How do you store your boolits?

[brewer12345]

I have been on a casting frenzy today with a new to me 4 banger. I have some time sort of seasonally to do this that I may not have later this year, so I am accumulating a pile big enough to probably last me a year or two (possibly more depending on how many more days like this I get). It occurs to me to wonder: what is the best way to store these? Unubed and unsized? As a finished boolit ready to load? The alloy in this case is AC COWWs and I tumble lube with Ben's red.

[full.lead.taco]

The best way I've found is to store them inside a brass case with a little powder below it. :)
I always store mine ready to load.

[robg]

Lubed in plastic bags sorted and labeled and dated .

[farmerjim]

1. unsized And No coating.
2. unsized and Coated PC or Hi-Tek.
3. Sized and Coated.

I do not size my 358-125's because I use them in 9mm 38 sp and 357 mag. I size when I decide what to load them into. Most everything gets coated before it is in storage for more than a month.

[Grmps]

https://i.imgur.com/ijLT4TW.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/fX9iflX.jpg

[RogerDat]

Labels on cardboard cut from index cards and in zip lock bags, I keep the bags in .30 caliber ammo cans. Larger than that the weight gets too great filled with cast bullets.
Finished ammo also goes in zip lock bags with a label card. The bags are stored in those plastic ammo cans they sell at Harbor Freight for between $4 and $7 dollars depending on if on sale, or at Walmart pretty regular for around $6.

I found cutting piece of index card allows me plenty of room to record alloy, mold, date, processing done such as sizing, counts and anything else I can think of. I drop it into the bag and don't have to wonder what is in there. Bag plus sealed can seems to keep them fresh.

[Mtnfolk75]

I shoot my boolits as cast and tumbled loobed, I keep them in large plastic screw top containers. I cast & tumble loob whenever one of the containers gets to looking about half full.

[Victor N TN]

Some stored in Gallon freezer bags. Others stored in washed empty Kraft mayonnaise jars. Those are stored unsized and unlubed. For the ones I stored sized and lubed, I made several layers in a "shop box" or tray about 3" deep, approximately 12" X 24". After sizing and lubing, I sprinkled with mica powder to keep the lube from sticking together. I have a few of these full of 230 grain, round nose H&G #34. Have a small typewriter table that works just fine to keep rolled just under the bench.

I hope this helps.

[FISH4BUGS]

I basically cast in manic episodes. When I get on a roll it is hard to get off. We had a power outage here for 5 days from the Halloween storm, so I was able to cast for almost 3 full days. Couldn't work and phones were out. What else is a poor boy to do?
I did a ton of H&G #51 pb and gc bullets. I cast with 4 cavity moulds so I got a fair number done. The casting shed is on the generator circuit. Priorities you know. Kept that Lee 20 pot going for days on end.
Kept the Star sizer nice and warm with Magma lube. Pretty fun when you can start at 8 and quit at 5 with an hour lunch...almost like a real job!
Then, over the next few weeks I got them sized lubed and gas checked. Easily some 4000 finished bullets ready to load.
They are stored in quart Zip lock bags in lots of 500. Put into plastic coffee cans with snap lids. Labeled as to alloy, cast and lube dated.
I have had them last for years that way.

[plainsman456]

I get some containers from the dollar store.

The ones that are not sized/lubed get a ziplock bag until it's their time.

[Soundguy]

Cardboard boxes, cardboard between layers

[Retumbo]

Quart mason jars

[RogerDat]

I should add I do store some in those MTM ammo boxes with the dividers. Usually a special load, bullet, or brass. Something that I don't bulk produce as plinking ammo. Good example might be brass fire formed to a specific rifle so I can neck size only. Or full power 357 or 44 magnum loads. I usually bulk produce those as moderate loads but every once in a while it is good to remind oneself what full power feels like. Those go in the 100 round or 50 round MTM boxes.

[Soundguy]

I was presuming the OP is talking about projectiles only, not finished cartridges, though I could be wrong.

[Green Frog]

Varies by purpose of the bullet. Just regular plinking bullets for the revolvers get dumped in a plastic or cardboard box or even a coffee can, usually after sizing and lubing. More carefully preserved bullets are lined up carefully in cigar boxes or perhaps other cardboard boxes, and schuetzen bullets, which are fired in the order cast, are stored in order in the plastic liners from factory pistol boxes... I especially like the ones from Federal and Remington, but use a wide variety.

Froggie

Froggie

[brewer12345]

I was presuming the OP is talking about projectiles only, not finished cartridges, though I could be wrong.

Yes, projectiles only. I am loading up all the brass I have, but I have cast more than I have brass.

[15meter]

Before size/lube--akro bins, zip lock bags, tin cans. After size/lube--range scrounged pistol ammo boxes. keeps them clean and orderly and I can get a very quick count of what I have ready to load.

[JBinMN]

Assorted cleaned( washed) peanut butter & mayonnaise/M.Whipp/salad dressing jars,chip dip, sour cream, cottage cheese containers, "Take home" soup containers, & margarine /cool whip tubs, parts trays - large & small... etc..
Anything I can get my hands on that the missus doesn't throw out to recycling before I get to it, usually works.


Interesting subject & Thanks for posting it!
:)

[lightman]

In the past I used cigar boxes. I stacked them neatly in rows and used cardboard between layers. But cigar boxes have gotten hard to find around here and I'm looking for something new. For now I'm putting unsized bullets in plastic coffee cans and and stacking lubed bullets in used small flat rate postal boxes like I did the cigar boxes. Both of these will have a tag or label with the alloy, lube and date.

[reddog81]

Generally I cast one day, powder coat the next day and size the next day. So most of my bullets are ready to load. However I have a box with a variety of bullets that I've cast and never got around to doing anything with.

[Soundguy]

Unsized and unlubed, ill store in jars, cans or boxes all akimbo. Once lived and sized, I stack them as I mentioned before in boxes... Especially carefull with the grease groove ones to not bust the lube out.

[abunaitoo]

After there lubed and sized, I store them in the CCI 22 cal plastic boxes.
Easy to stack. Label on the side. Keeps the dust out.
Fresh boolets are stored in a square cat food bottle.

[Ziptar]

The plastic 4 lb Domino Sugar containers are a perfect boolit storage container. It's just the right size, any bigger and it'd be too heavy when full.

209435

[toallmy]

If you size them , you may want to do that soon after casting before they age harden . But if using as cast with tumble lube anything goes . Have a good pile ready to load already lubed isn't a bad idea , with a larger container full of as cast .

[6bg6ga]

Coffee cans until sized. Once sized they are stored in plastic tubes ready to be inverted and installed on the bullet dropper on the 650.

[Soundguy]

You can get 1g coffee ground containers similar to those sugar containers.

[LabGuy]

Plastic peanut butter containers, un-sized, un-lubed.

[dverna]

I store them lubed and sized. When I need ammunition I do not want to have to lube and size bullets. Any container that works for you is fine. Here are my thoughts.

I have boxes saved from buying commercial bullets and they work OK.

I will likely buy these...at 50 cents each delivered. They look similar to bullet boxes used by some of the manufacturers. BTW, If you drop a cardboard box of bullets it does not shatter and throw bullets all over hell's half acre. They offer different sizes.

https://www.amazon.com/Aviditi-Corrugated-Mailer-Length-Height/dp/B00BT553OS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1513187015&sr=8-2&keywords=cardboard%2Bboxes%2B4x4x5&th=1

I prefer not to have all sorts of different containers that may not stack well. Plastic bags are a pain when they break...and they will. If you go that way, put the bullets in a USPS Tyvek envelop first or just use the Tyvek...it is free.

A lot depends on how many you want to store. I currently have about 30k cast bullets and I have never had less than 10k in the last 15 years. I thought about using the .30 cal ammo cans as they are about the perfect size but at $6-10 each a bit costly for the amount of bullets I keep on hand.

[MT Gianni]

I store them so the container is air tight. Peanut butter jars, plastic zip licks, etc. I include date, bullet number, alloy and lube used. I used to think I could remember stuff but past practices have taught me.

[Kraschenbirn]

Unsized/lubed: 2# plastic coffee containers, Sized/lubed: plastic .38/9mm ammunition trays scrounged from the range (I've got a couple hundred of these), PC'd/sized: Ziploc freezer tubs.

Bill

[GhostHawk]

I keep maybe 100 of my most often used cast, lubed with BLL, ready to load in cheap plastic food storage boxes.

But most of mine are either holding as COWW ingots, range scrap ingots, or loaded ammo in 100 round MTM boxes.

And there are some odds and ends in everything from supplement bottles, pill vials, to tupperware.
And yeah a few peanut butter jars. Bigger jars tend to gather brass around my shop. Coffee can's and such.

[trixter]

I started out using 48 oz coffee cans (plastic) Because that is what I had, but I have been switching to Costco nut jars (plastic) because they are clear and the label peels off clean, and when one is full of boolits it is about all I want to deal with. I try to have at least 1 full of each caliber that I shoot. 45, 309 and 9mm. As for storing my 224 lead boolits I use glass 1 qt pickle jars. and keep them about 1/2 to 2/3 full . Because of the clear receptacles I can gauge when it is time to cast again.

As for loaded ammo, I keep them in zipper lock quart bags of 100 each with all of the data written on them. When I get ready to go to the range I can load up accordingly.

[Jack Stanley]

Many years ago my father-in-law made a wooden "cabinet" to hold Drawers for bullets The drawers measure about five inches square and ten inches deep . In the "cabinet" they are stacked seven high by three wide . It's all made of three quarter inch plywood , dadoo joints , glue and finish nails where needed . I use it for cast and inspected bullets and it's only failing is the dungeon where I have it at . After several years down there the bullets depending on alloy may start to oxidize . Though I think a very thin film of any of the liquid lubes would halt that if I employed it .

Sized and lubed bullets get layered into old cigar boxes and don't normally wait for years to get loaded and shot .

Jack

[GhostHawk]

I have noticed that cast bullets either lubed or unlubed seem to turn dark gray more slowly in sealed containers compared to ones open to the air.

So lately everything is getting lubed and locked down.

[wistlepig1]

Sized and Lubed in sandwish boxes from Dollar Store, large peanut butter jars, plastic bags if not lubed. When I get a layer in the boxes I place cardboard between layers.

[Remiel]

Coffee cans from both home and work, just grabbed these from the break room.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171215/53207240c7d84b6d26bcfccb7c3d6698.jpg

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[barrabruce]

I store mine in zip lock bags of around a 100 or so with date on them cast.
I will size and store them lubed in those 100 rd 22lr bullet trays if I can find them.
I made cardboard boxes up for some of my bullets which hold 25 lubed bullets and labeled.
I use them now for breach seating at the range or reloading fixed ammo there.

I have a couple of 100 rd pistol cases I store bullets in I got cheap.
I like the idea

I'm going to those clip sealed food containers from the supermarkets stacked up in rows I think.

I spend enough time casting my bullets as best I can and to ding them up loose in bags or containers is not a smart idea.

:groner:Dohhh

[Texas by God]

Large quantities go in coffee cans (plastic), 100 or less go in re labeled jacketed bullet boxes, sometimes zip lock bags. All those go in a file cabinet drawer labeled "Bullets".

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[6bg6ga]

209545

Packet for Holiday giving.

[trapper9260]

I store my unsize and lube ones in a Marshmellow fluff container and then for the ones that are lube and size i been usen the containers that my brother gets his sweetner in that have a flip top on them beside the screw on lid. That way if i do not need many I just flip the lid open and take what I need.

[lightman]

Coffee cans from both home and work, just grabbed these from the break room.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171215/53207240c7d84b6d26bcfccb7c3d6698.jpg

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I lost my main supplier of coffee cans when I retired! I did end up with enough surplus that my coffee habit at home will be able to keep up with the demand for a good long while. I use them more for brass than for bullets though.

[Remiel]

I lost my main supplier of coffee cans when I retired! I did end up with enough surplus that my coffee habit at home will be able to keep up with the demand for a good long while. I use them more for brass than for bullets though.I use them for both, then mark them with tape and magic marker

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[Walter Laich]

I bought some 6x6x6 cardboard boxes one time (about the size that you get when you buy 500 ready made bullets.)

I keep using and reusing them. Haven't had the need to throw any of them away, been 8 years now, so it was a good purchase for me.

Also a good size when I give them to my buddy. We buy lead, he smelts and I cast

[wizofwas]

Plastic peanut butter jars, Instant coffee jars for on the shelf brass and boolits. And I also use some 5 lb. plastic used food containers from GFS with just a snap on lid for when I get into a casting frenzy and have too many to put into the other jars. The ones in the jars are all lubed and sized and the boolits in the GFS containers are usually just cast and not sized or lubed. Of course everything is labelled.

[AKholicBubba]

I'm glad I just ran across this thread, I been thinking more lately about a more organized way to store my boolits. My storage routine is are a few big round Tupperware bowls with lids for unsized/unlubed. I only powder coat for now, haven't lubed and yet. I've got little Tupperware medium and large all types of different plastic cans and boxes with lids, lots of zip lock bags full. I read through this and got a new idea from taking a little from each of y'all's way of doing it. I'm about to go to the reload room now and start organizing it up lol. Got literally hundreds of different ammo boxes of all different calibers. I like that idea too. And I've got dozens of empty 30cal and 50cal ammo can in metal and plastic. Those are about to be full now. Thanks for the ideas guys

[gwpercle]

Stacked neatly in plastic containers with tight fitting lids. I place them base down , side by side and fill the bottom with one layer.
Cut a thin cardboard divider and lay on top of the first layer, place another layer, neatly , base down and side by side.
Put on lid and label.

After going to all the trouble to cast perfect boolits, carefully sizing and lubricating them.... I am not going to pour them into a metal coffee can so they can get all banged around and dinged up... That's just disrespectful to the art .

[RustyReel]

No real order, but they are mostly in the same place....old plastic coffee, peanut butter, racket ball, jelly etc containers.
209580

[DAVIDMAGNUM]

Not sized or lubed - in plastic bags in cardboard boxes.
Sized and lubed - in factory ammo boxes (left at the range by those who do not reload) with a 1X3 label on one end. Casting and sizing is a lot of work. This protects my soft bullets (30-1 alloy) and soft lube (DGL or NRA 50/50) that I labored over.

[bigcountry022885]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171219/e3b5190701bac56f53e6a0166493d6d9.jpg I use these containers from Wal mart they fit in my shelves well and will hold about 20lbs of boolits rather well


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[RoGrrr]

$TORE THEM ?!?
That'$ $acrelige !
I $hoot them a$ $oon a$ I ca$t and lube.
I'm alway$ behind the curve and need to ca$t more.
After all, none of them co$t me any money $o I $hoot a$ much a$ I can !

One other thing - I ALWAYS leave the range with more brass than I brought. I scrounge brass. I ALWAYS scrounge brass, be it at practice or at organized shoots. I always pick up their brass when friends shoot and give them their own brass (that makes them happy). So, nobody grouses at me for being a 'brass rat'. However, ANY brass that is not picked up by the shooter on line, well, let's just say "IT's MINE !"
Also, I pillage the trash buckets for the empty ammo boxes people discard, who only casually shoot their factory ammo. I usually have several thousand rounds of loaded ammo in various boxes ready for my next sojourn to the range.
Also, I recently shot at a range where FEDERAL AIR MARSHALLS practice and qualify. They shoot 357SIG and leave them. I picked up quite a few hundred and brought them back in my airline luggage. TSA said nothing about them, even tho I had a couple other handguns in that bag. I offered them as a "Christmas gift" to our club VP. Needless to say, he was so overjoyed he almost 'shot off' in his pants....

[tmc-okc]

For those of you that are wishing to obtain card board type boxes to store your boolits I highly encourage you to google your local corrugated box supplier and look over their inventory and see if they have the perfect corrugated box available locally. Always easier to pick it up & turn it around in your hands & measure it in order to find that perfect box for your needs. Look at the construction of the box, nominal weight of the product, how it opens & closes. My local corrugate box supplier handles over 300 different size boxes. Most are way to large for my use. Others are to flimsly or the lid is made wrong..

Ron H

[Skunk1]

Assorted cleaned( washed) peanut butter & mayonnaise/M.Whipp/salad dressing jars,chip dip, sour cream, cottage cheese containers, "Take home" soup containers, & margarine /cool whip tubs, parts trays - large & small... etc..
Anything I can get my hands on that the missus doesn't throw out to recycling before I get to it, usually works.


Interesting subject & Thanks for posting it!
:)


Same here. Would like to find something more uniform some day though.

[2011redrider]

I use these from Walmart when they have them online, about a buck a piece by the case. They hold about 30 Lbs of bullets.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite-Fliptop-Box-Clear-Case-of-12/44785855

https://i.imgur.com/3cmkGwtl.jpg

[bigcountry022885]

I like these better than what are Walmart carriers are the Rugged


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[2011redrider]

I like these better than what are Walmart carriers are the Rugged


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They are a lot heavier than the one with the red lid on the shelf(Dollar Store ****)
They also stack, just have to keep checking for stock. They have been listed by 3rd party suppliers on walmart.com but are about twice the price. I use them for primed brass and storing die plates for my RCBS Pro 2000. Just have to support the bottom when they are full. Lid is hinged at the back and clips in the front. I still have a case and half.

[Alexn20]

I prefer cardboard trading card boxes for my sized and lubed boolits. I have limited shelf room and find these take up a lot less space than tupperware or the good old coffee can. They can be found fairly cheap if you have a card collector or comic book store around. They are pretty sturdy and the big benefit with these boxes is the lid tucks on the outside of the box. They come in many different lengths for your different calibers. If possible, I stack the boolits neatly and separate each layer with a cardboard cutout from a 12 pack.

210402

Cigar boxes are great too if you have a source.

[FISH4BUGS]

Coffee cans from both home and work, just grabbed these from the break room.
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I lived in a condo building for 25 years and scrounged the trash room for plastic coffee cans. I stored them at my girlfriend's barn, and we ultimately bought the house.
I have more than I will ever use in 5 lifetimes. I still cannot pass one up at the dump or in the condo building which I now manage.
If any one wants a bunch, come on by.....take as many as you need. Metal coffee cans too. I have a ton.

[AllanD]

I store my 405GC bullets for my 45-70 Lubed and sized with the gas check installed in MTM cartridge boxes
intended for 45ACP cartridges.

The thousands of 358156 gas checked bullets I made and have not yet used up I keep in the plastic trays that Federal used as cartridge trays in their ammo boxes years ago. A gun-shop/range I used to go to in NJ sold the empty trays for $0.05 each and I bought a couple hundred of them to organize my reloading brass...

I have not yet settled on a storage method for the bullets I will make from my new 311041 mold.

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

A few years ago they started using some brand of coffee at work that came in 1 lb metal containers (artsie looking). I have snagged every one I could. I peal off the label and fill them up with lead nuggets.

[imashooter2]

Raw castings in .50 cal cans.

[Michael J. Spangler]

I prefer cardboard trading card boxes for my sized and lubed boolits. I have limited shelf room and find these take up a lot less space than tupperware or the good old coffee can. They can be found fairly cheap if you have a card collector or comic book store around. They are pretty sturdy and the big benefit with these boxes is the lid tucks on the outside of the box. They come in many different lengths for your different calibers. If possible, I stack the boolits neatly and separate each layer with a cardboard cutout from a 12 pack.

210402

Cigar boxes are great too if you have a source.

Love this box idea.

Here are some other sizes with the same outside tuck design.
I think I’m going to order some to try. Probably the size of the akro bins

http://www.theboxery.com/Product.asp?d=105515&Product=OTM