Speaking of buying ammo in bulk, as I did in my blog post immediately prior to this one, I guess before I go out and buy any more of it, I should do an inventory of what I have in the ammo locker. Then I suppose I should arrange it all to store newer ammo at the bottom and older ammo at the top (or something like that) so I can use up the older stiff first. (I always set it up that way but for some reason rarely seem to shoot it that way.)
I figure it will take me at least a few hours and figure those will be hours well spent. I also figure this is about the best time of the year to do an ammo inventory. It is still fairly cold outside, I am still in the winter doldrums sort of mode, there is not much going on this month, so why not spend some time counting my ammo. Sure, even though I just mentioned why I ought to do it, I a know I could think of lots of other more exciting things, maybe even some more useful ones to do but there are some practical reasons to take an annual inventory of your ammo, especially if you have a good amount of it on hand and if you shoot on a fairly regular basis. First of all, I want to know what have on hand and want to know which types of ammo I have that may be in short supply. Those in short supply will need to be supplemented by new purchases. Secondly, it is a good idea, if you have a good amount of ammo, to document what you have for insurance purposes should something go wrong and the ammo be destroyed, ruined, stolen and so forth. Thirdly I check the condition of the ammo as I inventory. (I do not check each and every round but do a spot check on ammo from different areas of the ammo locker to see if any seem to be effected by moisture.) Fourthly, I decide which ammo I have in my collection to cull from it - either to be shot up soon, or to be sold, traded or given away.
I just rearranged my ammo locker, probably not two weeks ago, and for the life of me I don't know why I didn't take an inventory while doing it. So, I imagine that I will do it this weekend. The actual inventory will consist of me taking all of my ammo out of the foot locker and ammo cans, counting how many boxes I have of each caliber, how many of each brand, how many of each type in the same caliber such as soft point versus hollow point versus FMJ or one grain weight against another and so on. Once it is all out on the floor, I will clean out the inside of the containers that held it, getting that done before actually doing the inventory so the containers have a good amount of time to dry out. I will also make sure to turn on the oven to low heat, then to place the desiccant containers into the oven, atop a sheet of aluminum foil, to dry them out to revitalize them - so to speak. Then I will turn on the dehumidifier in the basement to dry out the air. Then I will start the count. As I count, I will be writing down the inventory count and then placing the ammo back into the ammo cans and locker. I will keep stuff I intend to cull on the side, probably going into ammo cans for easy to get hold of availability. As I go along I will also take photographs of it all, this is for insurance purposes. Once everything is packed away, I will remember to turn off the oven, retrieve the desiccant and place it back into the ammo locker. Then I will lock up the ammo locker and I will think about doing the annual firearms inventory and cleaning - that job will certainly take longer - not because I have a huge arsenal of guns but because it will include a good inspection and cleaning each one of them. That could literally be an ongoing project over several days but as I said, this is a good time of year to do it. Once the weather gets nicer, I'd rather be out shooting or gardening, or fishing, or caulking my windows (yeah right), or enjoying whatever other fun things I could be doing.
All the best,
Glenn B
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