Mixed Blessings

[MikeBjerum]

January first has come and gone, and due to our Christmas trip I have been busy working.  I was called by a local church to fill in for Pastor today, he came down with the flu, and then due to the weather they canceled services.  So, what is a man to do???

Every year on New Year's Day I inventory ammunition, reloading supplies, and check gun inventory.  I also start the semi-annual gun massage and oiling.  Today, I started!

Due to a couple home repair tasks the gun room became an unruly mess.  Room is now pretty clean and the inventory getting started:

Down side

I have six large plastic coffee cans sitting in front of me full of empty brass.  Ohhhhhhhhh the fun had to create all of those.  I also see a few more cans I haven't pulled out, but my memory tells me it is all brass waiting to be processed.

I am still sorting, but I can tell you that I have some major holes, and even with lots of .22lr, I am missing my target stuff.

DAMN,  THERE  IS  A  LOT  IN  HEAR !!! (remember I said "mixed blessing"?  A lot of sorting of things that got shuffled between shoots, classes and clinics.)

Up Side

DAMN,  THERE  IS  A  LOT  IN  HEAR !!!

I think I have all of it pulled out, and a quick count says 6,550 rounds of cheap .22lr, not counting the open boxes, and there are a lot of them, or the 1,800 rounds of good and 1,100 of cheap in the locker at the range.

Found ten boxes of 9mm and 14 boxes of .38 spl I didn't know I had picked up on a whim.

I may stop there, because there are a couple of you that know where I live.

Great way to spend some nasty winter nights here on the frozen tundra.

[kmitch200]

I was digging around to retrieve some ammo for a match coming up.

Boxes full of cleaning patches and targets, exploding targets, more targets...DAMN! I've got enough targets to train a platoon! Range bags of various sizes and shapes piled on gun cases piled on range bags.
Did find that last needle oiler from Brownell's that I knew was somewhere...

I've got carry ammo for the 40 coming out the wazoo but I need to place an order on practice ammo.  Then after this upcoming match, it's time to put down the Glocks and pick up the Gold Cup and start practicing for that match. Good to go on 45 ammo though - plinking, match, SD - more than I shoot in 2 years!
If I wasn't retired, I'd think I was busy. (but the room is still a disaster)

[alfsauve]

It's nice to see, I'm not the only one who has had my work on getting my area (hesitate to call it a man cave) in shape.  It's how I spent most of the past week.  Straightening, cleaning-up and throwing out.  Taking assessment of guns, ammo, accessories and parts.

I pretty much know where and how much ammo I have, though I was surprised that I'm out of .44 and .357 (the jacketed stuff, not the plated ones) bullets.    No where near the .22 as you guys.

I'm blessed to have not run out of powder or primers.  On the down side I haven't shot anywhere near as many matches as I'd like.   

[MikeBjerum]

Two surprises found just before I called it a night last .... early this morning:  First, it appears I have had a lot of fun with the 30-06, because of the eight 20 round boxes only one has loaded rounds in it - the rest carry empty cases; and second, I grabbed a shopping bag to complete the cleaning in prep for sort and restock only to find it was heavy - 400 rounds of .40S&W!

[kmitch200]

400 rounds of .40S&W!

Well that's some cleaning and handle pulling you got out of. 

How do you guys store your hard/soft - long gun/handgun cases? They're bulky and take up a lot of space I could fill with other crap!
I haven't figured out a good way to get them out of the way yet still have them ready for use.

[Sponsor]

[MikeBjerum]

Soft sided cases are the toughest.  I am planning to try and hang them in a storage closet that I have taken over.  The hard sided stand on end leaning against the wall.

I am becoming a bigger and bigger (no fat jokes guys!) fan of hard side cases, so I see more in my future. 

[Big Frank]

I have one closet shelf dedicated to cases, mostly soft, and the overflow goes on the spare bed with a bunch of other stuff. My basement is wet most of the time so everything goes upstairs, mainly in the bedrooms. Guns and ammo are in one and cases, holsters, and spare parts are in another. Most of my ammo fits in a foot locker that can't be moved because of the weight. I don't reload but have some brass in the basement. It would be nice to have everything in one place but there just isn't room. 

[tombogan03884]

You can hang multiple soft cases on one hanger in the closet.

[Pathfinder]

One of the joys of my moving in 2013 was to put all of the ammo together in one place - FINALLY!!! Like you, I had acquired boxes in various calibers here and there, and squirreled them away in various places in the garage and house. I used almost every ammo can I had moving it down here, craftily avoiding the peoples' republik of illinois on the way too.

Congrats on the ammo finds.

Like you, I have brass coming out of my ears, and my 550B is finally ready to be used. I will have to post a thread on that, it is a story unto itself. It involves time, money, space, a previously unknown out of spec 550B, etc.

[alfsauve]

Soft sided cases are the toughest.  I am planning to try and hang them in a storage closet that I have taken over.  The hard sided stand on end leaning against the wall.

Yep, as tombogan said and you're suggesting, hang them from their, uh, "hanger".  I fashion 2 sided hooks out of the coat hangers to make it convenient, though I may upgrade to plant hanger hooks, just cause they're sturdier and look more professional.

Of course, down on the main level, in coat closet there's one soft sided case hanging with a 12 gauge inside it.