What to do with someone else's reloads?

[JRD]

Guys, I need some advice.
An older friend passed away last year. He was an avid shooter and a pack rat (as many of us are). I've spent some time along with some of his other friends trying to help his widow sort through his accumulation of gun stuff.

Guns are going to his son (who is not interested in reloading). Another long time friend got the reloading equipment. Factory loaded ammunition was sold to a local shop who's owner was also a long time friend of his.

We are now left with a big pile of reloaded ammo. Factory ammo in original packaging has resale value, as do reloading components. Once someone other than an ammo manufacturer or company combines those components into loaded rounds, you are stuck however.

How do I help his widow dispose of a large pile of reloaded ammo?. No knowlegdable shooter wants to buy another man's reloads. My friend was a careful reloader, and the reloads are probably safe to shoot, but how do you really know? Consider stuff like: Were the cases neck sized only to fit a specific rifle? How many times were the cases fired, resized, and reloaded? Were the rounds loaded out to be just off the lands in a specific rifle?

His widow is worried about liability. The gun shop declined to make her an offer on reloaded ammo.

My friend probably put thousands of hours in over the years carefully reloading ammo, but what what do you do with it now?

I've considered offering the lot as "for components only" if someone wants to spend the time with a bullet puller salvaging components.

Ideas?

[country gent]

You can spend time pulling the ammo down and ecover the components BUT you still have powder in an unmarked can, bullets that are IDed on words only no factory packaging, and cases primed with primers that are again by word only. Makes everythings value drop and harder to sell ( other than to his friends who knew and trusted him. You know what firearms they were loaded for and where they are ( his Son has probably fird his reloads before) WHy not let the ammo go with the guns. Other wise its going to be a issue for a long time dealing with it.

[BrassMagnet]

You can spend time pulling the ammo down and ecover the components BUT you still have powder in an unmarked can, bullets that are IDed on words only no factory packaging, and cases primed with primers that are again by word only. Makes everythings value drop and harder to sell ( other than to his friends who knew and trusted him. You know what firearms they were loaded for and where they are ( his Son has probably fird his reloads before) WHy not let the ammo go with the guns. Other wise its going to be a issue for a long time dealing with it.

I like this plan! Guns and Ammo! How could this go wrong? Shooting the reloads in the firearms they were loaded for is a perfect solution!

[Reg]

Got into something exactly like this a couple of years ago. We too played all the what if games but in the end. If some one who was a friend bought a gun, the ammo for that gun was just given to the new owner along with the gun with the idea they knew what they were getting and they could make the determination as to what to do with it. All other ammo was broken down for main components. Cases and heads were sold bulk, primers and powder were dumped.
Terry was a very competent reloader, almost anal in fact but the simple fact remained. They were reloads and even the most careful reloader can and will make a mistake. To error is human and like it or not we are all humans. Even if a error is not involved how many of us have made up some loads that for what ever reason we decided might be a bit too hot and we needed to take them down and start over. I have. How many of us knowing fully well what those loads were just put them aside ( unmarked ) to take down on another day. It took hours and hours to tear down all that ammo and yes, the return was in pennys on the dollar but in the end his reputation as a careful reloader was upheld as there no no chance of any error ever surfacing.



You can spend time pulling the ammo down and ecover the components BUT you still have powder in an unmarked can, bullets that are IDed on words only no factory packaging, and cases primed with primers that are again by word only. Makes everythings value drop and harder to sell ( other than to his friends who knew and trusted him. You know what firearms they were loaded for and where they are ( his Son has probably fird his reloads before) WHy not let the ammo go with the guns. Other wise its going to be a issue for a long time dealing with it.

[snowwolfe]

Break it down, or better yet, shoot it. We can all use more practice. The last thing you want to do is to sell it because of the fact it is illegal (unless your friend had a license to produce ammo) and the current liability issues.

[Blammer]

Is the reloaded ammo labeled? Meaning does it say powder charge, type of powder, bullets, primer etc... ? if so and it's not the "high end" of a reloading data info, I'd shoot it.

[KAF]

Take a random sampling, pull the bullets check the powder trying to determine what it is, weigh it, if all seems ok shoot it.
Who says that brand spanking new factory reloaded ammo is all ok? Machines can foul up.

[waltherboy4040]

Would still be money in the components depending what they are. Would probably try to sell in lots just pulling the bullets and dumping the powder.

[williamwaco]

My friend was a careful reloader, and the reloads are probably safe to shoot, but how do you really know? Consider stuff like: Were the cases neck sized only to fit a specific rifle? How many times were the cases fired, resized, and reloaded? Were the rounds loaded out to be just off the lands in a specific rifle?

I agree with the advice to never shoot another person's reloads. That is because you have no idea what they may contain.

You know this guy. He was "A friend"
You know he was competent and careful and didn't blow himself up for many years.

If he was still alive and you went to the range with him, you wouldn't hesitate to shoot his reloads.

I would keep them and shoot them.
If for some reason they will not chamber easily, I would tear those down.

[9w1911]

I would pull one or two per box, weigh charge, visual inspection with known powder equivalents, and see if it all lines up.

[BrassMagnet]

Take a random sampling, pull the bullets check the powder trying to determine what it is, weigh it, if all seems ok shoot it.
Who says that brand spanking new factory reloaded ammo is all ok? Machines can foul up.

I believe every major American ammo manufacturer has sold rifle ammo loaded with a pistol powder and had to recall dangerous ammo!

[BrassMagnet]

I agree with the advice to never shoot another person's reloads. That is because you have no idea what they may contain.

You know this guy. He was "A friend"
You know he was competent and careful and didn't blow himself up for many years.

If he was still alive and you went to the range with him, you wouldn't hesitate to shoot his reloads.

I would keep them and shoot them.
If for some reason they will not chamber easily, I would tear those down.

I agree!

[KCSO]

Two guys are walking in the woods when one of them is bit in the rear by a rattlesnake... This is when you find out how good your friends are!

I have shot other peoples reloads and most of the time I have had no reason to regret it as I knew who they were and how they loaded...but...

When a fellow I had known all my life got old, got cancer and was fading fast one of his reloads blew the bolt off a mini 14. He had put in the wrong powder by mistake. I have since gotten to where I pull the bullets on any loads I didn't see being made myself.

[sthwestvictoria]

An interesting point of reflection is that we should not shoot other peoples reloads, however if we are at the range and our friend has an interesting new rifle and offers a shoot with their reloads we generally love to have a shoot.

There is a difference perhaps that the friend is there, they have identified correct reloads for that firearm however it does not obviate some rifles like double loads, overloads or no powder! There are some people with whom I would politely decline the offer of shooting their rifle with their reloads however!

[Superfly]

Where is the ammo located and what calibers And how many rnds I may be interested in it.

[Leslie Sapp]

I recently somehow got 6 reloads of unknown provenance mixed in with a box of factory ammo I picked up at an estate sale. After the excitement, we then noticed that those six had different primers than the rest of the box.

In the process, I achieved a few new firsts:

1. First time I locked up the cylinder on my 8 3/8" S&W 27-2.

2. First time I completely separated a case head on a straightwall pistol case. (Had to tap the remainder of the case out of the cylinder with the edge of a .30 carbine case.)
3. First time I ever fired a .357 revolver at a chronographed muzzle velocity of 2050 fps!:holysheep

While these events were all interesting and stimulating, I do not want to repeat them.:smile:
There has definitely been a renewed interest around my place these last few weeks in being absolutely sure what is being fed into a firearm. :oops:

[CLAYPOOL]

Come by my house if you would like to see how strong Glock 23's really are. Friends they are VERY strong. It will make your hand hurt by the way as they expand in other directions.

[lefty o]

bullets are reuseable, break em down and trash everything else. those that say shoot them, havent gotten that bad reload form a friend or family member yet, and trust me it only takes once and you will never again touch someone elses handloads.

[Plate plinker]

Numbers hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands?

[bobthenailer]

I have run into this myself ( pull it down into usable componets ) and salvage what you can ?

Don't trust anyone reloads unless he is possibly there to converse with, theres alot of variables that could create a problem !

[historicfirearms]

I wouldn't shoot them. Do you know for sure which firearms they were loaded for? An example would be 45-70 loads for a Trapdoor or a Ruger No. 1. Vastly different power levels in each example.
The other way I look at it is like this. I'm a reloader and enjoy it. Tearing down unknown ammo and reloading it is enjoyable to me. Pulling the trigger on an unknown reload has lost its excitement as I've gotten older.

[Dan Cash]

If you knew him to be a prudent reloader, I would shoot the stuff. If it would not fit my chambers, pull it down, resize and reload it. If there is ammo for guns I don't have, get a gun to shoot it in. I have done that before when I got a good deal on a crate of .30-06 that was mostly 8mm military ammo.

[JRD]

Thanks for the advice guys. I will first see if I can match up reloads with specific guns and see if the son wants them. I don't know that he's much of a shooter, but that's the most logical place for the ammo.

Beyond that I will check out how well the boxes are labelled. I shot his reloads with him at the range before, but without him to ask anymore, you can't be as certain. (For instance, why was some ammo out in the garage on a back shelf, while most of the ammo was in a cabinet by his reloading bench? Just available storage space, or ammo he wanted to keep segregated for some reason?)

Any ammo not clearly identified will be "for components only". Several members have PM'd me asking for a list of what's available. It will be a couple weeks at least before I can get together with his widow and sort through the reloads. Anything appropriate that his son doesn't want or I can't use I may list on the Swappin & Sellin board.

[MtGun44]

I like William's advice. If you would have shot the ammo when he was alive, what
has changed now?

I have a few friends who's loads I will shoot, no qualms.

Bill