A little reminder about purchasing "non-factory" loaded ammo at a gun show!

dthunter

dthunter

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Hi fellow gunnutz! I thought I would drop this thread here as a reminder for all us shooter/reloaders who frequent gunshows or participate in personal sales with/for "NON-fACTORY" loaded ammo.


I went to the dawson creek gunshow saturday morning.
I was able to find and purchase 200 unfired 280Rem. brass for a decent price. 90rounds of which were loaded by the fellow selling the brass/ammo.

You could say that I relearned a critical lesson that day!

The gentelman had the load information on the side of the cartridge container. I confirmed with him that this was indeed the load used in the loaded cases I was purchasing. When I got home, i proceeded to pull the bullets to allow me to fully match prep the brass. When I had pulled 1-2 of them, I decided to check the powder wieghts he quoted/recorded. They were a full 5 grains less than specified! And the bullets were 10grains heavier than he told me! Lol! Not a big deal, but I now cannot even trust that what he told me about the powder type is accurate! In the garbege went 4/5ths of a pound! I hate that! As for the bullets, they were 140grain barnes tsx's. Great bullets yes, but the gentelman never chamfered his cases becore seating the bullets on Nickle cases. The case mouths are so sharp that they shaved ALLOT of copper from the bullet bearing surface! My guess is that they would seriously foul a barrel and not shoot woth a heck! The bullets are terribly shaved and have ridges of built up copper where the case necks ended! Yikes! Quality controool! I will try tumbling these bullets to see if I can get a better finish on them. I got the whole works for very cheap, so no big deal. I bought that pile of ammo for the brass anyhow.

Just thought I would give a reminder for you guys to watch what you buy! Some times it may not be a good deal.

Now I guess I will see just how consistant the case weights and thicknesses will be. I spent 6 hours prepping the brass saturday afternoon/night. Now I Just have to weight segregate them tonight, and VOILA I have my match prepped brass ready for my build. Only 2-3 months early! Lol

Hope this thread will help someone in some way!
 
Why on earth would you buy reloaded ammo from some guy at a gun show?

It is illegal for him to sell reloaded ammo without a license; is he licensed?
 
I kicked myself awhile ago for not picking up a bunch of reloads at a show. When I went home and started reloading, my mind was preoccupied and I ended up with some squibs that made it through to seating. That's when I thought to myself about how GLAD I was to not have bought and used those cheap reloads! It's just NOT worth it.
 
Keller said:
Why on earth would you buy reloaded ammo from some guy at a gun show?

It is illegal for him to sell reloaded ammo without a license; is he licensed?
Click to expand...

If you actuall read my post you would have realised
I bought the ammo for the unfired Cases, not for the loaded ammo to shoot.
I could care less if he had a liscence to sell loaded ammo. This was to remind people to be cautious about buying non factory stuff. Do not trust the ammo, pull it and reload it yourself!
 
If you hand load, buying reloads at a gunshow is OK. As long as you aren't a risk taker and are willing, like the OP to pull the bullets and toss the powder, as well as the primers.

Just remember that you will be reusing the bullets and brass and the original handloader may not have been very good at his task.

Sometimes, you can get a good deal on the stuff. Mostly, pay what you think the brass is worth plus 10% for the bullets you may or may not be able to use.

I've bought thousands of handloaded rounds at gunshows. Never had an issue with any of it, as long as I followed the golden rules.

I never buy reloaded handgun ammo, unless it's from a person I know and trust. It's just to much of a pain in the butt to pull and refurb.

OP, good for you for checking out this ammo. It is a golden rule and smart to follow.
 
First thing I was taught. Don't shoot any reloads but your own unless you absolutely trust the person
 
A long time ago, I bought some supposedly factory loaded 9.3X57 ... I knew I did not want to use it in my guns, as I didn't know the load and the primers just didn't look right for Norma factory... but I wanted the Norma brass .... so I pulled the bullets out and thought; these look somewhat strange... calipers told me they were .375"....
 
dthunter said:
If you actuall read my post you would have realised
I bought the ammo for the unfired Cases, not for the loaded ammo to shoot.
I could care less if he had a liscence to sell loaded ammo. This was to remind people to be cautious about buying non factory stuff. Do not trust the ammo, pull it and reload it yourself!
Click to expand...

his point is that he should have not been selling reloaded ammo in the first place. say you shot them and blew your gun up, you could have gone after him legally.
 
I appreciate the reminder. Years back when I was more trusting and less experienced, I purchased 30-30 reloads at a show. Fortunately, nothing catastrophic happened when I fired them off. Would I do the same thing today? Not a chance! That's kinda the shooting world's version of unprotected ###...
 
I too appreciate the reminder, considering the fact that we are in ' gun show season ' it is very sound advice.
I also had a similar experience several years ago, but it didn't happen by way of a gun show.
An estate sale in a neighbouring town listed a new unfired Shiloh Sharps which I was lucky enough to purchase.
The sale included dies, brass and loaded ammunition that the deceased owner had put together very shortly before his untimely passing, actually before he could test-fire his new acquisition.
The son of the deceased said that his late father never had a chance to shoot the rifle which as it turned out was probably a good thing.
The man in question supposedly an avid handloader had never handloaded for a Black powder cartridge gun before and the gun being a 45-120, he loaded 50 rounds using 500 gr. Hornady RN bullets commonly used in the 458 Win. Mag. among others.
As soon as I saw this I started pulling bullets and to my amazement they were loaded with Black powder varying in weights from about 45 gr. to 65 gr., all with a huge air gap between powder and bullet... this being a major no-no.
To this day I thank my lucky stars for not shooting any of those loads.
 
I like to live dangerously, so I have bought gun show reloads when the price was right.

Nothing ever went wrong, and would do again under the right circumstances.
 
Shooting reloads from someone you don't completely trust is indeed stupid. Stupid as stupid does.

I would buy reloaded ammo at a great price for the components.
 
As someone who has zero experience at reloading, would a great final step of the whole process be to confirm a finished weight of each round. Hopefully preventing squibs or overcharges?
 
Knuckles Muldoon said:
As someone who has zero experience at reloading, would a great final step of the whole process be to confirm a finished weight of each round. Hopefully preventing squibs or overcharges?
Click to expand...

That would only work if your brass was all from the same lot number.

Different manufacturers and lot numbers, have varying weights. Not to bad on larger cases but on small cases the difference could be nasty. Not catastrophic, unless you are already loading close to or over max specs.
 
Spawn-Inc said:
his point is that he should have not been selling reloaded ammo in the first place. say you shot them and blew your gun up, you could have gone after him legally.
Click to expand...

You can nit pick it all you want. Most reloaders are extremely careful. The chances of getting a bad load are close to nil. It does happen though and like you, I am always leery. As far as the law goes?????????? The seller says he sold it for the components in the loaded cartridges only. The OP agrees with him.

Now, from the sounds of the OP, the load may have been perfectly safe. Because of the due diligence of the OP, the heavier bullet made him suspicious.

The OP, did the right thing and passed on an important lesson.
 
Just for fun measure bunch of my 44 mag components.

brass with primer 118.3 to 122.8 <4.5>
bullets 240gn (too lazy to measure
total is ~ 360

Titegroup Powder range is 9 to 10 gn. See the problem measuring finished weight.
Knuckles Muldoon said:
As someone who has zero experience at reloading, would a great final step of the whole process be to confirm a finished weight of each round. Hopefully preventing squibs or overcharges?
Click to expand...
 
bearhunter said:
You can nit pick it all you want. Most reloaders are extremely careful. The chances of getting a bad load are close to nil. It does happen though and like you, I am always leery. As far as the law goes?????????? The seller says he sold it for the components in the loaded cartridges only. The OP agrees with him.

Now, from the sounds of the OP, the load may have been perfectly safe. Because of the due diligence of the OP, the heavier bullet made him suspicious.

The OP, did the right thing and passed on an important lesson.
Click to expand...

Unless that's in writing and signed by both parties I don't see that being legal. I'm sure a good lawyer could still do something about it. Not saying its right or anything but I wouldn't risk selling it that way for a second!
 
Spawn-Inc said:
Unless that's in writing and signed by both parties I don't see that being legal. I'm sure a good lawyer could still do something about it. Not saying its right or anything but I wouldn't risk selling it that way for a second!
Click to expand...

Even in writing it is NOT LEGAL. Bearhunter is usually good around this stuff but is having a little brain fart this time.
It doesn't matter if you plan on taking them apart or planting them in the garden. You are buying reloaded ammo from someone who is not licenced to make or sell it.
You don't tell and I don't tell or saying they were just components when they were not is no justification for breaking the law. Boy oh boy could authortites have fun with a sting operation at a gun show if they wanted to. Not on list illegal to buy from
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/foru...-Important-information-on-reloaded-ammunition

The issue of reloading safety cartridges is specifically addressed at s. 35 of Part IV of the Explosives Regulations (Manufacture of Explosives), where it states:

35. Any person may, in respect of safety cartridges, load at a place other than a licensed factory if
(a) the loaded safety cartridges are not for sale or for any commercial, industrial or business use;
 
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