Boolit Storage Question

[nyviking67]

New to the casting world and had a simple question. So where and how do you store all those thousands of boolits you cast? I mean if you make many more than you can shoot in a week how do you keep the rest? In a safe? Ammo cans? Boxes? Whatever. Also do you store them loose or in trays? Just curious if I have to be so OCD about it. lol.
Tim

[beagle]

Some of the as cast bullets in boxes and airproof cans with lids. This is before sizing and lubing.

The sized and ready to load stuff goes in slip top 100 round .22 LR boxes. I've been saving them for years and they're easy to label and stack on the bench shelf for storage and are dust proof.

If I'm loading a large quantity of ammo at once, I stack them in a small box seperated by paper. This is normally for 9mms, .38s, .44s and .45 ACP.

The biggest problem for me is keeping them dust free./beagle

[Grandpas50AE]

Same as beagle, if not sized and lubed I keep them in old coffee cans with the lids on. After sizing and lubing, kept in fold-top boxes of various kinds to keep the dust out.

[Vinne]

I use 1lb and 3lb coffee cans for the ones I shoot the most. Boxes for the ones not so often. They are stackable under the loading bench or in the garage. Ammo cans work great too. Not too long ago powder co. offered their powder in 3lb cans with large screw tops. When the powder was used up, I would store my boolets there after all if it kept the powder dry, then it would work great for the boolets.

Summers here are in the mid to high 90s so all casting must happen in the few cool months we have. It is always better to have too many and have to find a place to keep them than run out at the wrong time!!

[HangFireW8]

There are lots of possibilities. I only advise against using (brown corrogated) cardboard, as it creates its own dust. The boolits you put away today for tomorrow, may get loaded a few years later.

I use Dollar Store food storage plastic containers. The local store has some Made in USA. I stack boolits in layers with plastic dividers in between. Dividers can be made from other sources of cheap flat plastic.

[plainsman456]

I too use dollar store containers as well as the large plastic coffee cans.
The cans can get heavy when full of sized lubed 358 semi wadcutters.

[Kraschenbirn]

Inexpensive plastic kitchen containers (Gladware or similar) for unsized/unlubed boolits - I like these 'cause I can mark them as to contents/quantity with a Sharpie then clean off the label with rubbing alcohol when the container is empty.

For sized/lubed boolits, I have two methods of storage: (A) for 'hard-lubed' boolits - homemade, stackable wooden trays that hold 300-400 boolits each (depending upon caliber) or (B) soft-lubed boolits for my BPCR guns (I use a slightly modified Emmert's lube with both BP and smokeless) are stored in plastic cartridge trays from factory handgun ammo boxes; .38/9mm for .38-55s and .45 ACP for .44s & .45s.

Bill

[Longwood]

A soda bottle will slip over a Lee push through sizer.
I leave the bullets in them until I need them then cut the bottle open and recycle it. If I only use part of them, I put the top of the bottle down over the bottom then secure with clear packaging tape

[nyviking67]

Thanks for all the input. So just about anything with a lid, except cardboard. Love the ingenuity there Longwood.

[runfiverun]

wow i just fill up 5 and 7 gallon buckets with unlubed boolits.
when i need some i lube them and shoot them,or store lesser amounts in boxes or little cups with lids on them that hold from 600 to 800 depending on the caliber.
right now i have about 15,000 429421's cast and sitting in a 7 gallon bucket
and almost that many 452664's
at least that many rcbs 165gr silhouette boolits also
and that many lyman rnfp's for my 357 model 92.
i need to get going on the 429667's as i just loaded up the last 1200 of them.
hmmm, i seem to shoot a lot of leverguns.

[geargnasher]

I dunno, I use cardboard! (Cigar boxes that is).

I can tell at a glance how many are in each box knowing how many of each caliber will fit lengthwise and counting layers and rows.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=28901&d=1296091775

Gear

[dale2242]

I store my unsized/unlubed boolits in cleaned plastic coffeee cans.
I store my sized/lubed standing on end in layers with thin cardboard between the layers in smaller sealed plastic, tin or cardboard boxes to keep dust out.
I mark them with the boolit #, weight, and diameter they were sized.
I use only 50/50 lube so no need to mark lube.
I have stored boolits in and between paper/cardboard for 40 yrs.
I can`t imagine enough cardboard/paper 'dust' to be an issue.....dale

[Reload3006]

well you can line them up like little soldiers marching off to war. just chuck them into a bucket. They are lead they dont mind. they will store just fine in what ever container you have for them that will not get your wife upset with you.
I used to care if my lubed boolits was rubbing lube off on each other .. I dont worry about that anymore. When I load I keep a roll of paper towels by me so if I have a glop of lube on the boolit nose I just wipe it off so it doesnt fill up my seating punch.

[imashooter2]

.50 cal cans and 3 gallon buckets (with lids) for the raw castings. Lubed boolits are stored mostly in individual brass cylinders with some in boxes salvaged from commercial cast.

[Jal5]

Any plastic container for unlubed boolits, and those used flat rate boxes from the post office work fine for lubed boolits and stack easily on the shelf. Joe

[archmaker]

I built myself some trays out of some old plywood and 1x1.

Cut the plywood in a square big enough to hold 200 45cal boolits + 1.75" (a little 1/4" fudge factor).

Used Gorilla glue to frame the edge and I just stack them on top of one another, this is for my lubed boolits, and the top one if I have all of the trays full gets a piece of cellophane over the top.

As for the unlubed I make myself cloth bags by taking old pants legs, cut the the legs into 18-20" length, roll/fold the bottom with some epoxy in the bottom (I hate dragging out the machine to sew them up). Then I just fill them up, have a few already labeled as to caliber, with a Sharpie. (They look like smaller versions of the bags banks get loose coin in).

[gnoahhh]

I use empty oatmeal canisters. I cut them off square about 2" up from the bottom and re-use the plastic lid.

I always disliked piling the bullets into a container, so I always stack them, even unlubed ones. I don't like the nice sharp bottom edges getting nicked/dented and adversely effecting accuracy.

[rockrat]

I use to use the containers from the Dollar Store, but they no longer carry them here. I used the small round ones with screw on lids 3/$1. Hold maybe 200 boolits. Now I get some at the grocery store, 3/$2, but they are a bit sturdier, or get the "Glad" brand at 3/$2.87 which are the best, but the grocery store ones are close.
I did get a bunch of "blue boxes" from Midway, that hold more boolits and they do store better. I like the clear containers better as I can look and see what boolit is stored in them.

[ku4hx]

Like this:

[MT Gianni]

I do the same as ku4hx except lubed boolits go into zip lock baggies after lubing. Climate is between 60-70F where they are stored year round. Cans go into boxes for caliber, 22 & 45 same box, 243, 44 same box ie so they are never confused.

[geargnasher]

I use empty oatmeal canisters. I cut them off square about 2" up from the bottom and re-use the plastic lid.

I always disliked piling the bullets into a container, so I always stack them, even unlubed ones. I don't like the nice sharp bottom edges getting nicked/dented and adversely effecting accuracy.

Not so important with BB or TL designs, but dings in the nice sharp base edges and bands is what got me stacking my boolits in rows and layers in boxes years ago. No point in making perfect castings if they're just going to get ruined in storage/handling.

Gear

[Reload3006]

I like to store them short term in individual brass containers.

[alfloyd]

As Kraschenbrin said:
"Inexpensive plastic kitchen containers (Gladware or similar)"

That is how I store my lubed and un-lubed boolits.

Lafaun

[sirgknight]

I started out using these containers and have had such good success with them, that I've never used anything else. You should be able to see that the bottoms are slightly reenforced and the lids simply snap on. They are stackable and can easily be labeled. They are available at Walmart in small bulk packaging and are quite sturdy for the price. I haven't had one break or crack yet and I've been using these for about 4 years now.



http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h241/sirgknight/DSCI0360.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h241/sirgknight/DSCI0361.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h241/sirgknight/DSCI0362.jpg

[LabGuy]

I store un-lubed in clear plastic peanut butter containers.
I store the lubed ones in old yellow plastic Speer bullet boxes from the 1980s.

I don’t heat treat or water drop and I don’t keep very many lubed ones around. Sometimes I go right from my AkroBin under my Star to the “individual brass container method”.

[HangFireW8]

I dunno, I use cardboard! (Cigar boxes that is).

Gear,

I was thinking of brown cardboard when I typed that, like the corrogated stuff. Cigar boxes usually have a lamination of fine paper, often waxed, that is not prone to generating dust.

-HF

[johnho]

I just store them in carboard boxes and taped up with duct tape. Label them with the bullet type, the weight of the box and the date I boxed them. When I get a box that will hold about 40 pounds or so I just heat the pot up and pull out a mold and start casting. Someday I figure I will not be wanting to cast anymore so I will have all the little buggers I want. But will keep the Star to size them all.