What household items do you reuse in this interest?

Right now I'm using ordinary grocery bags to store brass. Also, I use Republic of Tea (http://www.republicoftea.com/) tea cans to store 22 lr ammo. Each can will hold around 300 rounds, which is a nice amount to take to the range. I take the labels off and use some Goo-Gone on the old label glue. I have cans with different colored lids which helps me organize. Federal ammo goes in cans with black lids, Winchester in red lids, and Remington in green. It works for me.
Also, milk jugs full of water make great targets, but we all knew that already.

Large jars for brass.
Used dryer sheets to cut down on dust in the tumbler.
Top half of a computer desk is now the top half of my loading bench.
A large Stanley toolbox is my range box.
Wooden toolbox I made in scouts now carries my cleaning supplies.
Old tshirts make good cleaning rags.
Random tupperware has various solvents/cleaning solutions.
Empty plastic bottles make good targets or water bottles for the range.

I recycle old towels for cleaning, I've got an old tackle box for range tools, milk jugs make good targets.

Empty plastic jars my wife wants to toss out for sorting brass from the range.

The 3 items I seem to collect most are coffee cans, jelly jars, and butter tubs.

I really miss the tin coffee cans, they were great for 22 plinking. The plastic ones dont do much when u shoot em.

CVS has some Q tip looking things in the makeup isle, they're tougher than Q tips, one side is a bulb and the other side is pointed. They work great for cleaning hard to reach areas, painting the markings on an AR lower, applying cold blue, etc. You guys that are married or shacked up might have some on hand, but remember, the makeup box is her version of your toolbox - ask first.

Speaking of getting in trouble with the lady, in a pinch, tampons make pretty good bore mops for shotguns.

The glad storage things that Hillshire Farms sandwich meat comes in are great for holding small parts, are stackable, and best of all, are basically free after you eat a big sandwich.

I'll cut small holes in the top of said glad storage things to drain the last little bit of motor oil out of the bottle. It adds up quicker than you think. But on the other hand, I am the family mechanic, own three high mileage vehicles, and do a lot of driving, so it may not add up as quick for you...

I outgrew a tool box I got as a gift several years ago, and when I replaced it with a bigger box, I used the top box for gun tools. Its similar to this one. But its a little weird having gun tools in a box covered with stickers from companies such as Edelbrock, MM, Holley, etc.

I used to keep old shirts and towels and such for gun rags, but between cars and guns, I wasn't wearing clothes out fast enough. I've just got to where I use disposable Kimberly Clarke Shop Towels.

4 and 5 quart ice cream buckets for brass.

From my days as a kid flying model airplanes, I use a metal fuel can and squeeze spout for Ed's Red gun cleaner.
I'll pick up any large pieces of cardboard and cut 2' X 2' target backers or USPSA targets from them.

Old rags to clean guns. Newspaper with a bit of oil to wrap ak/ar mags in.

big mayonaise jar for used cleaning patches, throat spray bottles for alcohol/cooking spray to lube brass to size, dishwashing soap bottles to hold the majority of mixure for case lube.

My wife messed up the finish on an old heavy duty oak dining room table with three leaves. I moved it out to the garage after finding her a new one. At trip down to the local cabinet shop got me a dozen sink cut outs for nothing. I came home and drilled one for a jig by clamping to table and drilling right through cutout and table, table is 2" oak. by attaching tools and presses to sink cutouts I can swap them on and off the table using carriage bolts with wing nuts. As table is heavy duty I can use a hammer on it no sweat. I can also get my feet under it comfortably.

blindhari

Plastic coffee tubs and butter tubs. Old clothing for gun rags.

The list is almost endless.

Q-Tips far more for gun cleaning than for personal hygeine.
Many a used pizza box has been executed by firing squad on the range.
Undershirts and socks used for cleaning rags and patches.
A tampon will patch out a shotgun barrel in one pass.
Various automotive products (STP Oil Treatment for case resizing lube, Ed's Red Bore Cleaner, ATF or synthetic motor oil for lubricating).
All toothbrushes get repurposed for gun cleaning.

And many many more.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

I reuse anything I can. 2 liter bottles and milk jugs filled with water for range targets, old towels and t-shirts for rags, I use an old static mat for working on circuit boards for my gun cleaning mat (solvents won't leak through), old toothbrushes for cleaning guns (and motorcycles), etc.

There are a lot of things around the house that can be put to good use once their original purpose has been served. Any money saved is more ammo for the range!

4x3' outside rug for shooting prone. Lengths of inner tube for scope covers. Old produce gets shot. Seems there's a website/archive of just these things on the net.

Oh, here it is..

http://www.frfrogspad.com/homemade.htm#Solutions

Cleaning rags

Check around and see if there is a local rag company handy. I buy 20 lbs of boxed "white washed tee shirt material" for about $20 from Big Chief here in Oklahoma City and that usually lasts me several years of misc rag use. I have been buying this size for about 30 years. When I was working I bought them for work, and occasionally I lost a hand full to some lady in the bank because they were "perfect" for some project she has at home. I just scratched it up to customer PR.

Crown Royal bags for carrying loaded .45 ACP moon clips to the range
an unused cooler for storing reloading supplies
old toothbrushes for gun cleaning
plastic coffee cans for ammo storage
rubbermaid tub for holster storage
kitchen drawer organizer for magazine storage

- Dozens of Planter Peanuts square plastic containers for brass in various stages of cleaning/prep...get these from the office where the welcome bowl is emptied about daily.
- 5-6 large kitty litter or dog biscuit square pails from Walmart for dirty brass.
- couple dozen of the plastic shoeboxes for various access, tools, pasters, scoring disks, league score cards and spare parts - these are often on sale by the dozen for 75 cents each.

Everything is cubic or rectangular - makes for nice storage.

Gotta find a use for those 100s of primer trays...? There's a limit to how many coasters one really needs!
/Bryan

there's a lot of good ideas here, many of which I do to some degree.

but the best I ever heard of was someone taking a dead fridge/freezer and making it into a gunsafe ... brilliant!

For those of you who like to take women's necessities to clean guns and trick out your BOB first aid kit; don't ever take the last one.

old soda machine turned in to a gun safe

Click to expand...

COOL!
And it comes with a lock built in already, doesn't it?

Nice size pieces of cardboard become great targets when coupled with a magic marker - one more use before the trash can. Old toothbrushes and makeup brushes are great for getting into tight places, as are old dental tools - ask your dentist, he might have a set he is about to get rid of. An old colander became the tumbler's sifter to separate media and brass, as did an old plastic dish soap bucket.

Old canvas cloth shot bags now hold brass and serve as breathable dust covers for various items. An old BBQ apron is now the shop apron. 3X5 index cards get the reversed side reused with load data because they fit nicely into the plastic ammo cases.

I shoot a lot of shotgun, so old plastic 40# kitty litter buckets hold empty hulls and stack neatly with lids on them

Kitty litter buckets for brass. Square, reusable lids, stack-able and more manageable in weight than 5 gal buckets

Edit: LOL One ounce beat me to it.