Surplus/old military ammo value
A friend past away some years ago after a long battle with alzheimer's and his widow had been reluctant to sell any of his things. She recently passed and the family invited me to come by and see if I would like to buy some of his old ammo and reloading stuff. I found several ammo cans loaded with 420 rounds of 7.62X51 M-80 ball ammo on stripper clips. One had WCC 67 headstamps and the others was early 70's Lake City. They had been stored in what appeared to be a dry outbuilding without any heat/AC for at least 20 years. The ammo in those cans were mostly shiny and only had pinpoint sized dark spots. Even though the base of one of the cans was rusty, I guess it hadn't eaten through and the seals on those cans were intact. Those were the best looking of the lot. There were other cans right next to them that were about the same vintage, 45 - 50 years old, and loose packed. A lot of that ammo was showing greenish verdigris and white corrosion.
I know ammo properly stored can last a long time and shoot reliably. I think this ammo is OK, but I don't know. Because of that concern I don't know what to offer for it. I know alot of people in the family and don't want to be seen as taking advantage of them. By the same token, I don't want to pay top dollar for questionable ammo. What do you think it is worth? And please offer a range from high to low. Thanks in advance.
I know ammo properly stored can last a long time and shoot reliably. I think this ammo is OK, but I don't know. Because of that concern I don't know what to offer for it. I know alot of people in the family and don't want to be seen as taking advantage of them. By the same token, I don't want to pay top dollar for questionable ammo. What do you think it is worth? And please offer a range from high to low. Thanks in advance.
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From your description. I would price it all on a components only basis. I.E. How much you could get for ,it buy selling it, either broken down completely. Or selling the stuff as questionable safety wise. Making the buyer sign a release, before transfer.
It's probably OK, in reality. Nowadays though, with a blood sucking lawyer under every rock. You can't be to careful. If they don't like that, tell them to sell it themselves.0 -
Old ammo with questionable storage conditions isn't worth much to me. Five or ten cents a round is all I would pay (for a good bullet).
Ammo is tough, I have shot 1000's of rounds 7.62 that laid out on the ground for years. There is a point where the heat gets to it and it becomes either a dud or hang fire and you can't tell by looking at it.0 -
I guess I should add that I am only interested in the nicer LC and WCC stuff. I think the loose pack stuff is too far gone and only worth pulling the bullets. 0 -
It's worth 25 cents a round if it's worth anything. And I don't think they'd be insulted with $105 a can. 0 -
Since all that ammo is factory loaded, your not going to get any overcharged rounds. I would go so far as offer .25 per round for the loose packed ammo, and .30 to .35 cents for the ammo on strippers. I have shot ammo the same age many times with no problems at all. 0 -
I agree with L. Lefty's valuation and comment. I would not hesitate to fire any of them unless the case was badly corroded. 0 -
Even some of the 30 cal from CMP would be corroded and it was shipped with an advisory regarding the shooting of corroded cases. 0
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