doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com what is stockpiled ammunition worth these days?

If I had to guess, I'd say that just about everybody here has a stash of munitions in their possession. Since many of us here shoot mostly older and somewhat unconventional (i.e. "not common") firearms, we are likely to have stockpiled enough materials to feed our particular hobby needs for some time. Perhaps even enough time to get us into our dotage?

For arguments sake, let's say that you somehow don't outlive your stockpile (shocking, I know) and it then falls to your significant other (or your children) to dispose of it prudently. Just exactly how would one approach that challenge? Lately, I've gone online and visited several sites (GunsInternational, Gunbroker, etc.) and I'm seeing lots of variety (in the terms of options, some real, some suspicious) for bidding on say...the more obscure stuff. But what about the "meat & potatoes" of the ammunition world these days (12-gauge, .30-06, .308, .45 auto, .223, 7.62x39, .22 rimfire, etc.), where do I go to see what prices might be in the real world, essentially main-street? Most of the big boxes around here anymore have nothing or very little to choose from. What they do have is 200 to 300% higher than it was just a few short years ago. Some of the local shops do have (essentially consigned) ammunition in small lots (I've even seen 9mm for sale locally in baggies of 20 each!), but is there a bigger forum I'm not considering?

Clearly, stuff in it's original boxes is more desirable on a number of fronts, and the more-reputable the maker the better. Any reloaded stuff obviously begs a few questions, but bulk-reloaded stuff from professional or even semi-pro operations (essentially, small businesses) should be seen a bit differently, right? What says the cognoscenti here?

AmmoSeek for current asking prices.

Lloyd, lots of ranges Don’t allow you to pick up your brass, Consequently, they can reload common pistol ammo and sell it in those baggies.

That’s what the popular pistol club around me does.
People don’t seem to care, as long as it’s cheap enough.

We haven’t had a member at our gun club die in some time, but when somebody passes away it’s not uncommon for their estate manager to put a listing up at the gun club for the decedents ammunition.
Firearms too.

I’m kind of sorta guessing that your question is related to your recently departed friend.

Expediency seems to be more important than securing the last nickel for most widows.

This doesn’t answer your question Lloyd but I’m avidly working on getting out of the ammo buying business. I’d much prefer to just grab a box from the stock pile. Now. This really only applies to hunting loads but I’m pretty much there with 12 and 16 upland loads. What my heirs do, I don’t care. I don’t have a wife to look after and if I do by the time I die, she’ll be much younger and definitely more competent than me.

Seeing that I just came out of my reloading den having sorted through some items I hope to sell I will offer my pessimistic opinion. You may find I am completely wrong, however. I have offered ammunition like 7mm Mauser, 270 Winchester, 3030 Winchester, M1 carbine, 257 Roberts, and 300 Savage for sale at prices lower than the lowest I could find on the internet, even "out of stock" prices, but I have found it difficult to move anything. This was prior to the deer season here too. I may live in the wrong part of my state as I am West and everything seems to be WTB or FS central and East, I don't know. For me to ship ammunition, as I understand it, I have to drive to the UPS Central Hub 20 miles away. In my vehicle at current fuel prices that is $5, each way, and I can't sell anything before that. I genuinely hope you find things differently. Just as an example I offered 3030 Winchester at $15 a box, no takers. I also calculated what it would cost( at current prices) to reload the same and I think it came in at about $25 or $30 a box! I just bought a box of Winchester 1&1/4 oz lead at Dunham's for $20.

Stashes of ammo are more valuable to the owner than anyone else, IMO. Do everything you can to use it up before you "go". You will be doing not only yourself but your heirs a favor.

SRH

CZ: You are very perceptive. Yes, I have been asked to help with my BILs estate. He died intestate(!) and left an awful mess. My wife has been back there since it happened to help her sister (& the children) sort it all out. Every penny will be needed to help them pull through this and I've been tasked with dealing with this small part of it.

Liverwort: Yes, a challenge one never wants to contemplate from 1,500 miles away. As with you, I'm finding a difficult market out there at the moment (for any non-essentials). If we're not already in a recession, we seem to be fast approaching one and that has had a chilling effect on what was once a booming market for all the big boy's toys. Trying times, it seems.

Had a friend pass away a few years back. He was one of those the end is near survival people, with guns, ammo, dried food and silver buried for the post apocalyptic period. Well sad for him, he died before the world ended, good for the rest of us.

I knew he had a stash near his deer stand on one of my farms. Not exactly where he had it but he said he could keep an eye on it so I figured line of sight from his stand.

His widow asked if Ed told me where his stuff was buried? I explained he never did, but I thought I might be able to find one stash. It took me several tries but in the end I found his stash by the deer stand. In it he had a couple detailed descriptions of other locations. In the ammo stash he had 250,000 .22 bullets, nine 50 caliber ammo cans filled with 30 cal surplus ammo and several large 20mm ammo cans filled with various different pistol and rifle ammo and shot shells. It was a full truck load. Over about a year I think we found everything but I’ll never know for sure. We did find all his guns for certain.

I gave everything to his widow. It was hers. She tried to give me the ammo but I declined. In the end her son sold everything at a local gun show. His method was simple he used decent asking prices and discount pricing for volume. When others were pricing a brick of .22 at $80.00 he sold his for $65. 00/ brick, 2/120, 4/200. Sold everything in a single weekend. He even sold the dried food and other crap we found.

I took stock of some of my rifle ammo stash and posted a few things for sale that I brought to The NE SXS shoot at Hauseman's in June. I did not want the hassle of shipping and was happy to pass the savings on to the buyer. I ended up selling 4 boxes of .32 Winchester totaling 67 rounds that represented 3 different brands that I was never going to use and it paid for my gas for the 7 hour round trip. I looked it up on the internet and it was going for upwards of $79.99 a box which I thought was crazy, but it is what it is these days.

I'm not ready to sell shotgun ammo yet. It's part of my red neck 401K. Like the rest of my retirement nest egg, I hope it runs out the day before I die.

Ammunition will sell for decent prices on Gunbroker. Be reasonable about shipping costs and start the bidding below fair value, preferably at $0.01, and list it all as multiple individual lots at the same time and you'll be surprised. Pictures are critical.