That One Time I Hit the Craigslist/Reloading Lottery

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Im going thru some old photos and came across a photo I took when I hit the mother load of reloading supplies on Craigslist. Figured I would share it here as a brag and also to share some wise info that has paid off for me a handful of times.

I do a ton of buying on used markets. The best way to find something that is under valued and still available, is to spell what you are looking for incorrectly. By doing this, you may happen to come across something that isn't selling and the reason for that is it isn't being found. I once bought a 1987 Camaro on ebay for $100 (opening and only bid) because they spelled the title "Cmaro". It cost me more to tow it home from the cape than it did for the car. Other searches that always gave me good luck was spelling Craftsman as Craftsmen or Starrett with only a single T or R. Some market places are getting smarter and will change your results with a simple "did you mean......" search. Craistlist doesn't.

Another method of searching I use is general terms. Want reloading stuff? Search Reloading, reloader, reload, press, RCBS, Dillon, Lyman, ect. Don't assume the seller knows what they have.

So back in July, 2017 I was searching for "dies" on CL. The problem with such a generic search is that you get a ton of hits. You just have to sort thru the mess for stuff you want. After scrolling thru pages of listings, I came a cross a one line ad that said "dies, $5 a piece". I was curious and was worth an email to find out what they were selling. After some back and forth, I find out the guy was selling his brother in laws estate. The BIL had passed away and they were selling everything. BIL owned a gun store in the 80's and everything was all over the house.
Guy said he stopped counting at 150 sets of dies. $450 for the lot. It was an hour away. I said Ill be there in an hour. I get there and see the pile of green boxes. The mother load. Although some of the boxes look bad, the majority of the dies were untouched, still covered with protectant applied by RCBS. And because he owned the store 30 something years ago, most of the dies were non standard calibers, so more sought after.

The man took my cellphone # and said that he would contact me if he found anything else reloading related and would give me 1st dibs. After a month he called. He said "I have a bunch of brass Id like to get $800 for it. Now I was at a point where I was not buying any brass because I had so much range pickup at my house that I had no need for anymore, but he insisted that it was a ton. I agreed to take a ride and see. But $800 for brass was steep IMO. I get there and the bed of his 8ft truck was full. Im talking full. He had a cap on the bed and the brass was to the ceiling. I opened the 1st box and it was all brand new old stock brass. Again, all older calibers from the 80s. I wish I took pictures of the brass and the sorting operation that happened in my basement. It took about 2 months to sort, catalog and sell what I didn't want. That deal netted me 20k. Too bad I didn't sit on them for a few years. Todays prices would put me into retirement.

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Wow, just wow.....
I thought I did well when I responded to a for sale here on NES and it turned out that the guy was a heavy reloader and was retiring down to Florida and didn't want to truck down everything.
thousands of .44mag/9mm/.45acp cases, dies, Spotting scopes, rifles sleds, sand bags and then the endless miscellaneous primer tubes, scales, micrometers etc..
I gave him $500, sold $1000 worth of Lee presses and .44Mag cases and I still have 10x totes of misc stuff to play around with.
Not even in the same class as your score though..
 
Nice, i scored a few small estates over the years.
Nothing crazy and basically all said and done ended up with "free" guns.
It took a while to sell off the stuff i did not want.

Scored a few decent reloading estates but nothing like yours. It was a good jump start into casting and im still working from that lead pile.
 
A certain person on this forum was working for el biggo corpo with the typical "guns for the founder but not for thee" policy and was overheard by a security guard talking about guns. He was asked to help get rid of some guns and got a 4" Royal Blue Python, mint condition; Colt Diamondback, mint condition; Colt 38 and I think Baby browning for... take a guess....
$200, and no that is not a typo, and that is for the entire batch, not each
And the best part .... he went back for more after Jan 1 when the "4 per calendar year" reset the private transfer and spent a similar amount on another batch.

This beats the Glock 27 I got for $80.

When I die someone is going to score big - there is going to be a big giveaway party in my basement, by invitation only. This is the only way I can be certain the Widow Boudrie will not be taken by some opportunist.
 
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My best score was a scuba student of mine who was having a baby and his wife wanted him to get rid of his gun. Sure says helpful me I'll take it off your hands legally. One paper fa10 later and I had this baby for free.
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As obnoxious as it may seem, I do get an occasional free gun as a lawyer. Usually it's someone who moves to Massachusetts and panics when they realize they have a gun here with no license. I'll help them by taking the gun off their hands and registering it. I got a a USP, a Mossy 500 (I had to cut off the trigger lock on that one), and .380 bodyguard that way. The Kriss was more complicated.
 
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About 30 years or so ago, a co-worker moved to NJ. He FA10'ed an AR/hbar version, pre 94 and Colt 1911 (new manufacture) to me with an understanding I would arrange a dealer to dealer transfer once he got settles. I've shot up all the ammo he left with it and comingled the mags with mine, but it's still in the safe if it sends for it. Fortunately, I was concerned about him following up which is why I insisted in the FA10 transfer.
 
My best score was a scuba student of mine who was having a baby and his wife wanted him to get rid of his gun. Sure says helpful me I'll take it off your hands legally. One paper fa10 later and I had this baby for free.
View attachment 484065

As obnoxious as it may seem, I do get an occasional free gun as a lawyer. Usually it's someone who moves to Massachusetts and panics when they realize they have a gun here with no license. I'll help them by taking the gun off their hands and registering it. I got a a USP, a Mossy 500 (I had to cut off the trigger lock on that one), and .380 bodyguard that way. The Kriss was more complicated.
That's crazy. One hell of a score
 
My best score was a scuba student of mine who was having a baby and his wife wanted him to get rid of his gun. Sure says helpful me I'll take it off your hands legally. One paper fa10 later and I had this baby for free.
View attachment 484065

As obnoxious as it may seem, I do get an occasional free gun as a lawyer. Usually it's someone who moves to Massachusetts and panics when they realize they have a gun here with no license. I'll help them by taking the gun off their hands and registering it. I got a a USP, a Mossy 500 (I had to cut off the trigger lock on that one), and .380 bodyguard that way. The Kriss was more complicated.
I suggest you pick up basic lockpicking skills, and remember there are generally 5 ways to open a lock - picking, drilling, shimming, rapping and impressioning.

What would be really impressive would be collecting a legal fee for your services in a gun surrender :oops:
 
I suggest you pick up basic lockpicking skills, and remember there are generally 5 ways to open a lock - picking, drilling, shimming, rapping and impressioning.

What would be really impressive would be collecting a legal fee for your services in a gun surrender :oops:
I would like to learn more lock picking skills. It would come in handy for sure. But I couldn't charge someone to take their gun.
 
I suggest you pick up basic lockpicking skills, and remember there are generally 5 ways to open a lock - picking, drilling, shimming, rapping and impressioning.

What would be really impressive would be collecting a legal fee for your services in a gun surrender :oops:

I would like to learn more lock picking skills. It would come in handy for sure. But I couldn't charge someone to take their gun.


There's already a lock picking lawyer out there.......
For those who haven't seen his stuff, his channel is great. Lock Picking Lawyer
 
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