yhtomit
Member
[NOTE: I nearly put this into the reloading forum, but it's not really about reloading -- in fact, you could say that it's about *not* reloading 
]
After my most recent trip to both the handgun range (a windfall of brass, incl. some strange things like 30-30, which I think was being fired by a fellow with a T/C Contender) and the adjacent rifle range (not much brass at all! Or maybe it all went wherever did most of the ejected brass from my Saiga ...), I've started a "one-of" (or actually, "two-of") box, in which I will put at least two exemplars (if I even have two) of every case type (or, more rarely, bullet type) I encounter. From either finding or being given them, besides the calibers I actually have shot, I have just a few 357 sigs, a lone 9mm Makarov shell (sheesh! too close to a 9mm Luger / Parabellum / NATO / whatever for my comfort -- took me a while to spot it in with the 9mm Luger!), one giganto bullet from a 50BMG, etc. And there are many very common calibers which I don't personally shoot, but for which I have found just a few cases, like .32, .380, and the 30-30 I just mentioned.
The reasons I'm keeping a box like that is to keep a "working" sample for comparison ("What the heck kind of case is this? I know I've got one of these somewhere in here ...") and for a personal (miniature) museum-style display, for historical / curiosity reasons. I don't intend (currently, at least) to collect ammo for the same of collecting -- if people want to seek the ammunition equivalent of the holy grail, that's fine, but right now I'm just thinking of neat things I've bumped into. And besides, ammunition can be very aesthetically pleasing -- it's shiny, after all.
I've seen some promotional displays created by companies like Hornady which show off cases or bullet types, and I'd like one day to create something along those lines -- not sure of exactly how to organize 'em, but that's one of the reasons I'm posting this.
Could be by "size" (length? diameter? powder capacity? weight?), year introduced, or some other factor.
Maybe I will separate (conventionally) rifle cartridges from (conventionally) pistol cartridges, though that's a distinction i hate to encourage
A few thoughts on an eventual display system:
- I'd like it to be open-ended; that is, if I acquire a new cartridge logically intermediate between two already there, I'd like to be able to swap in the new one without creating visual inconsistency
- wall-mountable would be nice, but another way might be in the drawers of a flat filing system. Anyone who's been the Muetter museum in Philadelphia may have seen the collection of (recovered) swallowed objects, which includes a number of bullets and shell cases -- I think that category gets its own drawer, in fact.
- being able to easily remove particular examples for comparison (which is one reason I'd like such a display in the first place) would be good.
- space for labels is important -- I like complete descriptions, incl. source of the example, etc.
One idea that just struck me would be to put a ferrous insert into each cartridge, and use a magnetic backboard to hold each in place; I know some metals corrode when placed next to each other; would I cause discolored brass if I put steel bits into brass cases?
So: anyone out there with an ammo showcase / display from which I could draw inspiration? (Whether homemade or commercially produced -- I'd love to find some old promotional case displays at a yard sale, but the smart ones have all realized they'll do better on eBay than I can afford to pay.)
timothy
]After my most recent trip to both the handgun range (a windfall of brass, incl. some strange things like 30-30, which I think was being fired by a fellow with a T/C Contender) and the adjacent rifle range (not much brass at all! Or maybe it all went wherever did most of the ejected brass from my Saiga ...), I've started a "one-of" (or actually, "two-of") box, in which I will put at least two exemplars (if I even have two) of every case type (or, more rarely, bullet type) I encounter. From either finding or being given them, besides the calibers I actually have shot, I have just a few 357 sigs, a lone 9mm Makarov shell (sheesh! too close to a 9mm Luger / Parabellum / NATO / whatever for my comfort -- took me a while to spot it in with the 9mm Luger!), one giganto bullet from a 50BMG, etc. And there are many very common calibers which I don't personally shoot, but for which I have found just a few cases, like .32, .380, and the 30-30 I just mentioned.
The reasons I'm keeping a box like that is to keep a "working" sample for comparison ("What the heck kind of case is this? I know I've got one of these somewhere in here ...") and for a personal (miniature) museum-style display, for historical / curiosity reasons. I don't intend (currently, at least) to collect ammo for the same of collecting -- if people want to seek the ammunition equivalent of the holy grail, that's fine, but right now I'm just thinking of neat things I've bumped into. And besides, ammunition can be very aesthetically pleasing -- it's shiny, after all.
I've seen some promotional displays created by companies like Hornady which show off cases or bullet types, and I'd like one day to create something along those lines -- not sure of exactly how to organize 'em, but that's one of the reasons I'm posting this.
Could be by "size" (length? diameter? powder capacity? weight?), year introduced, or some other factor.
Maybe I will separate (conventionally) rifle cartridges from (conventionally) pistol cartridges, though that's a distinction i hate to encourage
A few thoughts on an eventual display system:
- I'd like it to be open-ended; that is, if I acquire a new cartridge logically intermediate between two already there, I'd like to be able to swap in the new one without creating visual inconsistency
- wall-mountable would be nice, but another way might be in the drawers of a flat filing system. Anyone who's been the Muetter museum in Philadelphia may have seen the collection of (recovered) swallowed objects, which includes a number of bullets and shell cases -- I think that category gets its own drawer, in fact.
- being able to easily remove particular examples for comparison (which is one reason I'd like such a display in the first place) would be good.
- space for labels is important -- I like complete descriptions, incl. source of the example, etc.
One idea that just struck me would be to put a ferrous insert into each cartridge, and use a magnetic backboard to hold each in place; I know some metals corrode when placed next to each other; would I cause discolored brass if I put steel bits into brass cases?
So: anyone out there with an ammo showcase / display from which I could draw inspiration? (Whether homemade or commercially produced -- I'd love to find some old promotional case displays at a yard sale, but the smart ones have all realized they'll do better on eBay than I can afford to pay.)
timothy
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