How to tell if a cartridge is a reload

blasted_saber

blasted_saber

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So, as the title says, can I hand you one round of ammunition and you tell me if its a reload or not?

This isnt a test or anything. Im genuinely curious what to look for to tell if any given round of ammunition is a reload.

Thanks
 
Sometimes, is a bit of sleuthing - say headstamp says Norma 7x61 Super. But bullet looks like a Partition - so pretty clearly not a factory round. But even if you know what a Tri-Clad Norma bullet looks like, they were also sold to hand loaders - so not a "for sure" thing. I have pulled enough bullets from questionable rounds to have given up trying to identify powder visually - can weigh the powder charge, can weigh the bullet. May or may not conform to what you know about factory loads. Still not definitive. At a now defunct sporting goods store, I had bought some ammo - on my chrony was significantly below what the speed should have been. Still 75% convinced that the guy fired the expensive shells and then reloaded them at a "start" level and re-sold them. So, in some cases, I am very sure that what I had were hand loads - not factory loads, but I do not know for sure how to tell that they are NOT hand loads. Even crimped in primers are no assurance that original powder and perhaps bullet was dumped out and replaced.
 
Some boxes I've bought as factory rounds from the online auctions, opened them up and can clearly see evidence of reloads such as from a full length die ring mark on the casing, in that case I've pulled everything apart just incase, not worth the risk at all. If there's any doubt at all I wouldn't chance it, places I look at are the projectiles/brass matching the box as mentioned above, neck chamfer/deburing evidence, case re-sizing evidence, primer type/pocket marks, head stamp marks, if anything at all looks fishy, again don't chance it, I said that 3 times because its important. Lol,
Cheers, happy shooting!
 
Probably not.
A person would have to be very familiar with what is out there for bullets

As PAM said, there are some clues....but if there is no box to show what the ammo is supposed to be....I think it could be very difficult

The colour of the primer mean nothing - I have seen (lets say win 308) with brass coloured and silver coloured primers from factory

You could look for ring marks, chamfer marks, etc. Cartridge length might give it away if it was abnormally long.

I dont think anyone could do it with any degree of accuracy

EDIT - if it came from my house it's a reload, as I have not bought tailor mades for over 30 years
 
Snider shooter said:
Very hard to tell with many rounds. You can try compare with factory rounds but still no guarantee. Basically if you don’t know where it came from I wouldn’t fire it.
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Thats where I am at too. Even if the bullet matches, that alone doesn't gaurantee anything as most bullets are available to reloaders.

As for looking for signs of being reloaded on the brass, I've seen some less-than-gorgeous brass on factory ammo so I'm not sure how far that would really get you either. I feel like you can get a better idea of whether its reloaded or not by taking a good look at it, but you'll never KNOW.
 
Thanks all for the input.

This isnt about particular shell I have, just a general question of what to look for.

Ive bought a fair amount of second hand ammunition over the years (at gun shows, some gun shops etc) and just wondering what to look for. Most of it is certainly factory ammunition, but the odd clearly reloaded cartridge has snuck in from time to time. Stuff I didnt pick out at first glance in the show or whatever.
 
I always thought you could tell by the primer. If it was shiny its a good chance its a reload
But that's not always the case
Winchester primers are the same color as what you see on factory rounds and i have seen federal factory ammo with shiny primers
 
If buying at a show and the ammo is in a plastic bag, its hard to know 100%

If the ammo is boxed, and being sold as what the label on the box indicates, its a bit easier, but not foolproof.
 
The shoulder tends to have softer, more rounded curves on factory ammo; once fired the shoulder will have a sharper crease that doesn't go away on resizing. You could also look at the base of the cartridge for an expansion ring that didn't get sized out.

Knowing what the bullet on the factory round is supposed to look like is helpful. If the box label says Silvertip, but the bullet isn't a silvertip, that's an obvious example.
 
When in doubt, leave it out. I was told that by an old IPSC shooter when I started way back. It would be common for the range seagulls to walk around between rounds looking for unfired 9mm rounds, then the turn around and decide to use the range pickups in their own 9mm pistols. Little did they know that some of those 9mm they found on the ground may have come from an Open shooter shooting 9MM Major and more than one weaker built factory 9mm pistol has come apart when the trying to fire the pickup round out of it.
 
All raised good points - one - is the same headstamp - with all other factors mentioned - most semi auto pistol reloaded round will have the coke bottle shape. On new rifle rounds , .223 or .308 might have crimped primer - small ring around primer and, some bullet might be crimped, some are not.

Unfired brass will have no mark on it, ejector mark ..extraction scratches ect.. reloaded rifle brass will have marks on the headstamp. But again, if they were reloaded on new case, you are out of luck for the marks.

Most people will keep factory ammo in their original box but again not a sure thing., specially .223 thats sold in bulk.
Commercial reload are - except for mixed headstamp - almost impossible to detect. There is no problems shooting reload - when you do not know were they come from, they can be of the wrong powder or charge.

Looking at all clues can give you a good idea of what it is., but no way to be sure. If it is a small quantity - put them apart - if 200-300, well, I would test a few and chrono them to see if they are in specs or too hot, but this is me.
 
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I'm sorry if someone mentioned it on here but no one mentioned primer sealer . some types of ammo come with primer sealer . and some don't S&B used to use it but they aren't doing so anymore with their pistol ammo . buyer beware . I'm very hesitant to buy ammo at gun shows unless I'm 100% sure what I'm buying is factory . oya a buddy reloaded this stuff and he was an expert and he passed away so I'm selling his stuff for his wife . how do you know he didn't just smoke a fattie or have one too many shots of whiskey ? I'll never chance it . at my club we have a rifle on the wall that a was shot by a member many years age . he bought some 4570 ammo from a guy at a gun show and didn't know it was reloaded ammo made by some fool . or someone who made a mistake . you can't shoot this falling block Browning rifle anymore . the safety director used to point this rifle out to new members . live and learn .
 
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