Reminder why you DO NOT SHOOT SOMEONE ELSE'S RELOADED AMMO

[Nostrum Damus SASS #110702]

And also, I would never trust those baggies of loose reloaded ammo we sometimes see at gun shows. Reman is different -- that's commercially loaded on commercial loading machines, just using pre-loved brass. 

[watab kid]

6 hours ago, Nostrum Damus SASS #110702 said:

And also, I would never trust those baggies of loose reloaded ammo we sometimes see at gun shows. Reman is different -- that's commercially loaded on commercial loading machines, just using pre-loved brass. 

 

after what ive seen on our range at hunter sight in season , id never trust anything i found in a plastic baggie ever .................

 

ive seen guys shooting a 3006 with 308 and a lot of other stuff in the same bag - and going in the same rifle ,  nothing but a recipient of trouble , id even be suspicious of components in baggies without a complete checkout , "DEER BULLETS" arent anything to mess about with , worse than our loads by far 

[Sheriff Dill]

I know for me as a my son and I are new shooters and got loaner guns and ammo and are just now getting set up for reloading. We quickly learned from the shoots we attended who we felt comfortable shooting their ammo out of our guns. Those individuals have been great mentors to us in the shooting aspect and reloading aspect. 
 

Still trying to put all of the pieces to the puzzle for reloading and it’s a lot of information to take in. It is very scary to think of what can go wrong and happen if one isn’t careful and doesn’t pay attention to what they are doing.  
 

After reading this thread I went through all of the reloaded ammo that came with the press set up we bought and there is A LOT of ammo that is going to need dismantling and recycling. The gentleman shot in handgun competitions and the many of the bullets we’re set too deep in the casing or the primers not set correctly. 
 

 

[Nostrum Damus SASS #110702]

I've been thinking about all of the mistakes I've found and how they might have happened, and what steps were skipped in the normal reloading process.  I think I have a reasonably good guess about it.  First, I'm almost certain that all of it was loaded on a single stage press.  The operator used loading trays for his cases.  When one loads that way, there are visual checks that must be performed after each step, when the cases are still in the loading trays.  For example, after priming, the cases should all be "mouth down" so that the operator can easily see any incorrectly primed cases.  Clearly that was not done.  Next, the powder was likely "measured" with a Lee dipper or something akin to a dipper, but not very accurately.  That would account for the absurd amount of variation in powder charges that I saw.  Also, when the cases are mouth-up in the tray after they've all been charged but before bullets have been seated, a simple visual inspection with a flashlight should reveal powderless cases, double-charged cases, and any other cases with oddly different powder charges anywhere in between those two extremes.  Obviously no such inspection was done here, ever.  Skipping this required inspection is simply asking for serious trouble, period, full stop.  Finally, these cowboy rounds were excessively crimped, making disassembly that much more difficult.  That error was especially problematic in a batch of .45 Colt that he loaded with heavy (about 270gr -- why???) bullets cast from a very hard lead alloy, and then overcrimped.  I had a bear of a time getting sufficient purchase into the bullet even with the cutter of my lineman's pliers.  Why the reloader did that we'll never know. 

 

 

[Rum River #36276]

Long time back I bought a Garand from a nice older gentleman which came with 200 rounds of reloads.

First warning sign was the powder charge listed on the box was in grams.

Pulled everything apart and weighed charges, they were as much as 5 grains in variation.

That, plus the recipe claimed ball powder and some instead had extruded powder.

 

One of my cousins buys the cheap ziploc-bagged-reloads at gun shows.

Then a squib stuck a jacketed bullet in the throat on his Dan Wesson.

I tried to explain his mistake, I don't know for sure if he still buys that stuff.