Whew!!

[sm]

Subtitled: Them suckers multiplied, but we did it !

I used to compete and therefore "accumulated" a few shotshells hulls. When I moved I didn't have a place to store these hulls, so a good friend whom was still competiting said "bring them over". Umm, he figured I had a "few", his wife learned a new definition of "few.

Add the hulls he has "accumulated", 4 more reloaders...some shotguns "followed" him home...

So the new house is finished, they have been living in a townhouse, and the people that bought the old house are from out of town. They had no problem is "some Items were in garage for storage".

The new house is ready, they have been moving in and getting things settled kinda slow and easy. This new house has a 4 car garage...actually 5, but it is really not going to used for that.

The only items left in the old house are the " accumulated" hulls. His wife decides to leave us boys to our task.

So before we tackle this task an old friend is in town whom we used to shoot with, he has his "kids", well they used to be. That skinny girl with braces has umm ...err...grown up real well. The younger sister is coming right along...dad just needs to shoot any young man that comes to the door...the young men are not going to tripping and drooling just to collect for the paper...I assure you.

Well the dad doesn't compete like he once did, he has gotten into handguns, gotten rid of the shotshell reloading stuff when he moved.

The Girls are into shotguns big time...a deal was struck! Thankfully they are in big SUV and are returning with an empty Horse Trailer...well not empty, but no horses.

The girls upon viewing the side of pile that was mine asked If ever went home, or just lived at the range. Their dad and my friend said I probably never slept ,and shot at night...These are not the only rounds Steve has run through a shotgun.

The Girls now have 4 Ponsess Presses, and 4 Mec 9000's all 4 gauges are covered twice. Remember the "accumulated " stuff? Oh my , my buddy had a few he wanted to get rid of,the bulk were mine, I think I might be in better graces with the friends wife. The girls remember me giving lessons years ago...they now think I hung the moon. We gave them recipes and the deal is next trip up they'll bring some loaded up stuff.

My buddy kept 4 single stage presses ( one each gauge) but he doesn't go through the shells like he once did...never quite to the extent I did. Some powder, wads tossed in and the Dad is building the girls a House with a reloading room on the ranch. Gonna build their own skeet range, and later a 5 stand. Supposed to be my fault, " I had an influence". Best we can figure...of my "accumulated " hulls. Understand I /we have donated hulls numerous times to new shooters, and the like.

12 ga 80k hulls
20 ga 60k
28 ga 85k
.410 40k


Whew!!

I'd rather shoot those rounds all over again than to have check the boxes, totes, heft , load these things. Horse trailers look big, they fill up right quick.

Hey I found my once fired Peter's hulls...girls freaked! "Hey these are blue?" they said. I replied " Better load them up first, they are about to spoil...AA 's turn blue before they spoil". About 10 minutes later and whispers behind my back...Ever had two girls dump a small box of hulls on your head? I can't get by with anything it seems.

Whew!!

 

[Dave McCracken]

(Picture large older Curmudgeon with large grin)...

Thanks for the chuckle, my friend. Sounds like oneheckuvan accumulation. Did I count 12 reloaders in that?

 

[Pheonix]

Either of these girls over 21?

Dont tell my pregnate wife I just said that!!

 

[HSMITH]

Holy smokes bud, that is a SERIOUS pile of hulls!!!! I am trying to picture that, and am seeing it filling completely a 4 horse trailer.......

 

[M Jager]

Wow,
Sounds like just the girls I need to run into. Or Not, they probably shoot better than I do.
Matt

 

[sm]

Explains why when I got married the 1st time the missus freaked and why we never were able to use the garage for the cars-huh?

Wife number 2 didn't freak, she just rented a storage building from the get-go, and when we built a house, we could use the garage. She was smarter and a whole bunch more understanding.

Really sheds light why I've said I never got fussed at for bring home a new gun..."accessories" would raise eyebrows tho'.

When I started shooting Shotguns I bought shells the hulls could be reloaded, tho' I wasn't reloading. Accumulated quite a few 12 and 20 ga. Then I became serious , picked up the other 2 ga's...and well I was doing BA/UU/R before I knew Dave had a "referral" for it. I was taught to police my hulls.

I got into SGs more serious to improve hunting skills. Then one day ,based on a business I was in, that if I ever got into a "serious situation" It would most likely be close, fast and ugly, focused on SGs and handguns. My rifle skills eroded,still not great, but once pretty good. I admit it is my fault, about rifles, but my thinking still runs the same-for me. Though I don't shoot SGs like I once did, a SG still feels like an extension of me.

Yes Dave 12 reloaders. I started with and still have my Mec 700 Versamec single stage reloader. It was used and a gift from a mentor, it's sentimental. It still cranks them out, I have the stuff to convert back and forth from 12 and 20. Mec still has parts and accessories if I should ever need. I wish I had a dime for every shell that reloader ever produced.

I added 3 more single stages, then later 3 Mec 9000s, still used the single for .410 . I sold my 2 single stage ( 20 and 28) to this friend, he added the other 2 ga's ( 12 and .410) He was set. He then had a chance to buy 4 PW's , then he got a deal on 4 Mec 9000's.

So we and sometimes other fellas just got together ,picked a gauge and started cranking out shells. One can run through a pallet of shot & wads, cases of primers, and kegs powder pretty fast. When the garage(s)( mine and others) would get low and the women would get happy...well time to back the truck up again and restock, couldn't let the women get wrinkles from grinning now could we? Who said shotgunning was addictive...Not I.

Started out with the boxes copy paper comes in, then these went into the heavy waxed boxes that meat comes in, then the boxes like a washer/dryer/dishwaher comes in. Maybe that's why I really like 28 ga...12's take up "some room".

I figure I won't get fused at by Dave or anyone else If I don't compete anymore, shoot like I used to. I haven't reloaded in a bit, and may not for awhile, I have some loaded up, but if I buy a value pack at the Mom&POP or Sport's Authority that's ok. People have suggested I take up reloading, shoot more, compete that don't know me. "Yeah, your suggestions have merit".

My friend is in the same boat, we get older, we each have some other life stuff to do, he has grandbabies, he needs to spoil them. He and Missus need to take the time now they once couldn't and enjoy the new house, take in a play, maybe just sit on their butt and read a good book by the fire. People thought we were novice and nuts using single shot .410s and using a thrower on some land he had...we had a ball...even if we paid for new shells to do so. [couldn't find the 410s loaded up till we got back...funny, we didn't care]

The dad with 2 girls has the old family ranch/farm and instead of that and another job, he and his brother each run it. His Brother has 3 boys whom are getting interested in shooting. So I figure this will be a fun , educational deal when the skeet range and 5 stand gets built.

Some really good advice: never fill an empty chest freezer box full of 12 ga hulls, It seemed like a good idea at the time...a dolly kinda sorta just "grunts, makes weird creaking noises" and really just does not want to move. Maytag washer/dyer boxes are a "bit more" forgiving...but not much.

Figures were based on me buying ammo by the case and tossing the empties. Some boxes has approx # of hulls and gauge marked. The girls were curious, and used math to do the figuring. I didn't care, really didn't want to know if the truth be told, I just knew I had a bunch. I have no reason to doubt their figures. When told I felt kinda funny, mixed emotions about the memories, ( good and bad) stirred up. Maybe the reason I don't make a big deal on a lot of stuff, the reason I keep it simple, focus on basic skills.

I still don't own a sidesaddle, a light ,or any "serious" stuff on a shotgun, not planning on getting it either. I still want my blue and wood, and the kid in me enjoys a single shot, even in .410 which I know is not effective , but it's the principle and fun factor for me.

I do know for awhile I ran upwards of 25K rds a year through a 12 ga shotgun alone. I for some reason kept up with that. The other ga's were added and by that time I flat didn't care, quit counting, just a "bunch" is all I know. The girls started to figure the monies I spent on shooting...I don't even want to know. I'm not at the level I once was, I have fun when I do shoot, I don't embarass myself too bad. I even have just gone out and just watched, or helped a newbie and never fired a shot. I've been duck hunting, and just sat there and watched the ducks and the snow coming down. It's the company of friends, dogs, being out, I don't have to fire a shot to enjoy myself like I once thought I did.

Dave , do I get a pass If I just buy a value pack and chunk the hulls in the trash for a bit?.

 

[P95Carry]

HOLY **** Steve ...... those figures are mind boggling ..... and cerebral boggling is not a pretty sight!! I am really having a problem with my volumetric visualization here .... even horse trailers are not quite ''doing it''!

Talk about ''Whew''! and ''Sublime'' and ''Ridiculous''!! I am on that ''sublime'' (and pathetic) end of the scale Steve .... under a table is a big box with sub-divided (by ~# of reloads) cases .... mostly nowadays all the black 8 star Rem parallel formed .... numbering? .. well at an absolute pinch I just might make 1k of 12G. Told you it was pathetic!

Used to use Win AA red compression formed .. the ones which get such lovely soot stains with repeated use! ... Oh and, also the RP blue ones - they were Ok. Those are all history now tho.

As for reloading presses ... well .... my lil ole humble Lee LoadAll sits clamped to said table ... approaching its fourth decade of use ....... but then I am the opposite re consumption ... more like ''load up 100 shells for this weekend's 100 bird trap shoot'' .. sorta deal!

I think I would actually have to eyeball that hull collection ... to really appreciate what volume means!!!

 

[sm]

Well Chris, you know what they say "I've always been crazy, but it keeps me from going insane".

I dunno the girls did the figuring, math is not my strong suit. Heck I probably damaged those brains cells in recoil over the years. I'm not really sensitive to recoil either.

Chris take a box a 6' chest freezer comes in and however it's figured , it was packed tight with 12 ga hulls, on the bottom were copy paper boxes full , others just dumped on top.

Just a sea of hulls is all I saw. My back, shoulders...heck I feel it today. I still smell like plastic, cardboard, and dust. Sinuses are having a fit.

Yeah, I've shot a shotgun a few times my friend...

Gone through a divorce, and been know to burn shotshells, run out, get two bricks of 22 lr, and go shoot that all up...just didn't want to be around anyone, didn't want to come home.

I still get called Desperado by some, that song reminds people of me for some reason... One spl lady ( we won't go there) cannot hear that song...to this day- she still can't listen to it, she has to turn it off.

 

[Dave McCracken]

I'm impressed. This might be the most extreme example of BA/UU/R I know of.

Re the Versamec, if this 600 holds up the same way the McC tribe will NEVER need to buy another reloader.

 

[Correia]

That is a lot of hulls!