Ammo Safety & Collectability
I have a somewhat small collection of loaded ammo. It is thrown in an old cigar box on a top shelf somewhere. There are only about 30 pieces in my "collection".
Firstly,I would say that reloaded ammo is worth virtually zip. Also, from a safety standpoint,if the origin is unknown,I would consider it somewhat a dangerous thing to have laying around. Someone could try it in their weapon and the results could be devastating. Aside from that the reloads would have no collectors value and a normally gold primer that is now silver would make me go, hmmmmmm ?? For a collection be be worth anything(even to me personally)it would have to be all original.
Also for me,I would want all completely live rounds in my collection. NO dummy loads or headspace test loads. All types of bullets would be acceptable. Even the new,modern ones. The brass would have to be somewhat clean also. Steel casings would have to have the origional lacquer coating in tact.
I have a friend that has a good collection going. He has about 120 pieces so far and has been at it for some 5 years now. He is what I call and "active" collector. He is in constant communication with other collectors trading info on where to buy and what to buy. He has several pieces of the old English/African stuff that he paid $50-$150 for. (505,577,600,etc) He also has some military experimental casings in his collection. One of the first 25MM's comes to mind.
His collection sits in a cherry box,that has multiple shelves,and back lighting. His wife will not allow him to put in the living room so it is mounted on the wall of his reloading room for his enjoyment only. ------pruhdlr