20 year old powder and reloads

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triplepete

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So I bought all my friend's gun stuff and reloading gear.
Included was about 200+ rounds of .45ACP with 200gr lead loads, a huge can of Winchester 231 powder.

My manual says 200gr lead calls for 4.5 to 5.5 grains of 231. I weighed all the rounds and they vary from 0 to 7 grains (I tore off my scale the weight of 200 grain bullet and empty primed brass. ) Lets just say his gun hobby lasted about 3 months and didn't really know what he was doing. Bought all his gear in the mid 80s and packed it away till now.

So do you think the powder is still any good? I sorted the rounds and will try shooting the loads from 3 to 5 grains - thoughts?
 
triplepete said:
any other way? i tried my hammer and they wouldn't budge. lol

or how can I safely dispose of the rounds? cut em all open?
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Get a bigger hammer. ;),

But seriously, you just need to smack the c**p out of them in your kinetic hammer. The bullet WILL drop down out of the case if you hit it hard enough. 45 should be easy, a big heavy, lubricated, lead bullet in a thin walled case.

I often use a block of wood to smack into, like you would use as a base for splitting wood.

The hammers are tougher than you would imagine.
 
Well if they are lead loads and you don't care about the bullets then just pull them with some pliers. For longer rifle rounds you simply raise the ram on the press with the case in the shell holder till it comes above the top of the press, with a set of side cutters or pliers, grab the bullet and using the press to hold the pliers , move the ram down and it will pull the bullet easily.

For pistol rounds just grab a piece of wood and cut it about 1/2 the height of the inside of the press or about 5" and do the same thing only use the wood to brace the pliers, pull the ram down and out comes the bullet.

You can do a box of 50 rounds in less than 5 minutes easily without having to hammer until the cows come home.
 
Well one thing everyone here has missed. Different cases weigh different amounts, even if they are the same brand. I load 9mm by the thousands and I can grab any random sample of loaded rounds or empty cases and they all weigh different. Try it if you have any empty cases lying around. If he didnt know what he was doing its probably a bad idea to use them, that said, grap a random sample of say 10 or so, Grab the base of the case with a pair of pliers and the bullet with another pair, rotate a few degrees and pull. Get them apart and weigh the powder, if they are all within spec, blast away with the rest
 
I have the press he was using - Lee Pro 1000 progressive. He thinks he may have double charged a few but I dunno how with that progressive system and the autodisk powder measure. All the brass is the same, all the primers the same - dirty brass, no tumbler though.

Its been so long he doesn't recall how or what he done. I think I'll pull a few and check the charge. My worry is under charge may leave a bullet stuck in the barrel - better bring 2 guns to the range then, lol.
 
Just remember, it's all good 'til it's not. After telling us he didn't know what he was doing, and may have double charged some rounds.....why would you even consider shooting them? You only need one double charge out of a hundred to wreck your gun. You're a big boy though, disregard good advice and do what you like.
 
triplepete said:
any other way? i tried my hammer and they wouldn't budge. lol

or how can I safely dispose of the rounds? cut em all open?
Click to expand...

The system I use for difficult to pull rounds, like military ammo that I want to make Mexican Match from, is to use a plier style wire stripper with the serrations between the handles. These bite into the bullet jacket without doing much harm other than leaving a couple of pin prick marks in the jacket. So you place the round on the shell holder of your press, run up the ram just enough that the bullet clears the top, grip the bullet with the teeth of the strippers, and lower the ram. This works so well that I've abandoned commercial pullers.
 
So some place between he doesn't know and doesn't remember there is a possibility of a double charge. A minimum load of 231 is around 5 grains. A double charge of 10 grains is over 40% over maximum.

Pulling a few does not eliminate the statistical possibility of missing that one percenter.

Cheaping out in lieu of safety is not an option . . . save a gun, a hand, a finger or an eye!

PULL EVERY BULLET
 
moosedude said:
Well one thing everyone here has missed. Different cases weigh different amounts, even if they are the same brand. I load 9mm by the thousands and I can grab any random sample of loaded rounds or empty cases and they all weigh different. Try it if you have any empty cases lying around. If he didnt know what he was doing its probably a bad idea to use them, that said, grap a random sample of say 10 or so, Grab the base of the case with a pair of pliers and the bullet with another pair, rotate a few degrees and pull. Get them apart and weigh the powder, if they are all within spec, blast away with the rest
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You're right about case weights. Another thing about lead bullets, their weights can vary as well.

Ask the original owner what pistol he fired the reloads in. They should be OK.

That being said, I will never shoot reloads that have been put together by someone I don't know or how fussy they are about their reloading techniques. I am even a bit aprehensive about commercial reloads.

If those cartridges have been together for 20 years, It's likely the lube has turned to glue.

I have saved many cases/bullets by dumping them into boiling water for about 10 minutes.

Usually, the bullets will either be pushed out by the expanding gasses to the point they are easily pulled with a kinetic puller.

I use a piece of 1in thick aluminum plate to rap my puller against. Wood, has to much give to it, unless it's some very dense hard wood.
 
triplepete said:
... He thinks he may have double charged a few ...
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ding ding ding, there's your answer. No way would I shoot any reloads other than my own.

The variance in weights of casings can be nearly as much as the variance you measured, so that measurement is useless.

Also, there is some variance in bullet weights, not as much as brass, but another factor against your measurement.

Pull them apart, throw the powder if you are not absolutely sure what it is, reuse the primed brass if the primers are seated correctly, reuse the bullets unless he made a mess of those.
 
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saskgunowner101 said:
Get a kinetic hammer and take the reloads apart, because if he didn't know what he was doing, the ammo could be crap or dangerous.
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That. You can even reuse the powder maybe 'cause you know what it is but definitely knock them all apart and weigh the powder. It doesn't take too long and it is better safe than sorry.

And bad powder kind of has a rotten egg smell to it. Still could be bad if it doesn't smell, but if it does at least you can be sure!

I've used old powder before. Properly sealed and stored it should be okay.
 
Whether a pun is intended or not but the "repete" has occurred so many times it can now be called something more than a......

T R I P L E P E T E

AND THAT SHOULD END THIS THREAD!
 
triplepete said:
So do you think the powder is still any good? I sorted the rounds and will try shooting the loads from 3 to 5 grains - thoughts?
Click to expand...

Don't even think about re-using the powder. You can't prove what it really is and for the amount of powder in 200rounds it is not worth it.
 
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