45 Colt brass redux

Oh, it's possible to live on the cheap, but still enjoy creature comforts, if you know where to dumpster-dive. ;-)

(The spartans slapt on stone beds and ate unleavened bread.)

Cheers! Rich

Hmm... I bought a box of 50 (unused) .380s for $18.00 the other day. I shot them all, I guess I should save my brass. What size brass's are worth $20 for 109? MikeK

Oh! I guess that might be a 45

.45 cal. 1 3/8" long

Things are still a bit crazy. Sucks looking at a 8.99 box of .380 right next to a 17.99 box purchased recently. Only a few years between them.

If you had 109 .40 S&W cases with the same headstamp and I lived in pickup range, I'd give

Wes

-- "Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

I've got many hundreds and I don't have a .40. Why the same headstamp?

Is it a full moon again? They were .45 casings, 1 3/8" long.

Not only not bad, but better than you should expect to do normally (probably twice).

I'm not sure I would plan a "career" expecting people to drive to you and pay better than new retail on a regular basis (sure it will happen occasionally).

Not only not bad, but better than you should expect to do normally (probably twice).

I'm not sure I would plan a "career" expecting people to drive to you and pay better than new retail on a regular basis (sure it will happen occasionally).

reply: Your attitude is your problem. Where did I use the word "expect"? Just because you can't do it doesn't mean it can't be done. When I buy for resale, I look for "home runs". Those are things I know the value of, and see the asking price of. I bought a New In Box Minn Kota 50# thrust trolling motor for $25. I thought I could get $125 for it, and got $150. I bought a top of the line White's metal detector for $20, and got nearly $700 for it on ebay. I bought five aluminum forklift propane tanks for $20, and sold them yesterday for $125 for the five. I bought a Burro travel trailer for $200 and got $4300 for it on ebay. I have a list a mile long.

Doing it for a living would be work, because that's what it is. But it is sure fun to just skim yard sales looking for home runs, and pocketing some bucks here and there. No taxes. No paper trail. I go to Vegas once or twice a month on real estate business, so wife and I hit about ten yard sales a day, and get lots of home runs, plus stuff we would normally buy. I bought twelve 24 oz. sealed Amdro poison containers Saturday for $2 each. They are somewhere close to $20 per at the store. I have enough ant block for years. I'm retired, have a comfortable income stream, have an inexpensive lifestyle, so it's just pocket cash, or goes into my cigar box stash for when a really good deal comes along. The cigar box currently has a little over $7k in it. I love going to Kauai, and think I might use it to go there for a month this summer when it is hot here. I have two vacation rentals in Vegas, and the people who have similar in Kauai will trade me up to a month there for a week in Vegas, and at a bigger place than mine. HOME RUN!

My attitude is take it or leave it. If you've ever been to a pawn shop, you know those boys have stuff priced higher than retail, and I bet occasionally, they get it. I also have the luxury of two acres. I an buy something and let it sit for a year until a buyer comes along.

Steve

Heart surgery pending? Read up and prepare. Learn how to care for a friend.

Steve, you and I can do it because we have the right personalities (we stick to what we know and pay very low). Many people are not capable and do not like the legwork.

Because different manufacturers make different cases. The most noticable thing is case thickness at the mouth. I've noticed that Remington tends to be thin in most samples I've worked with of many calibres.

Resize a selection of random makers and then inside neck expand. You are going to notice a difference that equates into bullet/case tension.

Wes

-- "Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

And others, because they cannot do it, deride those who can and do. I don't do a lot of legwork. I have wanted to get out and see what I can really do with some effort, but my list of honeydos, home improvements (current kitchen remodel), and spats of health issues give me a fits and starts performance.

A relative of mine works at a prime Las Vegas Strip restaurant that has a country and western theme. He called and asked us if we knew of anywhere we could get him some stuff. We went looking, and in less than a week made more than $4k. They were absolutely thrilled with the stuff we came up with, and were absolutely amazed at the Packard hubcaps, spurs, child's pony saddle, 80 year old license plates, etc, etc, that we found, and the prices people were selling for. We go there for dinner, and remember the places and people we got the stuff from, and it's a neat experience. Some of them were straight out of "American Pickers."

But, as you know, it's easy when you see something that is worth $500 and the guy wants waaaaaaaaaaay less than that, it's almost sinful to take it. I let the seller set the price, and may haggle downward. I NEVER lowball anybody, offering $75 on a $500 item. Many times, they will come off with a price that is LESS than what I have in mind.

We are a dying breed, Ig. When the rest of the planet is starving, and the wheels are falling off society, we'll just be rolling along saying, "What?"

Steve

Heart surgery pending? Read up and prepare. Learn how to care for a friend.

So ignore the derision and quietly laugh at them for paying retail+ for everything they buy.

You put that on your 1040 form as the IRS requires, too, didn't you? Good lad.

Whassat?

Yeah, I always let them set the price, too. And when it's truly low, I don't dicker. I just agree after bobbing my head back and forth like a scale, weighing the transaction. They feel better and I get the deal.

Don't forget Gunner and me, too.

-- Ask not what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive... then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. -- Howard Thurman

Steve, You and Ig may be able to appreciate this. I've figured out what the key to the 21st Century is...

During the 20th Century the key was development and expansion. Science discovered, engineering implemented, and WE (the great unwashed masses) - consumed.

But the 21st Century is a bit different.

A week or so back I broke my computer lamp. I was digging around behind the computer and knocked it off and broke the green class shade.

So I went to Walmart and bought a new small lamp for the computer.

The old lamp was brass plated steel (METAL!) This one is cast resin with a cute red shad.

Unfortunately, it was broken in the box. The resin shaft was broken.

There were plenty of opportunities for it to get broken. It was made in China and traveled half way around the world to get here. But my immediate suspicions were that someone dropped it on the way home with it, and returned it to Walmart - broken.

Walmart, still hoping to turn a profit on it, put it back on the shelf and sold it again. That's how I came by it. (there is one born every minute)

But upon looking at it. I decided that 15 seconds worth of Super Glue would fix it - and nobody could tell it had eveb been broken!

So I fixed it. And it sits on top of my computer right now.

So I've come to believe that the key to the 21st Century is to replace broken things with less-broken things...

Like Russia in the 1950's - 1980's.

In times of affluence, I must admit to having "just bought another one" instead of taking 15 seconds to SuperGlue the old one and get ten more years service out of it. I think that is changing now, and we will see more Depression Era attitude of fix it and keep the old one running until failure mode.

And the good news is that there is enough supply of quality made goods that are twenty years old sitting around, being sold at yard sales very cheaply that will outlast this current crop of plastic crap that is being sold, and the talented fixit guy will win out.

Steve

Heart surgery pending? Read up and prepare. Learn how to care for a friend.

samples I've

Ayup. Sometimes this makes a rather large deal in case life as well.

Very large deal

Gunner

I am the Sword of my Family and the Shield of my Nation. If sent, I will crush everything you have built, burn everything you love, and kill every one of you. (Hebrew quote)

In Russia, they would probably join the two pieces with insulation tape.

Cringe......I believe you are correct.

At least for the next 12 or so years until the last leftwinger has been hunted down and terminated with extreme prejudice.

I am the Sword of my Family and the Shield of my Nation. If sent, I will crush everything you have built, burn everything you love, and kill every one of you. (Hebrew quote)

I find comfort in knowing that hunting season will officially open in about three weeks ........................

Let there be no mercy killings. No fast dispatches. Slow, bloody, and painful. Just like their reign.

Steve