Gun Show Reloads? 44 Mag advice needed.

As most of the others have said, if in doubt, knock 'em apart. With that light of a crimp and the weight of the 240 grain bullet, they shouldn't take too much effort to pull down.

I'd also be taking a look at the empty cases, checking the head stamps, etc. In the realm of gun show reloads, those are fairly nice looking and might even have been assembled with unfired brass. If you have 500 pieces of matching .44 brass, you're in good shape for a long time.
 
Don't do it.
I've had nothing but bad experiences from way back before I handloaded, buying reloads.
1) 125grain 357 rounds loaded with Blue Dot that were wayy overloaded. Cases were very hard to extract. I later learned that this combo was verboten by Alliant anyways.
And, they were seated quite a ways deeper than the cannelure, meaning even more trouble on top of trouble. I still have the box of these BS loads to this day.....need to pull em down.

2) Bought 2x ,586 speed loaders for 3$ each about 25 years ago. 6 rounds of 357 Mag were in each. I was advised to just simply "burn em up" it's only a few rounds.... Bad advice.
I ended up only firing one, that case also needed to be tapped out with a wooden dowel, with catered primer.

3) 9mm reloads that were over crimped, and headspaced on the damn extractor. Didn't know enough about anything to know it at the time.....this was 1000 rounds.
Got down to the last hundred or so, and an experienced friend saw the rounds and visually noticed the problem with naked eye right off. No damage occurred to my Glock 17 (go figure) at least that I could tell, but the situation is not good.

DO NOT BUY RELOADS (OR EVEN REMAN)
DO NOT USE FRIENDS RELOADS
DO NOT GIVE YOUR RELOADS TO OTHERS
NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE FOR ME
 
I don't buy "gunshow reloads".

Knowing the previous owner had shot SOME, doesn't mean he didn't have problems.

The lack of crimp is of even greater concern.

My .44 jacketed loads have a heavy crimp.
Those appear to have NO CRIMP, at all. Which should make them easy to pull.

I have no problem shooting reloads FROM THOSE I KNOW. Same with them shooting my loads.

That lack of crimp sets off my warning bells.
 
Seedy Character said:
I don't buy "gunshow reloads".

Knowing the previous owner had shot SOME, doesn't mean he didn't have problems.

The lack of crimp is of even greater concern.

My .44 jacketed loads have a heavy crimp.
Those appear to have NO CRIMP, at all. Which should make them easy to pull.

I have no problem shooting reloads FROM THOSE I KNOW. Same with them shooting my loads.

That lack of crimp sets off my warning bells.
Click to expand...
Exactly. If these were used in a lever gun tube mag, they could easily set back, creating a more dangerous situation than any pull under recoil in a revolver.
The List of chunder goes on....
 
I don't shoot unknown reloads. I never violate this rule. Sometimes I question it but I NEVER go against it. A while back I broke down several hundred 30 carbine reloads. I had one with no powder and another with more than all of the rest! It was a lot of work but "I don't shoot unknown reloads"!
 
First off... A huge Thank You to everyone that took the time to comment.

It is nice to have feedback to support one's ideas, processes etc.

I'll be honest, I was hoping for something Magical to be presented that I hadn't thought of.
It was worth a shot. LOL

I'll be breaking these down.

I have an impact puller and a cam-lock puller.
I'll see if I can find a collet for the cam-lock and then see if I can get a decent grip on the bullet.

I already load for quite a few straight wall and bottle neck cartridges, so I feel good about adding the 44 to the list.
I just need a set of Dies and then see if one of my powders on hand is a good fit.

The good news is..... I have plenty of factory ammo to play with for the time being.

Thanks!
 
243winxb said:
To those that posted, "pull bullets, dont shoot."

If you loaded 400 rounds of 44 mag, would you let someone else shoot them?

Sure you would. :evil:
Click to expand...
Nope. In a few decades of reloading the closest I've come to allowing someone else shoot my handloads is when I am present and they shoot my guns. While very rare, I have made mistakes, but never one that would endanger the shooter, gun or bystander. I know I'd feel terrible (and liable) if someone was injured when shooting my handloads...

Not bragging, I just use a bunch of measures to insure my loads are safe...
 
Those beautiful Remington "Scalloped" 240gr. SJHP deserve to be pulled and done up right.
Use whatever powder is in them, and spread thinly over your lawn, or till into your garden soil.
Do you have any H-110, W-296, Lil Gun, 2400 or AA#9 to load with? Who knows, maybe these gunshow reloads are the opposite side of the spectrum, and theyre, as Robert Johnson would sing in his song "32-20 Blues"....theyre "much too light".
Use a published load with one of the above said powders, and ...."It do very well"
 
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If you needed any more opinions : I would pull the bullets and re-use everything but the powder. No way I'd trust shooting them.

Theoretically, you could weigh the charges
from a few rds, save all 400rds worth of powder , mix it thoroughly, and work up a safe load with it. But is it really worth it?

400rds = about 1/2lb to a little over a 1lb depending on the powder and charge weight. Is it worth $50+- to go thru all that trouble and risk?
Not for me.
 
If it were me, I'd pick ten at random, pull the bullets and weigh the powder while comparing it to known samples. Then, if the loads looked safe, I might try one in my CVA rifle. But probably, I'd just pull them down, put the powder on the lawn, and use the rest of the comoinents.
Trust no one but the factories and even they make a mistake sometimes. Never seen a blowup from a factory load in a properly constructed, unobstructed gun.
 
The published H-110 data out there for 240 grainers is great...... 23gr starting charge, 24gr Max I believe.
The published OALs for the Hornady 240 XTP data should work. Keep in mind these 2 measurements in the below images. If these Remington bullets vary in these measurements, just need to keep that in mind. If data exists for these particular bullets, then obviously go with that.....
I personally have never seen any data for these particular Remington projectiles.
240 grain XTP. Length, and distance from base to cannelure.
20230219_132423.jpg
20230219_132722.jpg
 

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Thank you so much for posting the measurements of the XTP to compare with!!!!!!!

I have the Hornady Manual.

This is going to prove to be very helpful!!!
 
FWIW; regarding reloading bullets, since 1970 I have been seating revolver bullets to the crimp groove or cannalure and disregarded book OAL, including thousands of 44 Magnum handloads (my most favorite reloading cartridge for about 30 years). Never a problem of any kind in my 3, 44 Mag revolvers, Contender or Puma. At first I figgered the bullet designer knew where the groove/cannalure should be and the OAL when properly roll crimped rarely matched book OAL...
 
dredd said:
From the looks of the packaging, I am going to GUESS that these probably were picked up at a Gun Show years ago.

I have over 400 of these.
They were included with a recent toy purchase.
A Ruger NM SBH.

Based on the 100 or so empties in the box with these and the empty bags,
I am going to GUESS that they were ran through the Ruger.

I have no other information. The original owner is no longer with us.

For starters, I'd say these need a Crimp!!!

Next..... Should I even trust these rounds?

As we say around here, trust your gut, or if you have to ask..... you already know.
I'm kinda tossed up on this one.

I doubt I could come up with a credible answer by pulling a couple down and trying to identify the powder.
Nothing says the same powder is in all of them.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Make me feel warm and fuzzy about shooting them? LOL



View attachment 1134636 View attachment 1134637 View attachment 1134640
Click to expand...


Do You own a chronograph ?. How about a scale ?. How about pulling one weigh the charge spread powder on a White piece of paper and let's see if any of us can agree on powder manufacturer . IF it looks OK and weigh is within a reasonable range ,take a couple and Pop them across the Chrony and see what it says .
I most certainly would do that MINIMAL task prior to disassembling #400 rounds ,for all any of us know the reloader could have been a Master of the craft :)

I bought literally Tons of reloaded re-manufactured ammo over decades and have shot reused cases and have had ZERO problems . Was all that ammo of great quality , NO ! However 80% of it was GOOD SOUND RANGE fodder and the remainder of it was OUTSTANDINGLY ACCURATE !. I once bought .375 H&H from a man who was in his late 80's at a gun show ,they were hand-loaded . I went back to the same Gun show for Years ,trying to find him NO luck . First of only #2 times My Rifle clover-leafed at 100 yards . I had NO clue as to the powder as it was something European back in 70's that wasn't readily available here in the States . You simply Never know until YOU investigate

I'm still shooting 9 mm I bought from a Marine at a Gun Show decades ago which is in a 81mm mortar can paid him $225 ,never counted them or regretted buying them . I had to go get a dolly because it was FULL !.

I'm either the luckiest SOB on Planet Earth or the most foolish ,as I've NEVER run into a dud or heavy charge and that's over #50 years of Gun shows picking LGS inventory , garage and Estate sales .
 
mdi said:
FWIW; regarding reloading bullets, since 1970 I have been seating revolver bullets to the crimp groove or cannalure and disregarded book OAL, including thousands of 44 Magnum handloads (my most favorite reloading cartridge for about 30 years). Never a problem of any kind in my 3, 44 Mag revolvers, Contender or Puma. At first I figgered the bullet designer knew where the groove/cannalure should be and the OAL when properly roll crimped rarely matched book OAL...
Click to expand...

MDI- So your advice is to simply sub in one bullet for another, disregard OAL (if that's the case, then why even measure it) and just seat to the cannelure?
Bad advice, especially when loading with H-110 which has a narrow pressure window, and when loaded properly has 100% case fill. I'm glad you've not had any problems, though.
 
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