Storing boolits

[Don1357]

I sold a mold I don't need (30 cal 130 grain, perfect for a 30 carbine) I figure before I deliver the mold I ought to cast a bunch of boolits just because. Would they get damaged a lot if I chuck them in a bag and let them collect a few year's worth of being moved around? Does anybody uses any special way to keep their stashes of boolits in top shape? They will be water hardened WW with a pinch of tin.

[Dan Cash]

Where I am not concerned with bullet base integrity, I store un lubricated bullets in small flat rate boxes. They hold a lot of bullets and are easy to handle and store in a storage rack. If I lubricate them, I put them in a sealed ziplock bag and then into the flat rate box. For long range bullets, eg. BPCR bullets, they go in to plastic cartridge trays. These don't get greased until needed.

[Tom W.]

I put my paper punching boolits in a 50 cal. ammo can, unsized or lubed when I have trouble moving the cans I figure that they are full enough. I have some plastic pencil boxes that I put the sized and lubed boolits in.

[gwpercle]

I size, lube and stack them in plastic food containers, base down , side by side in neat rows untill the bottom is full. If the container is deep enough a piece of cardboard is cut to fit, placed on top of the first layer and another layer of boolits fitted in. Some containers are small some are larger, all have tight fitting lids. The ones with square corners work best.
Small cardboard boxes work well but plastic lasts longer.
I take pride in casting good boolits, just dumping them willy nilly in a zip lock bag or coffee can just doesn't seem right .
Gary

[lightman]

I used cigar boxes until it got where you could not find them. Now I use used small flat rate USPS boxes. I bought some MTM plastic boxes but am not impressed.

[Rcmaveric]

I use cigar boxes also. They give them out for free at the store I frequent. You just have to ask and hope no one beat you to them. I also use dollar store containers with a screw on lid to store the unsized bullets till the cigar boxes get empty.

[RogerDat]

I use some square MTM boxes for more limited production stuff but mostly for plinking and paper punching ammo I just store in zip lock bags inside 30 cal. ammo boxes. Have those labeled for caliber/diameter. Put a piece of 3x5 card in the bags with date/alloy/mold and caliber/weight if the mold designation doesn't directly provide that information. Any lube or sizing info goes on that card too. Might write bold marker on the other side of the card Caliber Profile Weight (E.G .360 RN 158gr). Big enough to see at a glance. For powder coat where I have applied a gas check I would also include the size of die I used and if it was sized post powder coat or just before PC to apply gas check.

If you can't tell I forget stuff! Most of the time I try to store as cast or sized, lubed, and ready to load. I find it easier to keep track of that way. My hats off to those with the gumption (and spinal fortitude) to use the 50 cal. boxes for lead. I do 30's for components to keep the weight down and mostly the smaller plastic $5 ones for ziplock bags of finished plinking ammo. Those MTM boxes are too expensive for anything but special loads or limited runs. Or brass I want to keep separated like that fire formed to one rifle.

I think you are smart to keep a stash before letting the mold go. Unless you hate the bullet you may have a future firearm where you want to try that bullet before replacing that mold or for compare to a different bullet.

[DAFzipper]

I use plastic peanut butter jars. Hold plenty and love the wide mouth. I powder coat them first for long term storage.

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[Green Frog]

If they are bullets I care about, they get sized and lubed or not, but are stored in the plastic liners from factory ammo boxes so they are individually protected from bumps and bruises. If they are just for plinking, I either line them up in an open tray like gwpercle mentioned in post #4, or if they are really casual, I dump them loose in a box... the storage depends on the end use.

Froggie

[runfiverun]

I got bullets in baggies, Jars, little quart cups with lids, boxes of about 6 different sizes, 1-3-5-7 gallon buckets, sterilite containers.
probably some under the bench, behind the sizer island..
whatever keeps the dust off them, and them out of my way, seems to work the best.

[Bent Ramrod]

I grab up all the plastic .22RF boxes with sliding lids that I can find at the rifle range. The insert with the .22 holes shakes out and the labels can be removed with a little persuasion.

I can get 75 or so .25 caliber, maybe 50 .32 caliber and around 30 .44-45 pistol caliber sized and lubed boolits in one of the long 100-pack boxes that CCI or Winchester use. If I can find a Remington square 100-pack, I can get even more of them in. The .22 RF Magnum boxes hold the long .30 calibers better standing up. Since they are clear plastic, the contents are easily visible, and a small notation for size, alloy, gas check and mould number can be put on the sliding top.

The boolits don't bump or rattle around if the box is full, the boxes are dustproof, and they stack and store well on shelves or in boxes. After decades of storage in a hot garage, the lube sticks the boolits together slightly, but they come apart without tearing the lube out of the lube grooves. They seem to shoot as well as when new. The air seems to come out of the lubrisizer-applied lube, giving a more "pan-lubed" appearance.

Second choice are the Speer yellow plastic boxes for jacketed bullets. I have to generate these myself, and I can't see into them. Also, the plastic hinge eventually gives out, but otherwise they work like the .22 boxes.

Raw castings go in the one- or two-pound clear plastic deli salad containers. Typically, they are sorted by weight and so labeled. This is in-process storage only, not for long-term or for transport.

[dragon813gt]

For bulk storage of unlubed bullets I use 30cal ammo cans. Learned my lesson about using them for lubed bullets, stored in my garage loft. I have lots of the cans and they're designed to protect what's inside of them. They also come in handy to keep the small bench weighed down.

Old pic but you get the idea.

[Victor N TN]

When my brother smoked cigars he gave me his empty boxes. I use them for sized & lubed bullets. To keep them from sticking together, I dust them with "Motor mica powder" that I got from Midway 20 or 30 years ago. For newer castings, I like empty plastic Kraft Mayonaise jars. That is mainly for unlubed bullets as well. I still have 4 or 5 empty cigar boxes for future use. I stack bullets in the cigar boxes by hand after a coating of the mica powder. I save the back of legal pads and cut to size to separate the layers. That way I'm not continually mashing them all together.

I have larger containers. But I have had to graduate them to use for brass in different stages.

[plainsman456]

I buy plastic boxes from the dollar store.

Some have unlubed and others have lubed.
All have what they are written on them.

[Thumbcocker]

Sour cream or onion dip containers.

[CASTER OF LEAD]

I got bullets in baggies, Jars, little quart cups with lids, boxes of about 6 different sizes, 1-3-5-7 gallon buckets, sterilite containers.
probably some under the bench, behind the sizer island..
whatever keeps the dust off them, and them out of my way, seems to work the best.

I am with you there Fiver. I got boolits stashed in numerous different types of containers and tucked here and there . So.e I forgot I had until I was looking for something else and ran across them. "Hmmmm forgot I had these" type deal. My most commonly used boolits when (traditional lube ) I store in large tuna cans with the lid cut with a seal cut type opener , base down until a full layer is achieved, then if space allows I cut coke case rounds for in between and add another layer. I then put the cut lid on and this makes them stackable . If PC'D I store them in tupperware(stackable), or I have used PB jars, snuff tubs and the like.
Additionally if I am storing lubed boolits long term I top coat the greased grooves with BLL. - CASTER

[CIC]

I got bullets in baggies, Jars, little quart cups with lids, boxes of about 6 different sizes, 1-3-5-7 gallon buckets, sterilite containers.
probably some under the bench, behind the sizer island..
whatever keeps the dust off them, and them out of my way, seems to work the best.

This sounds like me. I stuff ‘em in whatercever I can find. My favorite container is the small brass ones though.

[BNE]

I use plastic coffee cans.

[John Boy]

dumpster drive - empty bullet trays

[texassako]

Sour cream or onion dip containers.

Same here for the majority of mine. Rifle boolits intended for my best accuracy loads go in pistol ammo boxes I scrounge from the range when they are ready to load.