Swap Meet Question

[Jon K]

If you know who made the reload, and if you trust that person with your eyes, hands and arms, then go ahead. If the above does not apply don't shoot other folks reloads.

Tim,

Sad to say, but in this case the guy shooting, did trust the reloader ultimately.........his Dad did the reloading.....................

Jon

[Jim]

Many years ago, A shooter found a box of what appeared to be factory .30-06 loads left on the table at a public range. He promptly loaded one up, pulled the trigger and put himself in the ER and his rifle in the dumpster. They were booby traps left by some psycho. The cases were full of high speed pistol powder.
I'm not suggesting that all home grown ammo is booby trapped. I'm suggesting if YOU didn't loaded, you don't know what's in it. I don't drink home grown whiskey for the same reason.

[357maximum]

You can be safe a thousand times, you can only be dead once.

[Bent Ramrod]

I'm late to this party, but must add my own tuppence. A friend had obtained a rather nice .44-40 92 Winchester back when these were anachronisms and the ammo was extremely hard to find. He found some reloads at the gun show and we repaired out to the desert to shoot them.

The first shot was kind of a ("poomp!") and when the action was opened, the shell popped with extreme vigor out of the breech along with a cloud of Cream of Wheat. The jacketed bullet was stuck in the barrel just ahead of the chamber. that ended the shooting session.

My friend broke down the rest of the loads and we surmised that the loader had read all the stuff about small powder charges in large cases needing some kind of filler to keep them next to the primer. He had dutifully added Cream of Wheat to the top of the powder and seated the bullet. Unfortunately, he had not added enough Cream of Wheat to fill the space in the case and after a little jiggling and transporting back and forth, the powder charge was nicely diluted with cereal, with a guaranteed misfire in every round.

My own essay was some .22 Hornet ammo that I only surmised must have been reloaded when I couldn't get any of it to chamber. It was also broken down for components, which shot quite nicely when I reloaded them.

These incidents generated Rule #1: Don't shoot anybody else's reloads.

Corollary #1: Be extremely wary and suspicious of your OWN reloads and always pay good attention to your own loading practices.

(Sermon over; we will now pass the collection plate...)

[mroliver77]

I dont find much anything at gunshows I cannot buy cheaper at a shop or mail order these days. I would pulldown any unknown loads for components. I remove and save good primers for use in gallery loads in the shop. I have never popped one removing it and have done quite a few. I do wear real safety glasses when working at the reloading bench.J

[JSnover]

I would be wary of any communist Bloc ammunition , I have seen several at the range saving a few dollars , get high pressures and rupture cases ..

Also know of one guy who bought an 8# keg of what was supposed to be rifle powder for around $25 , from a guy walking around the gun show trying to sell it ..

He went home , loaded some ammo and first shot at the range trashed a good rifle with what was apparently , in reality , pistol powder ..

Even it was "known safe" a lot of that stuff is made with corrosive propellants. This is a fact; the Chinese front line infantry rifle fires a 5.8x42 cartridge made with corrosive primer and propellant (Cartridges of the World, 11th ed.).

[NSP64]

only shot someone else's reloads 1 time the 4th bullet out of my smith 686 6" stuck 1/4" from the muzzle. What a PIA to pound that jacketed bullet 5 3/4" backwards. NUMQUAM!

[JSnover]

only shot someone else's reloads 1 time the 4th bullet out of my smith 686 6" stuck 1/4" from the muzzle. What a PIA to pound that jacketed bullet 5 3/4" backwards. NUMQUAM!

One of the first things I learned when I first started reloading was how to stick bullets in the bore by loading too light. The next thing I learned was to bring a couple of sized and primed cases to the range, just in case. On two occasions I was able to use these to blow a stuck bullet out. Works like a dream. After that I learned a few more things and have never had that problem again.
Sure beats the hell outta beating the bullets out.

[Wayne Smith]

I remove and save good primers for use in gallery loads in the shop. I have never popped one removing it and have done quite a few. I do wear real safety glasses when working at the reloading bench.J

I've never had one pop while removing it, but I have had a few refuse to go bang once loaded again. Now I simply deaden and toss removed primers.

[omgb]

I don't shoot anything I haven't bought from a reputable manufacturer or loaded myself. I do on occasion, get other's reloads and when I do, I pull them down for cases and slugs. The powder goes on the lawn.

I also buy ChiCom and Ruskie Milsurp ammo by the case for my Nagant. I pull these down, dump the powder and reload. It is the only way to be sure these go bang. Especially that CZ stuff.

[mooman76]

I used to before I started reloading and learned how bad things can get. I also picked up reloads not knowing. They package them up almost like factory and I figured they were just bulk ammo they containerized to make a profit because they usually don't specify. Also a friend shot some and lodged a round in his barrel. They acted like it was no big deal, happens all the time. He kicked up a fuss and they gave him a free box to make up for it!

[cbrick]

About 5 or 6 years ago at our range one of our elderly shooters shooters showed up with a rather nice rifle and a box of ammo. This shooter is well known at our range and has been a handloader for about the same time I've been around (that's 59 years). He's never had any type of problem and no one thought anything about it when he went to the firing line.

The rifle literally exploded on the very first round. He was holding the forend with his left hand between the middle fingers and it split his hand almost to the wrist. Pretty ugle. Just to give you an idea of how hard and how fast the rifle came apart, I was about 20 feet away and a piece of the stock hit me in the leg hard enough to cause a bruise from the hip to knee.

Waiting for the ambulance he said he had bought a box of reloads at the gun show. After they took him to the hospital we broke down several of the cartridges. They were triplex charges??? Three very different powders in each case. That's not easy to do by accident and one has to assume it was intentional.

This is a true story and anyone thinking of saving a buck on unknown ammo should consider this, it could be you next time.

Rick

[kingstrider]

This is sage advice never to shoot unknown reloads. I never even buy partially shot boxes as you just never know what you're getting.

[Duce]

If I find reload that are dirt cheap I will buy all I can get (or afford). Take them home and break them down for the components. Cheap bullets and cheap brass.

[HeavyMetal]

I have bought reloads at garage sales, usually with reloading equipment, and found some real winners in the stuff when sorted! The classic was a bunch of 270 ammo made from 06 case's that had every neck split! I could push side ways on the bullet and take it out of the case!

Same guy had a few 375 H&H rounds necked down to .22. Every round was pulled down bullets slavaged and everything else scrapped!

Buy the stuff for the case's and bullets but never shoot it!

I also deal with a reloading business here in L.A. that gets in a lot of used stuff, from estates, he sells the ammo by the pound and I buy that when I see case's, like .222 and Hornet, that are hard to come by. If the case's are empty cool, if not it's pulled!

To many people don't have a clue! If it's unknown: mark it, pull it down or throw it out!

[USARO4]

I've watched a good friend reload. No way I would shoot his loads in my gun.

[DLCTEX]

I've told this before on this forum, but it bears repeating. An acquaintence gave me some 12 ga. magnum ammo, but didn't tell me that they were his reloads until I had fired a couple. They were fired in a Win. 1300 pump and cycled the slide and very forcefully ejected the case when fired. The rest were pulled down and the powder dumped. I will not shoot another's reloads. A friend regularly loads so hot he has case separations and damages his rifle. He brags that he likes to load them hot. To me that's stupidity. DALE

[JIMinPHX]

I've bought reloaded pistol ammo twice in my life. I've had two bad experiences. I'm done with that.

[docone31]

I got a really cool Enfield for nothing because someone had bought some reloads.
He fired 19 shots. The 20th shot never left the barrel! He did not know it. If he had 21 shots, the ending might have been different.
I am one of those who check every powder charge, especially in my turret. I rigged up a small mirror to look see before the bullet goes on. I have never had an issue, but, who knows.
I have accepted other folks reloads, but I never fired them. I also pull down.
I take my risks, not someone else's. If I mess up, I pay the piper. No biggee, just my way.
I have reloaded for many years. The only squib load was factory load. Go figuire.
I have shown many people how to reload. I stress, adamantly, always check the charge! So it takes a couple of seconds extra. Might save years of sorrow.
Don't fire anyone else's reloads.
Just my way.

[OeldeWolf]

Before I started reloading, I bought some reloaded 7.65 Argentine ammo from a professional at a gun show. I also bought a couple of boxes of 7x57 marked new, in the original boxes.

The 7.65 shot poorly, and one box would not chamber. hey were al Norma brass, and appear untrimmed before being loaded. It also turned out, when I measured, that the "pro" had used .308 cal bullets. The next show, they were there again, and I miked a sample from a few boxes, told him the problem, and offered to buy them cheap for the brass. No go.

The 7x57 was not so nice.

The second magazine full, I think the 2nd round, the cartridge burst. Hot gasses flew right over the top of my forehead. The safety features on the 1895 Chilean mauser worked exactly as they werre supposed to. Thank God I was wearing safety glasses and was shooting a military Mauser. I do not like to think how a standard sporting rifle might have behaved.

I tore the rounds down later, when I first started to reload. They had been marked new, but both boxes were full of reloads. Some primers were not seated correctly, and when I popped the primers in the rifle, some had much more energetic sparks than others. That same dealer is there every show, but I buy nothing from him/them. They were not even apologetic about their rounds blowing up.