Won A Powder Auction. What To do With Reloaded 12g

[jonp]

I won an auction and for $90 i got the following:
4 lbs Hercules Unique
1 lb Herc Unique opened
1 lb Blue Dot
1lb 4227
1 lb 4895 opened
About 50 12g
About 50 reloaded 12g

I know what to do with the powder but have never messed with reloaded 12g. Should there be any pressure issues with these or should i treat them like "gifted" pistol or rifle reloads of unknown origin

[sundog]

If it were me, I would NOT shoot those 12g reloads. Recover components and reload if possible with YOUR known good load.

Those opened containers of powder are also suspect. Not worth the risk.

Added: I hit a good deal recently that was part of an estate, all funds going to the widow. Gave a fair price, but nowhere near current retail for powder and primers. I got to be the 'blind pig' that day, and everyone seemed happen with the transaction. Good deals are becoming more rare everyday.

[super6]

I, At least would take one down to see what is in em.

[deltaenterprizes]

Recover the components only! I do not shoot others reloads!

[pertnear]

Recover the components only! I do not shoot others reloads!

+1
Good advice!

[schutzen-jager]

recover shot , + primed cases if type you use , try to identify wads + discard powder or use as fertilizer - usually over 1 pound of shot in each 25 rds. -

[Geezer in NH]

Yep recover shot and primers from the reloaded 12's. Dump the powder and the open unique as who knows what it really is.

[Milky Duck]

rabbit loads from a good solid break open gun...it would have to be a horrendously over loaded or incorrectly loaded round to kill a bakail...
by all means pull a few apart to see what you can see.... as for your powders...get some of the same type that you KNOW is correct and do every test you can think of to make sure its the same stuff... weight by volume...length/size/color of granuals blowing up a rifle with wrong powder is a traumatic experience I wouldnt like to repeat...but my Scottish blood hates to see wastage.

[Winger Ed.]

There's a site called 'National Center for Forensic Science' It shows pictures and descriptions of different powders for a comparison.
It looks like a data base law enforcement uses for criminal investigations.

I'd check the opened Unique against the unopened one. If it looks and smells OK, I'd use it in light loads.
That may be what's in the shot gun shells too. Compared to everything else, the apearance of Unique is pretty distinctive.

Just be careful so you don't shoot your eye out kid.

[MrWolf]

If it were me, I would NOT shoot those 12g reloads. Recover components and reload if possible with YOUR known good load.

Those opened containers of powder are also suspect. Not worth the risk.

Added: I hit a good deal recently that was part of an estate, all funds going to the widow. Gave a fair price, but nowhere near current retail for powder and primers. I got to be the 'blind pig' that day, and everyone seemed happen with the transaction. Good deals are becoming more rare everyday.

This. Don't take a chance on them. I have an old MEC that my brother butchered up and I used it to deprime shells. Worked great and never had one go off. I would have no probs depriming 50. Better safe than sorry.

[jonp]

Never broke down a shotgun shell and have no shotgun press. How is it done? Just pry open the top and dump?

[Baltimoreed]

Use a box cutter to carefully cut the top off. Do this over something to catch the shot. Pull out the wad with needlenose pliers, dump the powder and fertilize the yard, save the hull. Find a fellow sg shooter to sell the shot and primers to. He might be able to use the wads. Not hard, I’ve done a bunch of them. Don’t cut yourself.

[MT Gianni]

As far as the opened powders, one option is to verify what it looks like by comparison to other powders. With Unique you are in good shape as there are few flake rifle powders. Dump it all out in a dry container. Does it look uniform? Is there other powder mixed with it? [I shot pull down military powder for many years and knew there was stuff in it that seemed out of ordinary. It still shot to specs.] Compare it to the slowest flake powder you can find in a manual. Check the start loads for each in a 38 special. Load some and advance to midrange wiwth a common bullet. Chrono each shot string and compare both velocities and extreme spreads. See if it tracks like Unique.
With 4895 you are on your own as there are so many other similar comparisons.

[jsizemore]

Never broke down a shotgun shell and have no shotgun press. How is it done? Just pry open the top and dump?

#1 unfold the folds. have some needle nose pliers to remove the wad. #2 cut off at the fold and keep the pliers handy. #3 use pliers type pvc pipe cutter closed just enough to cut through the hull about half way down the hull. If you have modern wad or built up wad (felt,cork,paper) it's easy to get out and not scatter all over the place. The up side to this, even if you did destroy the hull for future use, is you get to examine the base wad close up. Some base wads will break down or were reloading after being wet and are subject to coming apart close to your face when ignited. I guess you can see I prefer method #3.

[bedbugbilly]

If my calculations are correct - you ended up with 7 lbs. of unopened powder? At $90 for the lot, that comes out to $12.87 a pound for some very usable powder - and for what powders are now running - that's a great deal in itself! Congrats!

As far as the 12 gauge - I also agree that it would be best to break them down and save the components - if you don't reload 12 ga. - recover the shot, wads, whatever and put it up for sale here and recover a little o your $90.

It may be perfectly fine, but, who knows? Like so many others, I never shoot what I didn't reload myself. If I read your post right, you're talking what? 50 loaded shells - 2 boxes - it isn't worth the risk of damaging your shotgun -or you.

I can remember,ber many, many years ago when I was a kid, we had a fellow in town who hunted with a double 12 - he worked as a butcher. He had come up with some "cheap" reloads somewhere and thought he got a "bargain" - and he knew nothing about them. The first time he went out duck hunting, he was going to use them and on the first shot with the reloads, he blew the side of the breech on the right barrel out and split that barrel for about 5 or 6 inches. He had the shotgun at the butcher shop and news of it got arounds pretty qu9ckly - fortunately, he wasn't hurt but it scared him enough that I'm sure he had to change his britches. I stopped in and he showed it to me and it's something that I have always remembered.

[jonp]

It may be perfectly fine, but, who knows? Like so many others, I never shoot what I didn't reload myself. If I read your post right, you're talking what? 50 loaded shells - 2 boxes - it isn't worth the risk of damaging your shotgun -or you.

Yeah, they aren't many but I hate to see good stuff go to waste. There was powder in the lot, I got a great deal, but no reloading gear and the powder is old cardboard Hercules Unique still with $11.87 stickers on them so I think the guy reloaded at one time but sold off his gear and kept the powder in the garage. No sign of water damage to the bottles so it was kept dry. Even the opened powder looks and smells fine.

I have several bags of shot from a previous auction got at a good price but no hulls so I might just take them apart and get a Lee Reloader 12g and set to work. I've got "some" Unique to work with along with "some" Promo.

[HangFireW8]

Never broke down a shotgun shell and have no shotgun press. How is it done? Just pry open the top and dump?

It's easy if you don't care about saving the wad and the shell. As BaltimoreEd says, get a box cutter. Cut a ring near the top, dump out the shot. Pull out the wad, dump out the powder. The 209 primer is easy to drive out with a rod over open vise jaws, you can use them for muzzleloader primers.

Old-school overshot cards and roll crimps are not hard to unravel. Old-school felt wads can be pulled out with a wood screw.

Saving both a modern plastic wad and shell is hard. Wads are often compressed and don't come out easy past the crimp line. A 6 or 8 point crimp is not too hard to get apart a little using an awl and dump the shot, but is a pain to unravel enough to get the wad out without mutilating it. Saving the wad while sacrificing the shell is not too hard, it just requires careful cutting.

Shotshell reloaders use a "shell reconditioner" to open up the crimps, it's basically a shallow cone on a rod, you spin it in the shell mouth until fricition warms it up and the crimp relaxes... but you'd have to do that over live powder, and without chewing up the wad petal ends (assuming a typical plastic wad). If the shells are worth saving and you don't care about the wads, it's not too hard.

[Larry Gibson]

Good deal on the powder you got, well worth more than the $90.

We are all free (so far anyways) to do as we want. I do shoot others reloads, shotgun shells and rifle/handgun cartridges. I have done so for many years both for my own use that I've obtained in estate sales and or "deals". I also pressure test loads, including others reloads. I pick one or two rounds and pull them down to see what the load is and if it matches what it is supposed to be. If the powder appears to be what it is supposed to be and the charge weight is consistent with the bullet weight, then I shoot/test them. If the rifle/pistol cartridge load is questionable I pull them down and discard the powder but utilize the other components.

As to the 12 ga reloads, pulling down 50 rounds of shotshells would be a real PITA to me. I would select a couple shells, open the crimp and determine the size of shot and the weight of the shot. That would give me a good indication whether the load would be a target or hunting load. I would then pull the wads. If a plastic wad it can easily be pulled with needle nose pliers. If fiber wad, then I cut the shell below the wad to empty and weight the powder charge. Again, if the powder charge is of a type commensurate with the type of load it should be and of a proper weight for the weight of shot, I go ahead and test fire a couple.

That's what I do. However, again, the choice is yours.

[Finster101]

I would shoot them if they look good. It amazes me how so many reloaders on here think every other reloader must be careless idiots.

[HWooldridge]

I would shoot them if they look good. It amazes me how so many reloaders on here think every other reloader must be careless idiots.

Agreed - don't be reckless and assume everything is hunky-dory but don't go off the deep end and assume everyone else is either malicious or a knucklehead.

I would certainly take down one shotgun shell and inspect the contents. Weigh the charge and inspect the powder - perhaps you can get close to something standard in a loading manual, weigh the shot, look at the general craftmanship of the reloads - then act in a responsible way. Most shotgunners I know who reload don't go off the tracks unless they are trying for a specialty load.

I bought some reloaded 12 gauge shells and powder out of an estate sale for next to nothing - all of the canisters except one had been opened. I inspected all of the powders and didn't see anything obviously amiss, so I proceeded with caution. I also cut down one shell then weighed and inspected the charge - it looked like 700-X and there was an open container of 700-X in the collection. The charge also weighed close to a standard MEC bushing for 700-X; the shot was 7.5 and weighed close to 1 ounce. The wad looked like a Winchester WAA12SL and the hull was an 8 point crimp AA shell.

If it walks like a duck...

[farmbif]

I agree with those that say open up a shell and see whats in there. odds are that they are perfectly good too use. just as with the powder . dump a little out and compare it to known powder and if it looks good give it a try. I got to believe that knuckle heads that think they are ballistic engineers are few and far between among reloaders. most of us treasure our eyes, digits and life and stick to trusted sources of load data. yes there are those exceptions that are after YouTube and tic Tok viewers that wander into insanity.

[jonp]

Ok, on further looking at the shells the ones I thought were reloaded are all factory. Some are just old Peters and others. Some are slugs.

So, for $90 I got:
4 lbs Unique, unopened
1lb Unique, opened
1lb Blue Dot, opened
1lb H110, opened
1lb 4227, opened but appears full
1lb 4350, opened but appears full
120 Factory 12g with 8-10 rifled slugs
1 bag of what looks like steel buckshot balls without measuring I'd say 000.

[ascast]

nice catch !

[KCSO]

I would not shoot anyone elses reloads unless I trusted them with my life. Scrap them for the shot.

[Geezer in NH]

I shot trap with a guy who blew up two sets of Kriegoff O/U barrels. He liked hotter loads so he used a bigger bushing but he did not have a scale. Twice!!! BOOM!! no way would I shoot his loads or anyone elses for that matter.

[jonp]

I shot trap with a guy who blew up two sets of Kriegoff O/U barrels. He liked hotter loads so he used a bigger bushing but he did not have a scale. Twice!!! BOOM!! no way would I shoot his loads or anyone elses for that matter.

When I win that 1.5 Billion Powerball I'll blow barrels off a Kriegoff and not worry about it. Until then, once would be enough

[Thin Man]

The shop where I work routinely takes in ammo from estates. The only loads I will fire are rimfire, if they are clean and not damaged. All others get broken down. Just recently I cut down some old, dirty shotshells (both factory and handloaded) just to reclaim the lead. Wound up with 9 pounds soon to be melted and re-poured.