this weekend. I have spent over two weeks in "the room" trying to sort items. The auctioneer came by this evening to go over some details. He thinks the all firearms (saved 20 for the auction), scopes, reloading supplies, and related will sell well. Lots of inquires.
We have thousands of rounds of hand loaded ammo. I didn't plan to sell this at auction. I personally wouldn't shoot some else's random reloads. I roll all my own as well but each reload is tailored for a particular rifle. I don't consider them interchangeable. I personally load for precision - case preparation, weight every charge, premium bullets, minimum bump on the resizing, etc. Since the gentleman never reloaded during the entire time I knew him - I don't know his practice with reloads. I am having an internal battle about selling his reloaded ammo to someone that may damage their firearm or themselves with it.
It isn't a money issue. All proceeds are going to charities. They gave everything away and it will amount to a lot. Salt of the earth people. Born and raised in the Great Depression. They saw value in everything and threw nothing away.
Anyhow, those of you in your later years figure out who is going to inherit your stuff. Leave them notes. Talk to them about it. Give them as much as you can while you are living. Go to their house and pet your guns if you need to. Don't leave them with questions like I am facing.
My oldest son in an outdoor nut has been reloading his own stuff since he was 14. My youngest is now 18 but was a later starter on hunting and fishing but is now charging ahead full steam. The first thing I am going to do when I get all this settled is have a set down with them and set what they want and what they don't.
And for the Love of God - set your estate up so you avoid probate. Use a Trust. Use Transfer/Payable on Death if your state allows. Condense your investments to one or two investors/banks. Sell off your coin/card/whatever collections. You are not taking it with you.
Tim