Others Reloads...

[cwlongshot]

I was gifted almost 250 45 Colt reloads last night @ a bon fire get together.

My friend and I (with families) get together 3-4 times thru the summer and we always bring things for the other. I usually come with cast bullets. This time he had this ammo with a story.

What on you do with RE loads that aint yours or someone you know trust?

https://youtu.be/rBhu1uEpshQ

CW

[hoodat]

If it's someone I know and trust, I shoot-em. As long as they're marked with details of the recipe and it works for my gun.

Unknown loader, load recipe, -- naahh, not gonna shoot. Break down and check at least for powder, bullet weight, etc.

I don't ever want to blame someone else for damage or destruction of me or my gun. jd

[bangerjim]

I thank them ever so kindly........................and then decline to accept them.....................due to MY personal safety concerns.

I have no problems being at the range and THEY shoot THEIR reloads in THEIR guns, but I refuse to use anybody else's reload in my hands and guns.

You did good pulling them. At least you got a bunch of good (it looks like) 45LC cases with primers! 45LC is my favorite cal to play with! And the cost and scarcity of primers and brass these daze....a nice haul. The powder will come in handy on the 4th of July for a neat fast bonfire! Melt the boolits down and recast to whatever you use. I never try to re-load cast Pb pulls as the equipment normally damages the boolit too much.

And the story you/he told would really scare me away from ever shooting them!!!!!!!!

Just my rules of the road.

And you got some nice plastic storage cases too!

banger

[georgerkahn]

Some folks go to Los Vegas; some drive their vehicles like maniacs; some (sorry here) even get married -- ALL a "gamble" As is, even, buying factory ammunition and walking outdoors where, say, a rivet came off a jet plane flying at 32,000 feet and lands straight on your noggin! Hey -- I'm pushing the buttons, say, waaaay too far -- BUT you inquired what might you do with someone else's loads...
I've been there. I bought 1,000 10mm Auto loads from a semi-professional (he loaded and sold on sly -- no licenses) at basically for just the cost of brass only -- powder, bullets, and even MTM 50-round boxes thrown in -- which he had been "stiffed on".
I had HIM write down all loading data, and I grabbed randomly five loaded rounds. I took each of these apart, with my measuring powder (my main concern) and weighing bullets (they were cast) while checking diameter and lubing.
All passed 100%, so I gave him the $$$ and got the loads.
At the range, guess what? They would not chamber in either of my two 10mm handguns! I was faced with a "What do I now do?" question, and I answered it by my sizing the fully loaded and primed cartridges -- NOT a recommended procedure! Anyhoos -- I have shot just about 1/2 of the purchase -- ~500 -- with zero problems. And, I do use the large 25-yard groups as "his crappy loading" (wink wink) great excuse for my not-so-great marksmanship .
To reiterate, I'd take a fair sampling; disassemble them paying strict attention to powder weight, bullet weight + diameter + lub. If all passes, I do recall hearing about a lady walking down the street in Manhattan where I was in my early youth, who was bopped on the head and killed by a falling flowerpot from a fire escape or window ledge on a windy day... Might be a better gamble shooting those reloads?
geo

[pworley1]

If they were loaded by someone I know and have the load specifications with them and the specs are within the range I load I would shoot them. If not I would pull them and use the lead and brass,

[Bent Ramrod]

If they’re “remanufactured” by an established firm, I’ll shoot them, albeit not enthusiastically. I prefer to load my own.

If they’re loaded by a friend, I’ll accept the offer to shoot a few of them, in his guns, with him there. (This doesn’t always play out well.)

If they’re anybody else’s reloads, they get broken down for components. Even if they’re factory loads, if they are old or suspected to be compromised in some way (possible dud or mercuric primers, for instance) they get broken down for components.

I broke down some .45-70 reloads once that had 350-gr jacketed bullets and what looked like a max load of 3031 for 86 Winchesters and the like. The last cartridge in the Baggie had the same powder charge and a 500-gr bullet, with the same ogive and soft point, and seated deeply enough so the round looked exactly like the 350-gr bullet load.

I don’t love surprises on the best of days, and firing that load in the string would not have been a pleasant one.

[lightman]

I will only shoot reloaded ammo from a chosen few friends whom I know and trust. All other gets pulled down. The bullets get melted and the powder goes into my "mystery" jar and is used at deer camp for a light show around the fire. I may or may not use the primers, depending on their looks.

[imashooter2]

I was once gifted the entire reloading setup of an associates late father. The trove included thousands of various reloads, mostly bottle necks. Among them was an MTM box of .44 Magnum with 45 cartridges, 5 classic head separations and a scribbled note that said HOT!

It took months, but I pulled every one of his reloads. Kept what I could use, gifted to friends what they could use and sold the remainder.

To the original question, I would gladly accept the gift, but I wouldn’t fire a one of them.

[thxmrgarand]

Until this Chinese Covid came along most of my reloading components came from moving sales, estate sales, etc. Over the decades I stopped buying powder if a can had been opened, and the rare times when I picked up some reloaded ammo I began taking the ammo apart. At a moving sale held by a nice old fellow, now deceased, who was moving into a condo and selling his house, the bunch of stuff I bought included some .44 magnum reloads. I didn't bother to identify the type of powder used for the ammo, which had 240 grn jacketed bullets, but every charge I weighed was consistently 28 grns. I'm not sure I have ever seen a published .44 magnum load calling for 28 grns of anything. I had known the fellow a little as he was long-time treasurer of our local Republican party (and I am, of course, a fervent 2nd Amendment supporter) and I liked him. But this is the 49th state, and at least in an earlier era, limits published on anything - gross weights on aircraft, outboard limits on skiffs, etc. - could be part challenge and part guideline. Some of that remains today. I've seen 50 hp outboards on 12 ft. aluminum skiffs.

[M-Tecs]

Depends on the person I received them from. Most people think nothing of hopping into a vehicle with someone else driving yet they don't trust this same person's reloads. Odds are far greater that they will hurt or kill you in their vehicle verse a reloading error.

[414gates]

I put a lot of time and effort into my reloading, to try make sure everything goes smoothly on the range.

I would not bypass all that and accept someone else's reloads to use in my firearms.

If I am given reloaded ammo that is not mine, I pull everything and put the powder in a container marked "fireform".

If I am given old ammo, I pull everything, powder goes for fireforming.

Once I got 30-06 factory ammo from a friend, a few cartridges from a few different manufacturers. I was told they were old, and I could see they may have been decades old, the bullet types were not part of current production. Some of the bullets needed considerable force to be removed with my collet puller - the bullet jackets had partially bonded to their case mouth.

[sniper]

I don't shoot anything that I haven't reloaded myself!
My photo buddy gifted me with some 357 Magnum reloads he had made. He said they were "factory similar"(??), and he didn't remember what they were.
On the box was faintly pencilled
125 gr JSP
7,5gr (??)unreadable
Win SP Magnum primers
With perhaps an excess of caution, I broke them down, and noticed widely variable crimps.
Looking on the sunny side, I now have components ready to load!

[Binky]

What Hoodat said!

[JimB..]

I once got so many reloads from an estate that I quit pulling them. 45acp, 357mag, 44mag, 500 S&W, and 223. After pulling thousands I dumped the rest into LFRBs from the USPS, there were 12 or 13 full boxes. Called my local range and asked if they’d dispose of them for me, they agreed. I drove up, a couple guys came out, moved the boxes from my car to theirs. I asked how they were going to dispose of them and they said “we’re just gonna shoot them, thanks much.”

I left without giving them my name.

I don’t shoot other people's reloads, but I will accept them graciously if offered and deal with them privately.