Does anyone collect military ammo?

[Bristol Mt.Man]

At a recent auction I aquired a lot of military ammunition. It contains mostly 30-06, 30-40 Krag, and some other mis-matched stuff. There is a wide variety of bullet types, case configurations, colors, sizes, you name it. Dummy rounds, tracers, paper bullets, wooden bullets, are all there. Is this stuff collectable? Is it worth anything? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Reloadron]

Yes, I have known people who collect not just military ammunition (including empty brass) but also miscellaneous brass and loaded ammunition samples. What stuff like this is worth is generally something figured out between the seller and buyer. I store my cleaning rods in what I think is an empty 155mm howitzer shell casing. I also have some dummy 30-06 training rounds in a M1 Garand en-block I use to see if a Garand will manually cycle.

You can keep the stuff or offer it for sale on E Bay or ArmsList I guess. Once you have it sorted try a Google and maybe get an idea of going rates.

Ron

 

[hso]

You can't sell live ammunition on ebay, but any of the rest would be a good candidate.

Be sure to provide a picture of the base and the side when you do.

 

[jonnyc]

I'm a pretty advanced collector of metric military ammunition.
While what you describe all sounds "collectible", most US variations of .30-40 and .30-06 are fairly common. Someone might be interested in buying it all, but don't expect to retire on the proceeds.
If you PM me your general location, I can tell you about any cartridge collector shows in your area. Better yet..........catalog what you have and start a collection!

 

[Dr. Sandman]

You need to go to a gun show, my friend. Talk to a few of guys running the militaria and old ammo booths. Bring all that stuff with you in a box. You will get an idea of what you have there if nothing else, although they'll probably make you an offer!

 

[jonnyc]

If you want to make even less money..........take your collectible ammo to a gun show.

 

[50 Shooter]

Post it for sale here or any other gun board, that and Gun Broker, Auction Arms, Guns America.... That's is perfectly legal, DO NOT ship it through the Post Office!!! Send it UPS or FedEx, ask them for an ORM-D sticker or make your own. Look them up and just copy it or draw it on a piece of paper.

 

[medalguy]

Don't rag on gun shows too much. Guys are there to make money and they can't pay retail for anything and resell it. Same goes for LGS and pawn shops. You never sell to a retailer for maximum money, guns or cartridges.

On the other hand, if you want to go to the trouble of identifying and cataloging all that ammo and listing it on a forum such as this one, you CAN get full retail for that old ammo. But that's a lot of trouble and takes time. Either you do it, or a reseller does it and he has to make money on his time.

Or as johnnyc first suggested, start your own collection. It can be pretty fascinating to learn about all the different types and calibers of ammo that have been made. I collected cartridges for a lot of years and I have six .50 cal cans of identified and cataloged cartridges.

 

[USAF_Vet]

If you find any 6.5x50 Arisaka ammo (actually WWII era milsurp) let me know.

 

[rondog]

I have a kinda half-azzed fledgling ammo collection, I might be interested in some of them. I'm not after piles of anything, just single, intact examples of just about anything. The odder the better. I'd rather buy old stuff like that for a buck or two than hear that it was fired and fizzled. Once fired, it's just an empty case. Maybe I'll actually build a display rack someday

 

[Bristol Mt.Man]

Thanks guys for the feedback. When I get some time, I will be sorting through it and putting together some lots to sell.

 

[leadcounsel]

I think you'll find that local for sale ads will garner the best return on time/investment/etc.

I'd browse around to get a feel for the prices. But the stuff you listed is probably quite common. Maybe a buck or two for instance. Maybe less.

I'd go straight to armslist.com, place an add for cash or trade - trade will generally garner a better return. Even craigslist, although it's technically banned, always has people looking to barter services and stuff for ammo. Trading has frankly garnered a great deal of good trades in my experience. For instance, the house I bought had a large extra beam in the garage left by the builders. I had zero use for it and it was in the way. I placed an ad, and some guy traded me hundreds of dollars in ammo for it. We were both quite happy!

Figure out something you want/need - maybe some tools, handyman services, equipment, carpentry services, etc. I bet you will get a great return on the trade value for ammo, which is always in demand.

I wouldn't bother selling ammunition for shipping. I recently sold about $200-300 in ammo online and had to ship it across country. It took me an afternoon driving around to various places to learn that shipping was such a PITA and expensive that I won't bother doing it again. I think I ended up learning that I could not ship it USPS. FedEx acted liked I had a bomb and practically threw me out of the small store, sending me to a different FedEx location which said they could not handle it, and I finally when to UPS and after completing the paperwork and standing in line, it was not time well-spent. For most people, it's simply too big a hassle.

Find a decently acceptable price, list it local. It'll sell.

 

[ourichie]

I usually only collect ammo for what I own. Mainly 7.62x54R, 7.62x39, 5.56x45, .45ACP, 9x19, .45Colt, .22lr, .30-30, 12ga, and to an extent, .30-06 (for my Winchester Mod 70), .357Mag/.38Spcl (If i can get a nice lever gun I'll buy more).

 

[medalguy]

Shipping ammo does not need to be a PITA. Just box it up well and put one of the new ORM labels on it, take it to a UPS hub or FedEx GROUND hub and tell them you want to ship it. No paperwork and no extra charges, just the standard weight/distance charge. Note it MUST be shipped from a hub not a storefront office. Or open a shipper's account and they will pick it up at your front door.

 

[jonnyc]

+1000 for Medalguy.
The only difficulty can be finding and getting to a hub.

 

[50 Shooter]

If you want to find one of the hubs, look it up on the internet or call them. The guys at the hub close to me are cool about it, they usually talk about guns and shooting with me when I come in. They've always been helpful when it comes to shipping ammo, even giving me a roll of the ORM-D stickers.

You can save the ORM-D pic that medalguy posted and use it on your box.