Heres what I do:
1. Have a file that lists the ID# of an item/weapon, then IDs it as an Item or a weapon
2. I have a file that lists all the weapons and their stats, along with the weapon's id#
3. same as 2, except for items
4. I have a struct that holsd a char array for the current item, an int array for what items you have, and misc stats.
Note: you can have many files open at the same time.