Haven't counted in a while, but have bags of some kinds of brass that according to their weight (I did not count them!) have anywhere from 1000 to 3000 cases. I also have a medium-sized cardboard box for even the more obscure brass I load, which I usually buy in good numbers. Each of those 50+ boxes has at least 100 pieces, and some have more than 1000. That's not even counting the number of case in loaded ammo, and I know some of those exceed 1000.
I make "You win" at least twice in just empty 40 S&W brass. Another "Win" each for 45 ACP and 9mm. 308, 30/06, 8x57, 30 Rem, 35 Rem, 30/30, 303 Brit, 250 Savage and 300 Savage combined would get me another "Win" I believe. Add everything else to what I have in 223/5.56 would get me another. Shotshells would add a couple more "Wins".
I have 67 different metallic dies on hand of which I load 65 metallic cartridges to varying degrees. I load a lot of cartridges but I am not an accomplished reloader by any stretch of the imagination. A good portion of my reloading is for obsolete rounds and I am happy to just get something that fires and is reasonably accurate.
If including shotshells I have a loader for everything from 10 ga 3.5" down to 2.5" 410 bore except for 3.5" 12 ga. I have to exclude 24 and 32 ga as I sold the guns and presses when I ran out of hulls.
OK, while admitting I didn't want to talk about "shotgun schidt," here's a far-gone example. Recently Eileen bought yet another shotgun she could not live without, a 16-gauge Ithaca Model 37 made in 1940, with a Poly-Choke. (She loves dial-a-ducks, even though she has three British side-by-sides.)
But due to her recoil headaches, I had to create a 28-gauge equivalent handload. Turned out I had all the necessary stuff on hand., which with shotshell handloading can be interesting.
If any body needs a 28-gauge load for the 16, I can provide the details. But I doubt most will have them.
OK, while admitting I didn't want to talk about "shotgun schidt," here's a far-gone example. Recently Eileen bought yet another shotgun she could not live without, a 16-gauge Ithaca Model 37 made in 1940, with a Poly-Choke. (She loves dial-a-ducks, even though she has three British side-by-sides.)
But due to her recoil headaches, I had to create a 28-gauge equivalent handload. Turned out I had all the necessary stuff on hand., which with shotshell handloading can be interesting.
If any body needs a 28-gauge load for the 16, I can provide the details. But I doubt most will have them.
That is the best example of Loonyism I've heard in a while, by quite a margin. I suppose the husband/wife Loony team just has more....something.
Don't even want to talk about shotgun schidt, whether factory ammo, loaded rounds or components.
Is that Hunting loads, or Target loads - very different requirement unless you are heading to South America for Dove shooting, then your fork lift capacity needs to be included , ha
Seems that loaded centre fire count should be divided by the number of Full Auto rcvrs in possesion , Just Sayin cause I’m jealous
If one counts rimfires and shotshells......buckets of milsurp .308 and .30-06.....naahhhhh....I'm not into counting tonight
Reducing a bucket of shells to something so mundane as a case count is just so diminishing ! ;-)
One of the principals at a biathlon range I used to shoot at , would demonstrate what could be accomplished with a sub 2-1/2” snub .44 mag at 100 yards plus. Draining the 5 gal bucket, and coming back for more fun the next week on pistol night.
OK, while admitting I didn't want to talk about "shotgun schidt," here's a far-gone example. Recently Eileen bought yet another shotgun she could not live without, a 16-gauge Ithaca Model 37 made in 1940, with a Poly-Choke. (She loves dial-a-ducks, even though she has three British side-by-sides.)
But due to her recoil headaches, I had to create a 28-gauge equivalent handload. Turned out I had all the necessary stuff on hand., which with shotshell handloading can be interesting.
If any body needs a 28-gauge load for the 16, I can provide the details. But I doubt most will have them.
There's just something about an Ithaca M37. I'm down to two: a 20 gauge, and a 12 gauge police model. I've never seen another like it. It has a parkerized-like finish and a plastic/nylon stock that has imprinted M37. And a recoil pad that is almost as hard as the stock. Love 'em both.
Didn't think about shotgun shells for some reason, an innocent oversight. So OK, count shot shells too. I'm not far from the "new" 7. Thank the heavens I just passed a bag of about 500 empties!
A solid 7 here, counting all the brass (which I'll not count), shotgun stuff gathering cobwebs, and the ungodly amount of .22LR empty primed brass for the ultimate Loony experience of breech seating in .22RF single shot target rifles.
To take it a step further, one's stockpile of lead and lead alloys for casting bullets could be used as a tie breaker too. But only if measured in tons.
And my loaded rounds pretty well match my empty ones.
Ive got quite a bit of nickel plated brass...do I get style points for any of that?
Dunno that nickel rates extra points, maybe MD will chime in on that. Point of comparison I have paper, plastic and brass shot shells, but eschew extra points for one or the other. Maybe extra points for pin fire brass, I get that.
I'm a solid 7 without the shotgun stuff. I loaded 5 gallon buckets of 16, 20 and 28 in anticipation of shooting sxs sporting clay events and that just didn't happen this year. I have 10 flats of 12 ga mostly RST and as many in 20 from Clever with 3/4 oz and probably 7 flats of RST 16's Lets talk recent gun purchases. A custom Ruger #1 300 H&H other #1's in 250 Savage, 375 H&H, 35 Whelen and 405 Winchester and one lonely bolt gun a 700 Classic in 300 Savage all since March !!! I flunk the 12 step program LOL
Shoot, I've got close to 100k just in rimfire. I had 2 pallets of 7.62x51 at one point, but I've been selling a bunch of it off, and I probably have close to 10k of 8x57 most of it FMJ. Plus 4-500 rounds for everything hunting related in my safe.
My cartridge brass inventory just declined sharply last week..... Had 13 years of discarded brass from me & a buddy that I reload for, along with 13 years of range pickup stuff and all kinds of rimfire brass from myself & range pickup. Didn't count 'em all but the total weight at the scrap yard was 67 lbs. IIRC and I got 49 bucks for it. That was a lot of brass!
I was a pig gunner in Vietnam. A pastor friend of mine told me not long ago that folks like us will likely die in a hail of gunfire. I told him, so be it as long as I’m laying in a pile of hot brass. I figured that I’d go that way 50 years ago, but there’s still a chance...
Dunno that nickel rates extra points, maybe MD will chime in on that. Point of comparison I have paper, plastic and brass shot shells, but eschew extra points for one or the other. Maybe extra points for pin fire brass, I get that.
Are you kidding?! Nickel brass is a PIA to prep--one piece should count as two...........;)
If you follow the typical pattern (not just mine!) it's generally two steps forward--and two steps back, or even three.
I do have a personal self-imposed limit on the number of centerfire rifles I can own, partly because there's only so much room in the safes. But often exceed it by one--or two or three.
Also, have no such limits on rimfire rifles, shotguns or handguns. Which may explain why I've been buying so many shotguns lately--though one of them also included a rifle barrel.
Eileen has no such limits, and while she isn't quite as much of a loony as I am, can hold her own pretty well. This year she has purchased two new-to-her handguns, a centerfire rifle, and yet another shotgun. (Her shotgun collection is larger than mine.)
Fiocchi hull Fiochi 616 primer (the CCI standard also works, with no problems)
Ballistic Products SP wad
20.0 grains of Green Dot
With 3/4 ounce of lead shot, this gets around 1350 fps, and patterns very well.
l
I'll have to put that one in my file, I don't have a lighter load for my 16 ga guns.
I use something similar except in the 20 ga to start very recoil sensitive shooters and dog training. I got the load from a buddy who developed it for the same reason as for Eileen. It originally consisted of whatever primer was handy and put into a Winchester AA hull. I used and still use the old Remington hulls that use the 57 size primer to distinguish them from "normal" loads. 12-13 grs of a fast burning powder such as Red Dot, 700X, Clays, etc., a Winchester AA wad, and the crush portion of the old Lage Uniwad with a 1/2 oz of shot. Nowadays, I use card and felt wads in the shotcup to get proper crimps. I've heard people using puffed rice or corn in place of the card/felt wads but I have a bunch of the latter to use up yet. Velocity was in the 1200-1250 range.
When the crimp portion became ragged, trimming the hulls to 2.5" was the next step. One also had to cut the crush portion of the wad at the halfway point, rotate the base 90 degrees and put back together. All the rest of the recipe was kept the same.
When the crimps became ragged this time, I gave the hulls to my buddy and he cut them down to 2". He used the shotcup portion of the Lage wad with cork or card overpowder wads to get proper height.
These were loaded on MEC 600 Jrs. Quarters were used to build up the height after cutting down the hulls. Today, one could use the 3"-2 3/4" adaptor plate instead of quarters.
This will work great in break action and pump guns of course (at least the 2 3/4" version) but I also found it will cycle my Beretta 390 with 28" barrel. It's not the most energetic but it has gone through a 100 bird sporting course without a hitch. The red or yellow exhaust spring from Cole gets the empties moving a little more energetically.
John, I might have shot my last bull elk in ‘18. My focus is more on birds in the region now thus my “add-on” was another shotgun, a very nice 16 ga. only the second since I shot my first pheasant at age 13 with one.
I greatly cut down on reloading gear and components. My present rifles (no more AI’s 😜) shoot common cartridges for which there is premium ammo available in multiple loads; all except for my...284 Win.
My, though, wife still looks in “my room” and shakes her head. 🙂
Scattergun Loonies are special. Ask me how I know.
.............. SCATTERGUN LOONIES, ??????.............. Haven't heard that one before. Then I just realized I have 3 more shotguns than I did a year and a half ago. And was drooling over another one at a shop last week.
I'm definitely a scatter gun looney. There my other Achilles heel. All SXS as well and when it comes to hammer guns I'm like a moth drawn to the light.
After a hiccup on my order of a new SxS 16 ga, customer service must have gotten involved because the next one they sent had grade lll-lV wood, better than expected.
After a hiccup on my order of a new SxS 16 ga, customer service must have gotten involved because the next one they sent had grade lll-lV wood, better than expected.
Parker GHE from Alex Kerr's shop in Beverly Hills 16ga with all the options and a two barrel set picture urlfree picture upload Boss 20ga hammer gun Parker AHE 28
I took a VH Parker 20 and turned it into a tribute to the best bird dog anyone could ask for. This is Gunner's Gun bp diesel station locator A Lefever Optimus 16
Bugger, we ain't talking about how many guns you have. It's cartridge and shell cases.
But since you brought it up I have a few scaterguns. Actually a few more than I had 20 years ago.
This is part of one of 'em.
Part of another that I was shootin' a few weeks back with brass shells and Lord Black
DD, I hope you don’t use those elegant guns on those swamp porkers. It’d be like driving your Ferrari down a mud road. 😀
I do hunt with them on occasion, but not pigs. Quail mostly, a gentleman’s pastime. My dad taught me many years ago how to avoid damaging a fine scattergun. One of my primary bird guns is a Win 50 purchased in ‘63 as my Xmas gift. It has a small scratch in the receiver and a couple of petite marks on the stock, but otherwise looks new. Full size p’up couldn’t haul the critters it’s killed in one load. Because it’s an average Joe gun, much like the Ithaca 37 I do whack 4 legged critters with them.
Index? Well I have special ordered a rifle and then traded it for a new rifle before shooting it and then gone back and eventually bought it back again. Lol
Gotta try one of everything. Bought rifles because I had dies or ammo for it.
I’m puzzling about one possible aspect of this discussion. Does one get extra credit for shooting a muzzle loading cartridge rifle? As I recall some loony named Pope thought that up.
DD
PS: I have one BTW. It’s a Highwall with an octagon barrel, big assed Unertl scope and chambered for .38-55 basic brass. .40 caliber...
Said i never had much use for one. Never Said I didn't know how to use one.
Well said.
I am a general gun loony, though hunting rifles would rank first and hunting shotguns a very close second. (The only problem with shotguns is they don't come in as many different chamberings as rifles.)
But I also have decent array of handguns, and know how to use them.
I’m puzzling about one possible aspect of this discussion. Does one get extra credit for shooting a muzzle loading cartridge rifle? As I recall some loony named Pope thought that up.
DD
PS: I have one BTW. It’s a Highwall with an octagon barrel, big assed Unertl scope and chambered for .38-55 basic brass. .40 caliber...
Dan,
From my reading on the subject I don't think Harry Pope came up with the idea entirely on his own, but he certainly refined it. Which would of course be natural for a guy who went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Shotgun ammo? I buy 25 flats of "throwaway" shells about twice a year. That's 6250 shells. All I want to fit in my car without bottoming the shocks. Also have a few thousand empties around, AAs and Gun Clubs.
Rifle and pistol? Probably that alone would make me a 5 or 7.
Seems like there was another Gent that had that same bent.
Then he found out pistols or more accurately, in his case, revolvers are sometimes the most useful firearms if you know how to use them.
Revolvers? First CF shooter I ever owned other than scatterguns was a RSB. I didn't shoot much paper with it, but one day there I was, plinkin' with a .50 ML on the 50 yard line and decided to give Mr. Ruger a chance. Standin' there on my own two feet I was....
I got about a half box of mixed high brass for my sweet 16.........wonder where that puts me. Be back in minute with a recount I'm going to empty the pockets of my hunting coat and check under the seat of the pickup.
Shotgun ammo? I buy 25 flats of "throwaway" shells about twice a year. That's 6250 shells. All I want to fit in my car without bottoming the shocks. Also have a few thousand empties around, AAs and Gun Clubs.
Rifle and pistol? Probably that alone would make me a 5 or 7.
Well, OK. What have ya got right now? Don't mess with guessing. Maybe bent shocks would be good measure, I dunno.
MD, I haven't read anything in particular about the origins of the ML cartridge concept, but recall it was Pope that put the polish on the idea. Vague memory has it that one of his guns set a match record that stood for over 50 years, maybe on the 200 yard line?
My version...not the greatest of pictures, sans scope but with false muzzle in place. Built by Barry Darr
Schalck invented it, Pope refined it. Pope's unique form of rifling (wide very shallow grooves) was what made it work so well. That, and his painstakingly anal attention to detail.
"Painstakingly anal" is exactly right. Pope was so into detail that he never made more than an average living (and often less) during his lifetime, despite his genius. There's nothing wrong with that at all, but often technical geniuses aren't very good at basic business.
Yep. One little example: he cut his rifling grooves one at a time, and each pass was so light that there were no visible chips in the cutting oil- just a faint discolorng of the oil that meant there something in it. Ungodly number of passes up the bore is what it took him to rifle a barrel. That meant he but rarely had to resort to lapping a finished product to achieve perfection in bore finish but it also meant that his volume of output sucked, in spite of 12-18 hour workdays.
One definition of my looniness: my personal unicorn is a Pope muzzle-breech loader in fine condition. Who else wants a crazy expensive rig with which it would take half a day to fire two 10-shot groups? Not to mention putting unnecessary wear on a priceless piece of history by shooting the heck out of it? I guess I would...
Said i never had much use for one. Never Said I didn't know how to use one.
Well said.
I am a general gun loony, though hunting rifles would rank first and hunting shotguns a very close second. (The only problem with shotguns is they don't come in as many different chamberings as rifles.)
But I also have decent array of handguns, and know how to use them.
True there arn't the chamberings in shotguns but barrel length can make up for that. I have multiple 20's and 16's (all SXS) with barrel lengths from 26 to 32 inches.
Tie breaker is the brass count •/• number of cartridges you load.
Mule Deer, you wanna play? 😁r
You can use volume of brass as an indicator but I much prefer to52 use number of rifles you own chambered in weird and/or obsolete cartridges. You can have 10,000 rounds of .223 or .308 brass and not be a looney but you can have a few rifles chambered in different weird cartridges that all have to be reloaded for because you can't find ammo for it and you gotta be a weirdo looney.I have a couple rifles chambered in cartridges that need reloading because factory ammo is almost extinct but I also have weird rifles. Like many of my rfles have 26 inch barrels such as my .250 Savage and my .257 AI. These two are mostly desired for their light weight and subsequent good handling and here I have 26" heavy sporter barrels on them. That's Looney!
As for brass, I don't have large volumes, either loaded or fiired because high volume shooting is not what I'm into. But I'm as looney as anybody on here.
You can use brass as an indicator but I much prefer to use number of rifles you own chambered in weird and/or obsolete cartridges. You can have 10,000 rounds of .223 or .308 brass and not be a looney but you can have a few rifles chambered in different weird cartridges that all have to be reloaded because you can't find ammo for it and you gotta be a weirdo looney.
I agree with this. How many of you own rifles chambered in the following: 30 Remington, 256 Winchester, 416 Rigby, 280AI, 375 Whelen AI, 375 H&H AI, 22-250 AI, several types of 303 Brit, 32 Special, several types of 358 Win's, several types of 350 Rem Mag's, several types of 35 Rem's, 30-40 Krag, 17 Hornet, 204, several 300 Weatherby's and a high wall 45-90 plus have owned a 7mm TCU, a 6.5x55 Krag, 264 Win Mag and a 7mm International. (There's some this old mind no longer can remember.) I own ultra-modern rifles - 7x57, 45-70's, 8x57, 270's, 30-06's & others for instance :D, but I will usually shy away from the cartridges of the month. (Cartridge of the month = came out and were first factory chambered in the last 50 years [ok, a couple notable exceptions].)
My needs are for a few Winchester cartridge rifles - 348, 33, 35 and then why not some hot rods - a 6mm-06 & a 6.5-06 AI in bolt actions.
110 cases for the .25-20 SS and 120 for the .416R. Ballpark 250 ea for the .250 Sav and .257 Roberts. Pondering these things...other than the Sneezer all of my cartridges are ancient. Somehow they still work.
Maybe we could have 2 kinds of Loonies? Curmudgeon Loonies and Snowflake Loonies.
True there arn't the chamberings in shotguns but barrel length can make up for that. I have multiple 20's and 16's (all SXS) with barrel lengths from 26 to 32 inches.
Gee, my collection of 20s and 16s (multiples of each, including three drillings and an over-under combination gun) only includes barrel lengths of 23.6 (60cm) to 30 inches. Guess I don't, uh, measure up!
Well, they have a good home! And of course, they are all loaded.
Thought occurs there might be another angle for evaluating loonyism. How many of you bird shooters have dropped a bird on one of your fellow hunters without putting them at risk? I’ve done it with pheasant, quail, dove and ducks. My best was one of the ducks. High passing shot from a shoreline hutch that landed in another like style blind platform. They didn’t see it coming and were sufficiently surprised that one of the guys fell into the lake. Well, he needed to rinse off anyway.
I still haven’t figured out what had them so totally distracted, and probably don’t want to know.
My shotgun addiction is probably a little worse than the rifles but much, much more expensive.
Well, yeah!
The two most expensive firearms I've ever purchased were a side-by-side shotgun and a drilling. Have yet to spend more than about 2/3 as much on a rifle.
My shotgun addiction is probably a little worse than the rifles but much, much more expensive.
Well, yeah!
The two most expensive firearms I've ever purchased were a side-by-side shotgun and a drilling. Have yet to spend more than about 2/3 as much on a rifle.
Maybe we need hats that say cost has nothing to do with it LOL IMHO here are examples of the ultimate in Loony ism's I have sold my blood (actually it's the plasma) to make payments on a gun. I also have used the equity in my home when a Purdey 16ga two barrel set called my name so seductively I couldn't resist. Good guns a good bird dog a fine cigar and a single barrel bourbon at the end of a crisp October or November day and life is great.
"I also have used the equity in my home when a Purdey 16ga two barrel set called my name so seductively I couldn't resist."
Well, I can understand that--but that's a line I have never crossed! Partly because I made a vow long to always live somewhere I could be hunting (or fishing) on public land within a few minutes of my house. Knew I could never afford an "estate" with all that, so settled on living in a small town in Montana, where the equity on our house might not pay for such a shotgun. (Though real estate values are rising as more urbanites think they can flee the coronavirus by moving to rural America.)
However, Eileen did recently get some baseball caps made with the logo "Gun Gack: Need has nothin' to do with it."
10001.....that's not even the amount of loaded 5.56. Throw in 308, 243, 6.5 Grendel, 9mm, 45ACP, probably well over the 20k cut-off. Then there the 22LR..... brass, buckets full...
The home equity loan provided the immediate need for cash to buy the Purdey and in my case the interest was deductible. It gave me time to sell some gun (lots of pre64 M70's in rare calibers) and repay the loan. I made money on the guns sold so even with the small amount of interest I have net equity in the Purdey and it's a dream shotgun.
Another Looney way to buy a gun with other peoples money. I get credit card offers all the time for 0% interest for up to 18 months for a small fee usually 4% and for as much as $10K. The trick is to divide the loan into 17 monthly payments which is $588/mo I'll round it up to $600 so I get the time to pay it back and the net cost is $400. You can't get those terms from a bank. The credit card company is counting on you not paying off the loan and they then go back to the date of origin and charge you a horrendous interest rate. Theres money available without digging into your savings account if you know how to work the system.
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