Used Reloading Equipment - What is it worth?

[TheEngineer916]

Long story short, I picked this stuff up from the father of a coworker/friend. He was reloading from 1991 through 2001, this stuff has been sitting in boxes in his garage since then. I still owe him for everything but neither he nor I know what it's fair market value is. If anyone can give me some realistic numbers I would greatly appreciate it.

All equipment except the Dillon press in the last photo are in the condition you would except after 10 years of use, and 10s of thousands of rounds processed.

Tumblers:





Scales:




Lee Production Pots (2 of these in similar condition)

[TheEngineer916]

Bullet Molds:

Lee Auto Prime:


Single Stage Presses, (receipts for the Lee Presses show he paid $14.95 for them in 1991):


Used Dillon Square Deal B:


New Dillon Square Deal B:

[bzzz]

Pics are not displaying.

[TheEngineer916]

Pics are not displaying.

How about now?

[CSACANNONEER]

As a cheap SOB I would pay $500 or so knowing I could piece it out for about $800 in less than a day. Where are all the dies?

[stilly]

Wow just wow man...



Here is how I would handle it.

Reloading Father of Friend: Hey Stilly you wanna buy this stuff? It has mostly been in use between 1991 and 2001!
Stilly: Mebbe, what are you asking for it?
Reloading Father of Friend: I dunno, How about $1000?
Stilly: Wow, but some of it is BLUE and the rest is WORN...
Reloading Father of Friend: Okay so then $1500
Stilly: MEH! How about more like you pay ME $1200 to take it off your hands...
Reloading Father of Friend: Can't do it, I gotta be able to buy cigarettes and pay for my obamacare.
Stilly: Then how about $600 and a date with your daughter?
Reloading Father of Friend: I don't have a daughter.
Stilly: Then how about a date with your son? and $500 now.
Reloading Father of Friend: Okay, but only dinner...
Stilly: How about an overnighter? Cause I like to be a chatty cathy sometimes...
Reloading Father of Friend: I was thinking maybe durring the day.
Stilly: how you expect me to get dinner and all durring the day?
Reloading Father of Friend: Sorry, I forgot, what r we talking about?
I was gonna give you money for this stuff and a date with your son.
Reloading Father of Friend: Oh yeah, okay.
NSA: WE GOTS YOU! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!
Chris Hansen: Come on guys, we did not even get the cookies out yet.
Reloading Father of Friend: Oh damn! not again, RUN!
Stilly: But I just wanted some cookies... And something blue to shoot at... Dammit! RESPEK MAH AUTHORITAH!
Jenny: RUN FORES- ERR STILLY!
Stilly: F-that. I am going out gangnam style in a blaze of glory and hail of bullets!
Stilly: on second thought. Damn, I painted myself into a corner here.
Stilly: Maybe someone will come by and delete this thread and then I can make my get-away...
[To be continued...]

Bam, so that is how you get it done.

Offer $500 and then do not come here and sell it off to us or I will get mad and stammer on and stomp mah feet at your ignorance of reloaders and misconception of what this forum is about...

Please? Now thank you...

[XDRoX]

I agree. If it's a buddy give him $500 and enjoy your new stuff.

[foxtrotuniformlima]

Do a search on ebay & gunbroker for completed auctions.

[TheEngineer916]

As a cheap SOB I would pay $500 or so knowing I could piece it out for about $800 in less than a day. Where are all the dies?

I didn't post pics since I haven't found all of the dies yet. There are boxes for RCBS 3 die carbide sets for 9mm, 45acp, and .357mag/.38spec. Lee boxes for 3 die sets in .45acp and .357mag/.38spec. And finally Dillon sets: two 9mm and one .45acp.

He also gave me hundreds of lbs of brass and hundreds of pounds of lead but didn't ask to be paid for them.

[krwada]

Prices for this stuff

Here are what I have seen at the vendors who do the estate sale stuff at the gunshows:

$40 Ultravibe tumbler
$45 RCBS tumbler
$85 RCBS 5-0-5 scale
$40 Dillon electronic scale
$50 Lee Production Pot IV
$20x6 Lee bullet molds
$15 Lee Autoprime
$15x2 Lee Reloader press
$40x2 RCBS Partner press
$250 Dillon Square Deal B
$300 Dillon Square Deal B, (new)

GRAND TOTAL = $1055

There is a lot of good stuff there.

Where are the dies?
Also, I do not see a powder throw.
Nor do I see a trimmer with all the accessories
The previous owner may not have had a trimmer. From the looks of everything ... it appears that he mostly loaded handgun ammo.

[TheEngineer916]

Wow just wow

Thanks for nothing.

I haven't done much reading around this sub forum since I just started becoming interested in reloading. I hope not everyone in the calguns reloading forum treats newbies this way. If we are not here to learn from or teach each other then what is the point?

I mentioned to my friend that I was reading a reloading manual and looking to get started. It was just a coincidence that her father was a competition shooter and an avid reloader. He invited me to visit and after a long conversation I left with everything he had stored in his garage. He is nearing 90 and hasn't reloaded in over a decade. We didn't agree on a price because he hasn't been involved in the hobby for a long time and I am a newcomer. I am not looking for the value of the equipment to turn around and sell it. It is mine now. I will use what is functioning and toss the rest in the garbage. I am asking what it is worth so I can pay my friends father and have a clear conscience that it was a fair deal.

[krwada]

You found a very good deal!

Thanks for nothing.

I haven't done much reading around this sub forum since I just started becoming interested in reloading. I hope not everyone in the calguns reloading forum treats newbies this way. If we are not here to learn from or teach each other then what is the point?

I mentioned to my friend that I was reading a reloading manual and looking to get started. It was just a coincidence that her father was a competition shooter and an avid reloader. He invited me to visit and after a long conversation I left with everything he had stored in his garage. He is nearing 90 and hasn't reloaded in over a decade. We didn't agree on a price because he hasn't been involved in the hobby for a long time and I am a newcomer. I am not looking for the value of the equipment to turn around and sell it. It is mine now. I will use what is functioning and toss the rest in the garbage. I am asking what it is worth so I can pay my friends father and have a clear conscience that it was a fair deal.

It is my belief that your friend's father will be way more than pleased to see a young person get fully into the reloading hobby!

Now, you know the rough used prices for the stuff ... maybe it would be good to just ask how much he would want for everything.

You did good.

Now ... go build that bench and start reloading!

[stilly]

Thanks for nothing.

I haven't done much reading around this sub forum since I just started becoming interested in reloading. I hope not everyone in the calguns reloading forum treats newbies this way. If we are not here to learn from or teach each other then what is the point?

I mentioned to my friend that I was reading a reloading manual and looking to get started. It was just a coincidence that her father was a competition shooter and an avid reloader. He invited me to visit and after a long conversation I left with everything he had stored in his garage. He is nearing 90 and hasn't reloaded in over a decade. We didn't agree on a price because he hasn't been involved in the hobby for a long time and I am a newcomer. I am not looking for the value of the equipment to turn around and sell it. It is mine now. I will use what is functioning and toss the rest in the garbage. I am asking what it is worth so I can pay my friends father and have a clear conscience that it was a fair deal.

Oh the OT tendencies are strong within this one...

And from this side of the fence we see people come in here time and time again and plop their wares down in front of us and ask to be spoonfed prices so they can turn around and sell it here or elsewhere. Or they cleverly say things like they do not need this (knowing it will generate interest so they can sell it off).

Some people don't mind being price check *****es and they will gladly go and do your homework. Others will tell you HOW to do your homework so that they have helped you enough in their mind and hopefully you take a hint and move on. Others will tell you bluntly that they do not like it when people come in here and do what you did.

In a way it all balances out, but if EVERYONE did what you wanted, then there would be more and more people in here asking us to do their homework and price check their stuff. Then that would bog down discussions and there would be a lot more discussions about what something is worth (that benefits one person really) instead of more discussions about what things do or loads or PC or whatever else we like to talk about (when we aint being price check *****es) and THAT benefits EVERYONE so excuse me for implying that you are selfish.

I told you what you wanted to hear, just not exactly like you wanted to hear it and you get all pissy... Lighten up, learn some etiquette and please do not show up in another week or two trying to sell it off... PLEASE. If you offered $500 for it all and he accepted would you feel happy? What if you found out that the prices that we told you were so off and you overpaid him for all of the stuff? What then? That is why you shoot your OWN reloads and you do your OWN homework. (okay it is getting a bit thick, I gotta go to bed now)
Thank you.

I have said please and thank you now TWICE.

The only thing you have going for your story is that you have not posted in the marketplace yet but you DO spend some time in OT... But then again, jr members will tend to, yeah anyways...

[CGT80]

OP, don't mind Stilly. He is right about some people using this forum just to sell their stuff and they tend to not even bother reading the rules for the web site. And yes, others seem to not be capable of doing some research either. Stilly is a good guy in person and a character on the forum. I think maybe he mixed too much sugar with his alcohol, or who knows what. He does have a knack for coming up with some crazy stories, that I just don't have the imagination to be able to write. He means well.

Brass could be scrapped for around $2 per pound, last time I took some in. It usually sells for more to reloaders if it is once fired brass. Range lead goes for a buck a pound and sometimes includes shipping. Wheel weights are a little more valuable if they are lead and printing such as linotype is worth even more. You have a good amount of value right there.

Lee molds are the low end of quality and run $20+ each when new. They can make some good boolits. The 20 pound lee lead pots run for around $65, new. Your pots are not as desirable and are not new, but they are still a great way to start out. I am a Dillon fan. Blue presses don't come down much in value from new prices. They are very well built and have a real "No BS Warranty." RCBS products are usually great. Lee products can vary, but I have a number of them.

$500 would probably be a heck of a deal for you. Like others said, the owner may care more about passing his stuff on to a person who will value it and use it. Midway USA is a good web site to find new prices and to buy from if you need gear down the road. That stuff all looks good. If you don't use it, there are probably others who would buy or trade it. It doesn't look like you would have to throw anything away. What is the gear worth to you and how are your finances? You might spend 1-2k dollar to buy all that stuff new (wild guess) but it is mostly used and you still want a deal to take it all and not leave him to piece it out. I wouldn't feel right in offering any less than $500, maybe up to $1000 at most if it really adds up.

I came across a similar deal but I paid $2500. It was two pickups filled way over the sides of the beds. It include a dillon 550 and 15 tool heads, 7 or 8 powder throwers, 10 conversion kits, buckets full of brass, 3 tumblers, 20 die sets, a custom built 8' reloading bench with 12 filing cabinet size drawers, a shelving unit made of oak to match the oak bench, etc. He decided to get out of shooting and focus on country music singing. He was a LEO. It was a lot of money, but he had added up all the new prices from researching the various suppliers. I couldn't pass up the deal and he let me pay 50% or so and make payments on the rest.

[Pauliedad]

To the OP,
I would look at this thread this way.....
Overall, you got some great information and insight too.

Considering the time it takes to acquire all that stuff including components, I would be generous. Value the components as well.

Stilly provides balance to the force and will take a lot of his time to share his experience with others here so I would take his response in stride.

This is a great place to find specific answers to your questions as you start to reload. I read three manuals, watched countless YouTube vids, and when I started, used Google for specific questions. That led me here and I was amazed at how the fellas here will help a new guy out. Don't look to be spoon fed. Read and do your part. Once you've done that, then bring your semi informed questions here and you will find out how awesome this community can be.
Don't be in a rush to cast as just learning to reload takes up time. You can save the casting gear for later. Use purchased projectiles for a while.
Good luck and have fun.