Houston Area Swap Meet - All things shooting?

[KSPony]

I'm planning on attending.
The misc. I will be bringing is more just to be rid of than make any money.
I'm trying to clear out 30yrs of being a pack rat.
Somewhere along the line I acquired an 8lb. jug of 50BMG powder. I have no recollection of why I bought this back in the day but there it sits. Taking up room. I never used it. It needs to go.

I'm with you on that Moonpie. I've been a sucker for a good sale for something I may need in the future. Most of the stuff I'm bringing is either new or barely been used. Finally got to the realization point if I'm not using it now I never will and it needs to go to someone who will.

 

[benenglish]

I've still got mine....what did you price yours at? I have an old can of Hercules 2400 I'll never use. I'd rather trade than sell stuff though. Geez now I've got to price stuff.

Well, I was trying to get rid of 32 pounds of the last production run of SR4759 which happened about a decade ago. I priced it at $400/jug (8pounds), which would be a bargain to the right people. The next time, I went to $300. I wound up selling it all for $250/jug. Both the buyer and I knew that it would sell for twice that if I were to bring it to one of the matches where that stuff is perfect for the game and has been jealously hoarded by anyone who has any. Unfortunately, I was unable to find anyone in that group. Believe me, I tried, posting this powder for sale elsewhere after I deleted my first ad here. There was no one within 500 miles who wanted it and that's how far I would have driven to deliver it. Eventually, someone hit a search engine looking for SR4759 and found my ad. He had a mutual acquaintance whose dad was going to visit him so I sold it to that guy here in Houston and he drove it to his son in Oklahoma who delivered it to the final buyer.

I know that sounds convoluted but the only way to get top price for it would be to take it to a shooting match where it's highly valued and there are none close to me. An overnight trip would eat up too much of the price so I just let it go. If you're curious, this is the ad.

That was a special case and doesn't answer your question. Let me do that.

For new powder, I was pricing at 80% of current retail. My Trail Boss was gone instantly so I guess that was a little low.

For pull-down powder, I'll probably price it at ~60% of commercial or ~80% of retail if I can find the same powder still for sale somewhere online.

I tried to sell a vibratory case cleaner, new in box, for ~50% of current retail and had no takers.

As always, it's a matter of blundering into a person who actually wants what you have. I haven't been terribly successful at that but I've sold enough to keep me going back to that swap meet.

 

[benenglish]

Finally got to the realization point if I'm not using it now I never will and it needs to go to someone who will.

Quoted for truth.

As an aside - This is much of the reason I'm where I am, in case anyone is wondering why I'm letting go of so many guns.

 

[Polkwright]

Well, I was trying to get rid of 32 pounds of the last production run of SR4759 which happened about a decade ago. I priced it at $400/jug (8pounds), which would be a bargain to the right people. The next time, I went to $300. I wound up selling it all for $250/jug. Both the buyer and I knew that it would sell for twice that if I were to bring it to one of the matches where that stuff is perfect for the game and has been jealously hoarded by anyone who has any. Unfortunately, I was unable to find anyone in that group. Believe me, I tried, posting this powder for sale elsewhere after I deleted my first ad here. There was no one within 500 miles who wanted it and that's how far I would have driven to deliver it. Eventually, someone hit a search engine looking for SR4759 and found my ad. He had a mutual acquaintance whose dad was going to visit him so I sold it to that guy here in Houston and he drove it to his son in Oklahoma who delivered it to the final buyer.

I know that sounds convoluted but the only way to get top price for it would be to take it to a shooting match where it's highly valued and there are none close to me. An overnight trip would eat up too much of the price so I just let it go. If you're curious, this is the ad.

That was a special case and doesn't answer your question. Let me do that.

For new powder, I was pricing at 80% of current retail. My Trail Boss was gone instantly so I guess that was a little low.

For pull-down powder, I'll probably price it at ~60% of commercial or ~80% of retail if I can find the same powder still for sale somewhere online.

I tried to sell a vibratory case cleaner, new in box, for ~50% of current retail and had no takers.

As always, it's a matter of blundering into a person who actually wants what you have. I haven't been terribly successful at that but I've sold enough to keep me going back to that swap meet.

I think I'll go retail on the Trail Boss! Sell it too cheap and it'll just end up getting resold. Which it may anyway. The old can of 2400 (which I checked and it's not Hercules, it's Alliant) has a hand-written 1999 date on it. That I'll mark down a bit. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Graceaction]

See you guys there.

 

[benenglish]

See you guys there.

Headed there in 10 minutes or so.

 

[benenglish]

I think I'll go retail on the Trail Boss!

Yeah, about that.

I waited until I got to the meet to actually put prices on things. I generally looked up any new items to see what they were selling for and used that as a baseline.

As I was pricing out the gunpowder, the Trail Boss shocked me. Since it's out of production, it's not available from the normal sources requiring me to look at gunbroker. For completed sales with more than one bidder, 5 pound jugs have sold for as much as $1500 and the 9 ounce cans are hovering around $200. That seemed ridiculous. I just left my Trail Boss in the truck until I could get more info.

I checked with the staff at 10Ring and they said those prices are actually what the secondary market is bringing. For example, they sell Retumbo for $100/pound just because it's basically unobtanium. For Trail Boss, the same dynamic is in play.

Hodgdon is about to reintroduce Trail Boss but the formula will be different and require heavier charges for equal velocity. There's crazy demand for the original stuff.

I think I'm going to put some Trail Boss on gunbroker as soon as I can figure out the right way for a non-FFL holder to ship gunpowder to another non-FFL holder. As you might imagine, ATF does not put that information front and center on their website.

 

[Polkwright]

Yeah, about that.

I waited until I got to the meet to actually put prices on things. I generally looked up any new items to see what they were selling for and used that as a baseline.

As I was pricing out the gunpowder, the Trail Boss shocked me. Since it's out of production, it's not available from the normal sources requiring me to look at gunbroker. For completed sales with more than one bidder, 5 pound jugs have sold for as much as $1500 and the 9 ounce cans are hovering around $200. That seemed ridiculous. I just left my Trail Boss in the truck until I could get more info.

I checked with the staff at 10Ring and they said those prices are actually what the secondary market is bringing. For example, they sell Retumbo for $100/pound just because it's basically unobtanium. For Trail Boss, the same dynamic is in play.

Hodgdon is about to reintroduce Trail Boss but the formula will be different and require heavier charges for equal velocity. There's crazy demand for the original stuff.

I think I'm going to put some Trail Boss on gunbroker as soon as I can figure out the right way for a non FFL holder to ship gunpowder to another non-FFL holder. As you might imagine, ATF does not put that information front and center on their website.

That's just stupid. At those prices the powder alone would cost $15.00/50 for my load of 6.0gr with a 215gr SWC in the .41 magnum. Throw in the rest of the components and you're looking at .50 cents a round. It's not like it's the only choice! Or even the best choice! That makes no economic sense for people who know how to reload.

There may be completed auctions at those prices but until I see a transaction in person I don't believe it. Anyway, I had a lot of lookers but nobody even asked about it. I guess they were presuming it was priced like that. One guy finally asked. He got it for retail as listed on Hodgdons site. I made one guy happy! I'm happy. I got twice what I paid for it and I don't really care for it. Not worth the effort to go through a bunch of shenanigans for a few hundred bucks....maybe.

 

[Flashcb]

Yeah, about that.

I waited until I got to the meet to actually put prices on things. I generally looked up any new items to see what they were selling for and used that as a baseline.

As I was pricing out the gunpowder, the Trail Boss shocked me. Since it's out of production, it's not available from the normal sources requiring me to look at gunbroker. For completed sales with more than one bidder, 5 pound jugs have sold for as much as $1500 and the 9 ounce cans are hovering around $200. That seemed ridiculous. I just left my Trail Boss in the truck until I could get more info.

I checked with the staff at 10Ring and they said those prices are actually what the secondary market is bringing. For example, they sell Retumbo for $100/pound just because it's basically unobtanium. For Trail Boss, the same dynamic is in play.

Hodgdon is about to reintroduce Trail Boss but the formula will be different and require heavier charges for equal velocity. There's crazy demand for the original stuff.

I think I'm going to put some Trail Boss on gunbroker as soon as I can figure out the right way for a non-FFL holder to ship gunpowder to another non-FFL holder. As you might imagine, ATF does not put that information front and center on their website.

Ben, there are a handful of Cowboy matches in the area. they would probably snatch up the Trail Boss in a hurry. if you went to one it would also be a pretty handy photography jaunt.