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RayinNH
08-12-2007, 10:44 AM
The club that I shoot at was trying to earn a couple of extra bucks by renting table space on their front lawn. My wife decides to set up and get rid of some of that extraneous stuff that we no longer have a need for. Being the dutiful husband that I am, I go with her to help set up. Right aside of her is another member setting up with good stuff. You know, the reloading stuff. I go there obviously. I first spy primers. They are marked $1.00. Each sleeve is marked $1.47, so I'm thinking $10.00 per/K is a good price in todays market. I'm wrong ,they were $1.00 per brick. I get four and a half bricks, all he had, large rifle and pistol and the half brick were small pistol. I ask if he's priced primers lately. He say's "yes, but this is a yard sale and I want to get rid of stuff." I decide I'd better keep shopping. Well I also get two plastic MTM ammo boxes, two Lyman mould handles and about 400 pieces of brass, 30-06, 8MM Mauser and .32 Win. Special. All in all I spent $20 for everything. [smilie=1:I almost set my back pocket on fire from the friction of pulling my wallet out so fast.

Another member shows up and comes right over to me, as I've done some casting for him. He's got some stuff in his car he's just looking to give away. "If you see anything you want , take it" he says. I see a 1951 "Gun Digest" that looks like it has never been read, perfectly square corners on the cover and pages. Inside are articles by all the greats, Maj. Gen J.S.Hatcher, Jack O'connor, Roy Weatherby, Elmer Keith, Col. Townsend Whelen, Charles Askins, Phil Sharpe and others. This should provide some good reading.
This member also hands me an ingot, as already mentioned I've cast for him before. It weighs about ten pounds. It says on it National Lead Co. and has the Dutch Boy Paint boy as the logo. Apparently this was the same company or were in cahoots together. This will just on a shelf, as it is an interesting item.
I generally hate yard sale but this was a good one...Ray

OeldeWolf
08-12-2007, 10:54 AM
I wish thery had yard sales like that where I live. But I live in CA, and firearms enthusiasts are heavily outnumbered, and often considered as antisocial pariahs by the rest of the population. Does noit make for many garage/yard sales with anything firearms related. :(

rhead
08-12-2007, 11:38 AM
Congrats on the primer bargan!!!!!

I found a BL=22 at one yesterday. It had a few blems on the wood and bluing but at $200 I got it to shoot anyway. The bore was pretty heavily oiled and the groups are still shrinking but it will be a shooter. You generally have to get there early to get the good stuff. It shoots the Aguila SSS better than anything else that I have.

imashooter2
08-12-2007, 01:30 PM
The only one that sells any shooting or reloading stuff at yard sales around here is me. You won't find any $1 sleeves of primers though. Great score!

Newtire
08-12-2007, 02:37 PM
I wish thery had yard sales like that where I live. But I live in CA, and firearms enthusiasts are heavily outnumbered, and often considered as antisocial pariahs by the rest of the population. Does noit make for many garage/yard sales with anything firearms related. :(

Hi OeldeWolf,

There may still be a bargain or two around in Arnold's Republik but you have to look harder or be lucky I guess. We were cruising the garage sales one Sunday in Lake Tahoe when I spotted something sticking up from a box. Whoah! That's a reloader press handle! I got the press with adjustable charge bar & extra's for $40 plus a holster for $2. Last year I scored 18 lbs. of various powders for $50 off Craig's List. Mostly I don't see that stuff but once in awhile it will be your lucky day.

9.3X62AL
08-12-2007, 02:40 PM
My sole gun-related acquisition at a yard sale was a long time ago, having been dragged along for yard sale-ing by a lady I dated for a short time. At Stop 3 along that route, I saw a Lyman 450 with .358" sizer and top punch in place, nice shape and no leaks or rounded-off tool surfaces.

Me--"What's this?" (Joe Hicks From The Sticks persona in full array)

Seller--"I dunno. Got it at an estate sale."

Me--"What ya want for it?"

Seller--"Five bucks."

Me--"Would ya take $3?"

Seller--"Sure, it's yours."

Come to think of it......that 450 was about the only worthwhile outcome of the whole relationship. Wolf, I think many gun enthusiasts in CA are taking the not very subtle hints from Cal-DOJ and the rest of the River City Refried Bolsheviks in the capitol and are emigrating back to the United States. Marie and I are applying for political asylum in Nevada and Idaho presently. I'm awaiting word on a travel visa, those Sacramento apparatchiks get twitchy when a taxpaying subject wants to visit other states. With all the tax revenue-consuming denizens here--both newly-arrived and fourth-generation recipients--people like me are a finite and dwindling resource.

cattleskinner
08-12-2007, 03:01 PM
Here I thought that I was doing good when my wife calls from a garage sale yesterday, and says that they have a 1000 cci small pistol primers and 750 or so winchester small pistol primers for sale....$17 total. You did better than I did Ray:-D

~~Amos

wills
08-12-2007, 03:43 PM
Women are a strange mixture of blessings. When the lady who can bargain a piece of antique furniture down to half the asking price stands next to you while you are discussing the price of a rifle and shouts helpful comments like “DAMN THAT IS A NICE RIFLE, YOU BETTER BUY IT NOW BEFORE SOMEONE ELSE SEES IT”, you understand why you wind up spending $125 for a Turk Mauser. Or says "This cute, I like this one." and you’re wondering how she expects you to reload 56-50 rimfire and you find out too late there are centerfire conversions.

That’s why day before yesterday, after she sent me to pick up a prescription, I waited till we were at the neighbors and she was talking about getting a new boat, I chose that moment to casually mention I came home with a Savage 99. You never know what they are going to do, but I figured I would be safe with witnesses around.

MT Gianni
08-12-2007, 04:36 PM
Nice find anytime Wills, what caliber? Gianni

KevMT
08-12-2007, 05:14 PM
You generally have to get there early to get the good stuff.

I agree the babargains are to be had early. But about 2 years ago I went to a grage sale that had advertised a lot of reloading gear. The ad also ended with "NO EARLY BIRDS", Being a respectful and punctual sort of fellow, I timed things where I would show up on the dot at the posted starting time in the ad. When i got there a fellow was packing boxes to his car and I asked the homeowner, "where is all the reloading stuff?" He pointed to the guy packing boxes to his car and said, "that guy made an offer on the whole table". Pi$$&d me off big time. But I managed to keep my temper (for once) and turn on my heel and leave. I sure as heck wasn't going to buy anything else there.

wills
08-12-2007, 05:34 PM
Nice find anytime Wills, what caliber? Gianni

Actuallly was not at a garage sale, but .308

9.3X62AL
08-12-2007, 06:36 PM
Wills--

Timing can be EVERYTHING. Well done, both tactically and in terms of the item received. 99's are nice rifles.

Scrounger
08-12-2007, 06:45 PM
KevMT, I had the very same thing happen to me when I first moved here. In spite of the "No Earlybird" statement, the guy sold two .357s and 2 .45 autos for $500 the day before the sale. It soured me so much on garage sales, I never chased another. I stop if I go by one but I don't go out looking for them.

Dale53
08-13-2007, 12:53 AM
Al;
Regarding your decision to leave California, you might want to check out Utah. My daughter and her husband and children have been there for several years (he's with the BLM and she is a Dr. of Pharmacy) and they seem to like it. He is a hunter, shooter, and general outdoorsman and she is a good hiker and camper). There is all kinds of hunting around SLC and the mountains are close (edge of town). I like green too much to consider moving there (I'm in SW Ohio) but I have visited there and the back country a good bit. It is a beautiful and interesting place with good hunting and fishing. SLC even has a public shooting range. The Canyon country is awesome. They have pretty enlightened CCW laws too. In short, I could easily live there if I didn't like green so much:-D (I'm speaking of green as in grass, etc).

Good luck where ever you go! The good thing is wherever you move, you can still hook up with us here:-D .

Dale53

9.3X62AL
08-13-2007, 01:32 AM
Dale--

Check for PM. I'm already so far off topic I should be fined.

357maximum
08-13-2007, 11:44 AM
Dale--

Check for PM. I'm already so far off topic I should be fined.

:mrgreen: Man if T.P.T.B enforced that one we would all be severely screwed.[smilie=1: and broke.

Typecaster
08-13-2007, 12:16 PM
I've had a few reloading-related successes at yard sales, but usually nothing but near-misses for guns. I went to one yard sale with a friend--I walked behind. He asked about any guns, and the lady said there was a shotgun on the porch. He got it for $20--a Belgian Browning A5.

My 96-year-old dad in Arizona had the best success story, though. About 10 years ago he stopped at a yard sale in Congress (a wide spot in the road between Prescott and Quartzsite) and picked up a Highwall single shot for me. He thought it would at least give me a thick-sided action so I'd have one of each variation. It took a lot of work, but it cleaned up well and is a shooter. Caliber is 38 Winchester Express (38-90), so cases are custom. He won't tell me exactly how much he paid, but it wasn't much for what the seller said was just "an old gun that you can't get bullets for." My dad said he still had plenty of money in his pocket afterward.

mazo kid
08-13-2007, 12:56 PM
Like many of you, I've had mixed success at yard/garage sales. Several years ago I got a Rolling Block foraging shotgun for $20 and a Crossman SAA pellet gun for $2. About a year ago, there was a sale near here; I called the night before to see what guns were to be sold. Got there half an hour early and they didn't open the garage door until the exact minute. There were about 20 people waiting and I knew that several just had to be after the guns. Asked the nice lady where the guns were and grabbed a 96 Swede sporter and asked about the single shot rifle. It had been sold the night before. Anyway, got the Swede for $80. So, those are my most memorable purchases. Emery

trk
08-13-2007, 07:26 PM
I recently got a very early jungle carbine for $200 but the best I've done was driving along with the golf course on my left, housing on my right and I saw a pistol case (rug) on the pavement. Turned out to be a Colt Commander LW in .45acp with two clips. That was decades ago. I still scan the pavement and sides of the road.

OeldeWolf
08-14-2007, 01:09 AM
Newtire: I found a few old gunsmithing books a few years back, and a holster to fit an 1860 Army. Bubt that has been it, though leather goods show up at the local flea market sometimes. Usually ex-police stuff in small sizes.

Al: I have considered moving, but my mom is one town over, and has had two strokes. So I have to stay here for a while longer. Though if I can find a spot with a nice enough climate, I night get her to move as well.

FISH4BUGS
08-14-2007, 06:22 AM
If it was Major Waldron's, I stopped there too. I didn't see the primers, otherwise I would have snagged them myself. I DID get a new set of RCBS 223 sb dies for $10 though.

RayinNH
08-14-2007, 09:30 PM
Fish, it was Major Waldron's. You didn't see them because they were on my front seat for the ride home...Ray

StanDahl
08-14-2007, 10:49 PM
I got a near mint Remington 722 in .222 Rem for $150 from a neighbors yard sale about 9 years ago. It had a 6x Lyman All American scope too. I didn't even know he had any guns until I overheard some guy ask him if he had any. I haven't really looked, but I've found two or three other garage sales with reloading components over the years here in So. Cal. At one, there were quite a few boxes of reloaded mil-surp ammo on display. One lady was afraid that some gang banger would buy up all of that ammo and give it back to the community in some way. I assured her that it was obsolete and no gangster would be interested, not that there were any gangsters anywhere near there. I got about 15 boxes of 7.65 and 8mm jacketed bullets, a Lyman tool/bullet mould - with decapper - in 38 S&W, a wooden ammo box, all for $30.