Gun Show Reloads? 44 Mag advice needed.

dredd

dredd

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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



44 Ammo1.jpg 44 Ammo2.jpg 44 Ammo3.jpg
 
Nope, nope and more nope....better safe than sorry.
I wouldn't trust em at all, but I'm always on the cautious side when it comes to reloading. I've learned the hard way over the past 40 years of doing it.
I'd pull em, save the brass, primer and bullet. Weigh the bullets to ensure that they are, in fact, 240gr. and then reload em with published load data using a known powder and I'd crimp em for sure.
 
I would have trouble losing 400 rounds. NM SBH is not really a gun I would want to use as a test bed. RedHawks are reported to be THE strongest 44 on the planet and I would do my best to find one and put a few rounds downrange just to see what you have. The reason I say this is that the label looks nicely done and I would not expect a hack ammo supplier to have a nice label printer like that. They aren’t cheap, and that’s no Avery label sheet either. If they have that printer then they most likely are a sizable enough operation to put out decent enough ammo. Test it and make a decision from there.
 
We talking .44 mag here! not .22 or something, not hard to pull them and start fresh with known powder and such.

Don’t do that to the Bad Boy SBH!
 
Without knowing the rounds are from a reputable reloading company, disassemble the rounds, toss the powder, start fresh with the rest of the components.

It is just not worth the risk.

If you are not a reloader, find someone interested in the components and strike a deal. Most reloaders will be responsible enough to disassemble the rounds and pay a fair price for the components.
 
Reloads or remanufactured?

The rounds look good but that doesn't mean squat. Disassembling 400 rounds and reassembling them is going to take some time.

As you said, the owner is no longer with us but he did use some and the gun is fine. It's always easier to err on the side of safety.

As much as I would hate to pull those all apart, if you don't know how they were stored or how old the powder is... I would pull them.
 
cfullgraf said:
Without knowing the rounds are from a reputable reloading company, disassemble the rounds, toss the powder, start fresh with the rest of the components.

It is just not worth the risk.

If you are not a reloader, find someone interested in the components and strike a deal. Most reloaders will be responsible enough to disassemble the rounds and pay a fair price for the components.
Click to expand...
primed case and bullets worth good money!!
 
"There's only one way to eat an elephant, that's one bite at a time". I would use an impact puller to not damage bullets. Only disassembel as many as comfortable (I once pulled 200 HXP rounnds for brass, sometimes I did 10, sometimes 20, rarely thinking how many I had left to do), save the bullets, the primed brass and discard powder. Like mentioned above, there is a huge question mark about the unknown ammo. Once 20 or so are pulled, reload them to take a break from pounding...
 
Too bad the load recipe isn't identified, in which case you could compare the load with pressure tested data. Take the time to disassemble them and re-use or sell the primed brass and bullets. The bullets look very much like Remington Semi-Jacketed Hollow Points.
 
^^ Those are the Remington 240gr SJHP, I have a couple bulk bags that I use sparingly. They are pretty decent for hunting.

I would do as mentioned, pur an ear plug or two in an inertia puller and gradually work through them. You can pull the primer pin from your sizing die and reload the primed cases pretty easily, even using the same bullets.

I would be hesitant to shoot them not knowing their history or load.

Good luck and if you don't want those bullets someone like me will certainly take them...:D
 
dredd said:
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.
Click to expand...
What did the empties look like? Yes, yes, I know it’s harder to read pressure signs on pistol cases than to guess when primer prices will fall. The easy, safest and lower risk answer is to pull them all and re-load. But that doesn’t reduce the risk to zero. The crimp is light, but there - the real question is whether the bullets move under fire. I’d dissect a few and then decide.
 
There is a gentleman who is a vendor at the local gun show. His business is selling reloads. He has an FFL to manufacture ammunition. He has been there for several years, rather steadily. I trust him.
I've seen a number of vendors with a few boxes of their reloads on the table, about the periphery. Those give me a bit more suspicion. Most of them are likely 'safe', but one never knows.

Also, all my life (I've been reloading since 1971 and read gun magazines since 1963 or so) I have been given to understand that each gun can show a wide range of 'good' loads and 'maximum' loads. So the good grouping loads in my rifle might be safe to shoot, but quite mediocre in accuracy in your rifle. My maximum load - which I tend to avoid - may be rather less in your gun or perhaps just a bit too much.

And just Friday night a round of factory loaded .38 Special ammo would NOT fire in my rather proven revolver. All the other rounds from that same box (presumably lot) fired without comment or remark. "Ain't no sure thing!"
 
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:

Anyone can make a mistake reloading, but not me. :D

Pull bullet on 1 round. Does the powder almost fill the case? If yes, a good thing. Less likely of a double chaarge.
 
The only loads I give to others to shoot in their guns are starting loads. And inspecting 1 round tells you nothing if you don't know the powder.
 
I don't shoot someone else or re-manufactured ammo. With that said, I would break a few down to see how consistent the loads are, and how many grains of powder, ball, flake or extruded. Are the brass all the same head stamp or miked? This will give you a indication of quality of the ammo. Once you know what the powder charge is weigh the bullets for consistency. With this info you could do a weight check on all the rounds and have an idea if any are squibs or over charged. Just remember that the brass will have a 5 gr deviation. You determined the bullet and powder range. With that info you can make an educated guess.

Bottom line you will still probably break them all down to reuse the components except the powder. It will be a slow process, just do a few at a time every day and it will get done before you know it. You will learn how to use a Kennetic bullet puller when it's all done. Just remember they work on rebound, so a loose grip is required to allow the hammer to bounce on impact.

My experience in gun show ammo was from helping someone on the range. He was having problems with his gun jamming. I took a look and determined the ammo OAL was all over the place. I remove the barrel from his gun and did the plunk test on the remaining ammo. 60-70% failed. He ended up with about 2 mag full of usable ammo out of 100 rounds he had. He learned a lesson in buying gun show ammo that day.
 
I'd weigh them all, then pull out 10% of the heaviest and lightest. Dissect the ones that were pulled and see whatcha got.
Weigh each charge upon disassembly.

I am aware we need to be careful. But there are ways to verify things
 
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What do you have tp lose by pulling them, dumping and reloading except some time and effort.??

What to have to lose when firing just one and it kbooms?:uhoh:

I got a box of about 500 reloads free from my friend at the LGS, All different calibers. No way I was gonna pull all with a wack a mole to I bought a RCBS collet puller and the sleeves. Haven't used it since

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1012943183?pid=680804
 
WestKentucky said:
the label looks nicely done and I would not expect a hack ammo supplier to have a nice label printer like that.
Click to expand...

Those labels are one of the biggest red flags about this ammo to me. It’s just a box store mailing label stuck on a ziplock baggie…

Suppliers like Avery and Uline have been selling “mailing/address labels” like that for at LEAST over 20yrs that I’ve been buying them - you can pick them up at Walmart or Staples off of the shelf, delivered to your door from Amazon. We used to have to format our own margins in a word processor to align with the labels, but now for at least 10yrs, Avery has had a website which accepts user text and automatically formats margins to align with their printable products.

It has only been SLIGHTLY more difficult than that to buy cartridge boxes during that same time, as they’re still readily available online, but obviously not commonly on shelves at grocers and common big box retailers. So even seeing that kind of label on a generic white card paper box would be a red flag of a fly by night operation to me.

These days, it’s pretty accessible to even get custom printed packaging with ease, but I WOULD generally expect only someone which cares about their product to spend time and energy to buy that volume and spend that extra expense in packaging - printed boxes is where I would draw the line for no red flags for packaging.

Between missing the crimp, loose bag packaging of low roundcount packages, and using stationary store labels on ziploc baggies, I’d put this firmly into the “no fly zone” on my bench and pull them down.

WestKentucky said:
NM SBH is not really a gun I would want to use as a test bed. RedHawks are reported to be THE strongest 44 on the planet
Click to expand...

SBH’s are also reported to be the second strongest factory model 44mag on the planet, or third if pretend 5 shot FA’s are considered factory models. I’ve seen Linebaugh and Pearce talk about 40-44kpsi loads in SBH’s for a long time, with the SRH’s relatively agreed among them as 50kpsi. Certainly, a lot can happen in 6kpsi, but the SBH’s are no slouch. I don’t differentiate between my 10lb sledge hammer and my 12lb when I’m swinging them - they’re both sledgehammers. But I don’t load my M29’s to “Ruger Only” levels.
 
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Odds are they are ok but it's your call. Looks like some real good Remington bullets they have on top of them. I'd leisurely break a few down when I had time and load them up back up in the same session with my own powder.

Powder is the cheapest component in reloading. It will be worth the peace of mind.
 
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