Never shoot reloads of unknown origin!

W

Why not?

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Without boring you with the details, I acquired several hundred reloads of 7mm mag, 308 and 30-06 from a guy here who has no idea of their origin. Of course am not going to shoot them, and began breaking them down into components.

They looked great, some of it is brand new brass! Was tempted, but decided to follow the rules again --- Never shoot reloads of unknown origin is a good rule to follow. Good thing because as it turns out they are a real mix-up.

So far have found powder charges varying as much as five grains in one batch, ball powder that is supposed to be H450 contaminated with a bit of stick in another batch, and one batch has rounds with mixed bullets, some140 and some 150 gr E-Tips loaded with the same powder charge.

Of course, they all look good from the outside. :dancingbanana:

One more time, Friends, Never shoot reloads of unknown origin.

Ended up with way more than I can use. Sold some of the 7mm bullets and brass. Starting on the 308 stuff.

Ted
 
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Why not? said:
One more time, Friends, Never shoot reloads of unknown origin.
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That sir is the truth!

Several years ago I was at a local range when the now deceased owner of a local sporting goods store arrived. He pulled a brand new rifle out of it's case and threw a cardboard box of old ammo on the bench. Several of us present commented that they looked like reloads and he should reconsider shooting it. He then called all of us a bunch of "Pansys" and said he had never had a problem using the old ammo he collected at the store.

He made him self comfortable at a bench and the very first trigger pull resulted in a very loud "boom" with the scope bouncing off the ceiling as the rifle self-destructed. Without saying a word he picked up the mangled scope and other assorted bits of rifle, got into his pickup and left.
 
Why not? said:
One more time, Friends, Never shoot reloads of unknown origin.
Ted
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Good words of wisdom and some that :redface: I've been hedging on somewhat myself lately. Not too long ago, I gave my Marlin 1895GS 45-70 to my Son and replaced it with a Marlin GBL and a Magnum Research BFR. For an additional cost, I also acquired 220 reloads. I've pulled a few bullets from each box and the questionable detail is how very limited and brief the reload data is. I've been 'contemplating' what to do for quite a while but your comments gentlemen, has tipped the scales, so to speak, to do what I realise deep down is the right thing to do. :) To that end, I've recently acquired an RCBS bullet puller die set up and a 'selection' of collets for some of the calibres I have. Time to, ;) 'bite the bullet' and start pulling bullets. Thank you.
 
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Johnn, using the correct puller makes all the difference in the world. Mine is also the RCBS, and it is simple to pull the bullets and salvage the powder. Can't imagine the mess I would have if it had all been done with an inertia puller.

You are a smart man.......... Never shoot reloads of unknown origin!

Ted
 
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Why not? said:
Johnn, using the correct puller makes all the difference in the world. Mine is also the RCBS, and it is simple to pull the bullets and salvage the powder. Can't imagine the mess I would have if it had all been done with an inertia puller.

You are a smart man.......... Never shoot reloads of unknown origin!

Ted
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:) You're quite correct there. The inertia are quite messy in their use by comparison. Having said that, I still have two of the RCBS plastic inertia models sitting on my reloading bench and will probably use them on occasion when there's need to pull the odd cartridge apart.
 
I also endorse that statement: "NEVER shoot reloads of unknown origin."
I have seen a couple of seized bolts at the range when unknown reloads were tried.

On the other note, An inertia puller is fine for pulling down 1 or 2 rounds, but a
collet-type puller is almost mandatory if any number of rounds is involved. Eagleye.
 
Eagleye said:
I also endorse that statement: "NEVER shoot reloads of unknown origin."
I have seen a couple of seized bolts at the range when unknown reloads were tried.

On the other note, An inertia puller is fine for pulling down 1 or 2 rounds, but a
collet-type puller is almost mandatory if any number of rounds is involved. Eagleye.
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Totally agree. The only problem is that my gradual accumulation of collets seems to be following my :redface: existing addiction with some of the other related issues with firearms and reloading. Three or four more collets and I'll have the whole list of what's available from RCBS :d .
 
Thanks for the reeminder Ted. I have been tempted recently to fire some 300 H&H from a friend who is no longer with us. There is no load data with the ammo. So to be safe, I will pull them down.
 
Pulled the last of the 7mm loads a few days ago. Supposed to be 150 Partitions, quite a few were 160 gr.

Powder is an unknown stick. Charge varied from 73 to 76 grains. One load had 79 grains. One had only 37 gr. My guess is they were loaded using dippers, and that one missed the second dip. No idea how the 79 gr got loaded.

Next, the 308 and 30-06.

Ted
 
I'm going to make a slight change...

Why not? said:
Never shoot ammunition of unknown origin.
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I've caught at least 3 people in the last two years picking live ammo off the range floor at my club with the idea in their heads they were going to use it.

They had no idea if it was reloaded or not and the guy with the standard CZ-75 had never even heard of "9mm major".
 
Last year i was with a buddy and his friends shooting across some farm land with a freezer in front of the backstop. Our targets were taped to the door. A guy had a 270 and couldnt hit the freezer. We thouht maybe it was him because he was flinching badly. I took one shot and it didnt sound right. I went to rack the bolt and it was very stiff. I said i was done with it and he picked it up said he knew what he was doin. His next shot blew the gun apart
 
I’ve recently picked up 200 loaded rounds, and have the specs, but will pull them anyways.

Which method/puller is my best bet to salvage the bullets? I’ve got an FA kinetic puller, but there’s no way I’m doing that 200 times.
 
justmessing said:
I’ve recently picked up 200 loaded rounds, and have the specs, but will pull them anyways.

Which method/puller is my best bet to salvage the bullets? I’ve got an FA kinetic puller, but there’s no way I’m doing that 200 times.
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The kinetic puller is the best option to get the bullets without doing any damage to them. Put an eraser off a pencil in the end so the bullet tips don't deform.

Otherwise, I'd get wire strippers and pull them on your press. Raise cartridge up, grab bullet with wire strippers, lower ram. The bullets will get a bit marked up but nothing major, they'll still be usable assuming you're not trying for match grade 1000yd accuracy.

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You can also buy a purpose built tool that does the exact same thing for like $60... But I'm cheap so fk that.

standard-rifle-600x600_1296x.png
 
Suther said:
...You can also buy a purpose built tool that does the exact same thing for like $60... But I'm cheap so fk that.
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I liked that design when I saw it but I'm cheap too so I made one...not too difficult, except mine has felt pen markings on it. :) Looks home-made but works as advertised.
 
Why not? said:
... Never shoot reloads of unknown origin...
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My dad was firm on this as well...except when it came to shotgun shells. He figured there wasn't enough pressure build-up in a shotgun to be too concerned about a potentially hot charge. Then again, I never did see him shoot a shot-gun and I did see him pull a lot of rifle bullets.
 
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