How does one 'forget' about ammo ?

[Hooda Thunkit]

I keep reading threads in various places, some fella saying something like ' ....well, I was looking under the bench, and found a case of XYZ I had forgotten about ...'

I just shake my head. How does one forget about ammo ? Especially these days with it being so dear.

Anyway, I was on a local forum, and a member there wants to trade some ammo for possibly some 22LR. I can use the ammo he has, so I went out to the bunker to look at my stock of 22LR. I know I have some over there on the shelf, and a 30cal ammo can under the shelf with some open box and oddball stuff - 22short, quiets, and whatnot.

I pull out the 30 cal can to open it, and see another can behind it. It has a label that states '22LR'. This time it's a 50 cal can. Open it up, it's full of various boxes of 22LR. Several thousand rounds.

Huh !

Then, I see ANOTHER 50 cal can under the first, and it's ALSO full of 22LR. Some Winchester, some CCI, some Golden Bullets (yeah, I know...), some Aquila.

Well.... I suppose it is possible for a young, vibrant male (in his 7th decade) to lose track of a few piddly rounds of 22.... I have plenty to trade with this other fellow.

Then, I notice another 30 cal can in the corner under the shelf, hidden by the 2 cans of 22LR. Open it up, there's 20 boxes of 20ea Norma Tactical 55gr .223 Rem in there.

400 rounds of 223 I have no recollection of buying.

Ahem.... I have nothing to say....

 

[Scooter22]

Just as easy as forgetting a gun you have tucked away in the back corner somewhere in the house. I,m guilty of both.

 

[buck460XVR]

When you have a wife like mine that feels the need to organize my stuff her way, you find lots of stuff you forgot you had. When it comes to ammo, because I shoot so much, it's hard to keep track of what I have left. Many times I'll empty the range bag of ammo cases that are 3/4ths empty and fill it with full ammo boxes. Do the same three or four times and there's a pile on the shelf in the reloading room with God knows how many rounds in them. Put 'em on the kitchen table or the shelf by the door and after the wifey puts them in a shoebox in the laundry room, it ain't till I lookin' for something else.........

 

[kcofohio]

It's really easy to do. In the good times, buy a little here and buy a little there. "I'll put it here in a drawer or in the closet", I tell myself, planning to put it with the rest when I get time. Oh, where did time go!

 

[JJFitch]

Well there ya' go!

I was one of those who found a bunch of stuff I'd forgotten about. I started reloading in the late 60's and have moved a number of times. That's how my stuff got "lost"! Changes in storage boxes and location!

Smiles,

 

[kcofohio]

Some time back I couldn't find 3 factory magazines for a couple Shields. I looked all over. Finally I broke down and ordered replacements.
Then I was going through a range bag and found them. Duh!

 

[22250Rem]

Easy indeed! I never actually inventoried all my 22LR and I began stocking up after the Obama era shortages eased up. Did a 7.62x39 inventory years ago and I should be due to revisit that because all I know is that I don't have as much as I once did but I won't run out any time soon. I'm gonna put "Ammo Inventory" on my things to do list and thanks for starting this thread and reminding me.

 

[hso]

Ahem.... I have nothing to say....

BTDT Ya, buy a case or three when its cheap and stick it somewhere out of the way and forget about it until you want to use it. Keep repeating the process of buying and stacking and pretty soon you're finding stuff in the corners, under the spiders, in the dark that you can't even remember when you bought it.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

If you are a pack rat like me it's easy to forget you have something, and going through the closets is like going on an archaeological dig.

 

[chicharrones]

I know where all my ammo is, but my problem is that I may forget where all of one cartridge type is due to multiple storage locations.

Like when I'm looking into my 7.62x39 stash and notice that I put some .22 LR in with it because of whatever reason some time in the past.

 

[EddieG54]

Sorting out several boxes of 38spl wadcutters and found a couple of boxes of 357mag. Haven't owned a 357 since early 80's. Always heard the memory was first to go. Can't remember what was second!

 

[Riomouse911]

If I forget to label the ammo cans that sit at the rear of the shelving unit I may get a bit of "Christmas in July" when I finally dig back there and crack it open. It's not often that I get to doing that, the last time was a few weeks back. I had to pull out the "forgotten ones" back there and found an entire .50 cal can full of .30-06 Garand ammo in en bloc clips. I thought I only had two of them...it turns out I had three .

I must say finding the can full of something one can use is a heck of a lot better then finding it empty .

Stay safe.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

I have never tried to remember my ammo. When I am getting low on a particular round I correct the situation and move on.

 

[WestKentucky]

I trade stuff around a bunch. It’s really easy for the “boot” items to stack up and reproduce. I don’t have a .45 but I have somehow acquired a couple boxes. They need to go to my dad. I have only ever owned 1 30-06 and only for about 2 weeks, but I have reloading dies
I vaguely recollect being thrown in on a deal at the gun shop when we were about $10 apart on making a deal and I was told to just go pick something small off the used stuff rack. That pile is what has gotten away from me. Turkey calls, various decoys, oddball ammo, random unknown holsters and mags...

 

[redneck2]

I cannot tell you within +/- 5,000 rounds how much ammo I have. I’m quite certain there are guys here that qualify for 10x that.

During the Sandy Hook shortage I had a friend that asked me where to get .22 ammo. He found high priced dibs and dabs. Went to put it away and found over 2,500 rounds he already had

 

[Grandpa Shooter]

Funny how that works. Someone asked me about some components so I went to check and decided to try and organize my supplies and finished ammo. Now I have to go buy more cans to hold what I found.

 

[NuShootr]

This is exactly the same as buying the same record or CD a few times because you have an expansive collection and forget what you have and what you don't. At least with ammo, you can actually use it, versus listening to the same CD of the same music 3 times over...yeah...ask me how i know.

 

[Dunross]

Some time back I could find 3 factory magazines for a couple Shields. I looks all over. Finally I broke down and ordered replacements.
Then I was going through a range bag and found them. Duh!

I figure I'm about to do this myself.

Inventoried all of my mags a month or so ago. I'm pretty sure I already had three Beretta 81 mags, but hang me if I could find more than two! I looked everywhere I could think of that I might have ever put a magazine several times - no dice. Finally ordered another because two mags is not enough. Those mags are not cheap! It came in on Friday. I figure the missing one
will show itself any time now.

About a year and a half ago I started a major ammunition consolidation project to get it all together so I could inventory it. Found two 30 cans of 30-06 in en bloc clips I had no recollection of buying. Along with what I knew I already had I will never have to buy any again as I rarely shoot it.

 

[CapnMac]

Was searching for something utterly unrelated and found, holding a storage bin up off the floor, four vinyl-sealed "battle packs" of 7.62nato (which may be Hirtenberger). Go figure.
Now, there's every possibility that use, as dunnage, is related to not having anything that uses 7.62nato at present.

A long time ago, I got a deal on a "tall" .50 can. It was an orphan in several ways--mostly for not fitting in anywhere. It was purposed as the "everything else" box, long ago. It can be fascinating to dig through at times. Plastic .38sp rounds; .32shorts; 7.62x25; utterly random stuff. Ammo for loaners, or things picked up with other things (do a deal for n boxes of ammo, and seller insists you take that lone box of his rando rounds, too). Bad part is, I'll find stuff that ought to be in the rando box, but isn't. Which is probably down to expediency--the box was in a range bag, which was then emptied, and the stuff wound up where it wound up.

 

[JCooperfan1911]

I have about 40K rounds of .22 saved up over the last decade since Sandy.

Enough to last me the rest of my days and enough for Jon and Cathey and their boys,

 

[Howland937]

I find random ammo I've picked up somewhere without knowing where I got it or why I put it where I eventually found it.

I did misplace a Sig P238 magazine that had me sick. I looked all through my safe, Cherokee, range bag, ammo cabinet, mama's Grand Cherokee, the couch, bedroom, then tore the house apart looking for it. Checked my travel bag from summer vacation. Went to the property where I shoot and raked leaves for 2 hours in case I dropped it.
Pretty much resigned myself to buying another and gave up.
Trying to find some take off 1911 grips I put up to give my dad a couple days ago. Got them out of the cabinet above the washer and dryer and immediately dropped them...behind the dryer. Start feeling around blindly for them and grab something rectangular, cold, and metallic. P238 mag! 7 rounds of .380! Woohoo! Got the grips back on my next grab.

 

[GBExpat]

Quite often, going thru/sorting one of the many piles of "stuff" downstairs is like Christmas for me.

On at least one occasion I remember think something like, "HEY! I have always wanted one of those!"

 

[SamT1]

The worst part is finding major stashes of ammo for guns you no longer own. I have an uncle that’s eventually going to figure out why I’m giving him 243 shells every year for Christmas.

 

[gifbohane]

Hooda-
I really hate you. Read your post and the ones from the other guys and started thinking. Always bad. Went town to my workshop and started rooting around, Came upon my boxes of dies. Found a set of Redding 9mm titanium dies that were unopened and therefore unused. I have no idea when I bought them or when I was going to change them out for my RCBS carbide dies. Maybe after a fight with the wife I did some spending therapy.....

 

[Shootrj2003]

Uh in the truck ..in the car....up in the attic...the barn I gotta and take take inventory?,!