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Thread: How do you Organize Your Bullets and Brass?

  1. #1
    Boolit Master

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    How do you Organize Your Bullets and Brass?

    I started out, as most of us did, casting and reloading 2-3 different calibers. Over the last 10 years that number has grow to 10-12 calibers. With brass in all different stages and 20+ bullet designs, my reloading room is getting cluttered. I recently set about casting some 148 gr 9mm pills that I had run out of. Afterward, I found a tub of 1,200 of them, lubed and ready. I need to get organized. What is your method?

  2. #2
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    Winger Ed.'s Avatar
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    Labeled (with a sharpie) empty plastic coffee tubs for sorted brass & larger production amounts of boolits.

    Labeled (with a sharpie) empty large size margarine tubs for smaller amounts of boolits.

    Both stack easily on a sturdy shelf.

    Go back a page or two, everybody was just talking about the very thing a few days ago.
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  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    I reload for 36 calibers. I have bins with dies on top, brass in next bin down, bullets and moulds below that.

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  4. #4
    Boolit Master

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    I use the dollar store method. I go to the dollar store and get bins and containers. The bins are big stackable bins for brass each caliber gets 3 bins.

    Bullets go in these square screw top containers. Each container holds about 20lbs. Each bullet gets three containers.

    Bullets lubed/coated/ext ready to fire go into cigar boxes or cookie tins. Except for 9mm, i use a milk jug for those.

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  5. #5
    Boolit Grand Master In Remembrance
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    Brass - pipe tobacco tins
    Bullets - styrofoam loading trays and Crystal Lite plastic containers and medicine containers
    Regards
    John

  6. #6
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    Texas by God's Avatar
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    About the only thing in my shop that IS organized is the steel filing cabinet full of primers and tools for them and pistols and loading blocks and rifle barrels in the top drawer; moulds and sizers and tools under that, then the brass drawer, the powder drawer, and the bullets in the bottom drawer. Of course coffee buckets of brass are everywhere and a few 5 gallon lard cans also.

  7. #7
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I use plastic coffee cans for my brass. With the caliber and other info written on the front. I use large plastic jugs with screw on tops like coffee sweeter comes in for my bullets. The brass is on sturdy shelves, the bullets are on the floor under the shelves.

    Loaded ammunition is either stored in MTM plastic boxes or army surplus ammo cans, depending on quantity.
    Last edited by lightman; 01-18-2020 at 11:43 AM.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    This is the thread Winger was referring to:

    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...se-for-boolits

  9. #9
    Boolit Buddy

    NC_JEFF's Avatar
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    Stackable open bins for brass, clear sealable containers for bullets with a label atop each. Free standing shelves with clear shoebox type containers work good for brass as well

  10. #10
    Boolit Master
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    It's all supposed to be organized? Wellll....I'll be dipped in spit!!!

    I currently load for over 50 cartridges, mostly oddballs, and don't keep hundreds or thousands of rounds of brass for any of them so, my "organization" is pretty simple. I usually keep 20-100 cases for each firearms, depending on how expensive the parent brass is and how difficult it is to make. Those cases are loaded more often than not so they go in their individual ammo boxes, usually MTM, with the rifle, cartridge and load printed on the box with a Sharpie. It should be obvious there is a lot of duplication in bullets and they go in tins of various kinds, so marked as to caliber, weight and alloy.
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  11. #11
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    Organize??? Whats that??? I think the only thing thats organized in my shop is the collet rack for my small mill, otherwise nothing!!! Wife hates setting foot in my shop, the clutter just drives her up the wall. Me, I tend towards chaos theory

  12. #12
    Boolit Master FISH4BUGS's Avatar
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    Since I shoot a lot of full auto, my brass is stored in kitty litter plastic tubs (probably 4 gallon) and 5 gallon buckets. Back when brass was cheap (9mm @ $10/1000 delivered) I bought a ton. 380 is the same way. 45 ACP has 2 5 gallon buckets.
    I can't even tell you how much 223 and 308 I have. probably 10,000 223 and 5000 308.
    As for bullets, I shoot jacketed in the 223 and 308 and I cast as needed for the pistol calibers.
    I don't store cast bullets. I'll do manic casting sessions for one bullet style over a week or so, then size, lube and load them over the next few weeks, and put them into the closet for spring, summer and fall shooting.
    I do not care for setup time, so when I get my Star and Dillon set up, I want to be able to go out to the man cave and start loading right away......winters are long and hard here in New Hampshire - what else are you going to do?
    Yes, I am a hoarder of loaded ammunition and components.
    But there is something very comforting having thousands of loaded rounds in the closet and enough components to do many thousands more when I need to.
    Last edited by FISH4BUGS; 01-17-2020 at 11:44 AM.
    Collector and shooter of guns and other items that require a tax stamp, Lead and brass scrounger. Never too much brass, lead or components in inventory! Always looking to win beauty contests with my reloads.

  13. #13
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by FISH4BUGS View Post
    Since I shoot a lot of full auto, my brass is stored in kitty litter plastic tubs (probably 4 gallon) and 5 gallon buckets. Back when brass was cheap (9mm @ $10/1000 delivered) I bought a ton. 380 is the same way. 45 ACP has 2 5 gallon buckets.
    I can't even tell you how much 223 and 308 I have. probably 10,000 223 and 5000 308.
    As for bullets, I shoot jacketed in the 223 and 308 and I cast as needed for the pistol calibers.
    I don't store cast bullets. I'll do manic casting sessions for one bullet style over a week or so, then size, lube and load them over the next few weeks, and put them into the closet for spring, summer and fall shooting.
    I do not care for setup time, so when I get my Star and Dillon set up, I want to be able to go out to the man cave and start loading right away......winters are long and hard here in New Hampshire - what else are you going to do?
    Yes, I am a hoarder of loaded ammunition and components.
    But there is something very comforting having thousands of loaded rounds in the closet and enough components to do many thousands more when I need to.
    I am more along this way of storing stuff as I also load for a limited number of calibers. In empty cases, about 5000 .38's, 6000 9mm. 4000 .40, 2000 .45, 4000 .5.56, 2000 .308, 10,000 12 ga. Large plastic bins and 5 gallon pails are used. Pails are great as they take no shelf space and stack on top of each other. Pails full of 12 ga shells can stack 4 high, hold 525 each and take up a square ft of floor space...they are cheap and cost $5 with a gasketed lid.

    Loaded pistol rounds go into plastic ammo boxes and/or .30 cal ammo boxes. I stock up on Harbor Freight .30 cal boxes when they go on sale for $3-4 ea. 5.56 go into 100 rd plastic boxes and .50 cal boxes. Only hunt with the .308 never have more than a couple of Midway boxes loaded up.

    I envy those who can organize 20+ calibers, dozens of different bullet styles, and scores of different loads. I am not wired that way. I went down that path and it did not work for me. I got frustrated trying to find stuff I knew (or thought I knew) I had. KISS works for me and it allowed me to optimize my inventory of components.

    The most variety I have is in 12 ga loads. 1 oz load for first shot of doubles and 16 yard practice, 1 1/8 oz target load, 1 1/8 oz Handicap load, buckshot load and slug load. I use one load for everything else, but may add a second load for the .38/.357 this year.
    Don Verna


  14. #14
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    I use cardboard boxes (I now have 55 or 56 of these) stacked and labeled on shelves in garage -- where I have my decapping, pin tumbling, and annealing set-up, as well as doing most of my casting. The cardboard boxes are relatively inexpensive; I add a strip of clear packaging tape on each's inside bottom, and simply fold the tops. This method makes "finding" the calibre I seek no longer a challenge, and -- I do not have the brass loose in each box -- in (generally labeled with quantity) zip-lock type freezer bags within.Click image for larger version. 

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  15. #15
    Boolit Master murf205's Avatar
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    I use a filing cabinet to store loaded ammo, dies, brass and other goodies, but I made the mistake of putting the loaded ammo and rim fire (lots of it) in the top drawer. When I pulled the top drawer out fully to reach the back, it almost tipped the cabinet over. After quickly closing it, I fashioned a bracket to the wall and screwed it to the top of the filing cabinet. My point is that we sometimes loose sight of how much our goodies weigh.
    IT AINT what ya shoot--its how ya shoot it. NONE of us are as smart as ALL of us!

  16. #16
    Boolit Master
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    I use cardboard boxes and metal ammo cans, also use the boxes from factory ammo to store my reloads this helps me know how much ammo I have on the shelf.

  17. #17
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    For loaded handgun ammunition I gave up on 50 round cardboard and plastic boxes years ago and never looked back. I have a few standard loads and they go into 30 and 50 caliber sized ammo cans.
    I think everyone starts out re-using cardboard ammunition boxes. Then you start taping those ratty boxes together as they fall apart. Then you buy the neat little plastic cartridge boxes. Then you have an epiphany and realize that identical cartridges stored in little 50 round boxes are exactly the same as identical cartridges stored in one big box.

    Brass gets sorted, cleaned and generally stored in coffee cans, or buckets, or crates; depending on quantity.
    Cast bullets tend to get loaded into complete cartridges pretty quickly. That puts me in the same camp as FISH4BUGS.

    Rifle cartridges get stored in re-labeled factory boxes but my total number of rifle rounds are a small fraction of my total number of cartridges on hard.

    Shotgun shells tend to go back into factory boxes mostly for counting purposes. (25 shells to a box). However as the cardboard boxes wear out the shells end up in ammo cans just like handgun ammo.

    Molds & dies are stored in original boxes. Sizing dies go into custom made box (I need to revisit that).

    Do what works for you.

  18. #18
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    Freezer bags for loaded and emptys. Coffee cans for bullets raw or sized and lubed. Everything loaded or sized and lubed gets packed so it doesn't get any dust in it.

  19. #19
    Boolit Buddy gumbo333's Avatar
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    If you organize them, you can find them. What's the fun in that?????

  20. #20
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I usually just dump everything on a table in the shop. When the table is full or if I get tired of rummaging I then box everything up and put it in a closet and then start over.

    Actually just use plastic bins under the benches. But sometimes it seems like the other way.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check