"INHERITED 357mag RELOADS"

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friscolatchi

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Hi to all,

I recently bought a used Marlin 1894C 38/357. Should I use the reloaded 357 cartridges given to me with the gun. They were reloaded by the 1st owner - (I'm the 3rd owner).
There are 50 each of the following, labeled nicely in a red plastic box. The info is as follows:

Bullet 38 wt 158 gr Type JHP OAL 1.570 Case Starline Powder H110 Primer CCI 550SPM Grains 15.5 Reloaded 5/14/2010

and...

Bullet 38 wt 125 gr Type JSP OAL 1.580 Powder WIN 231 Primer Federal small pistol primer Grains 7.7 Reloaded 7/10/2010

The gun is great shooting and I would hate to see 100 cartridges go to waste. I don't reload as of yet. The guy before me told me that he took one apart and weighed the powder and it was accurate for what was stated on the box.

Any ideas? I don't mind wasting 50 dollars on new cartridges as the cost of replacement is tenfold.

BTW, great gun and lots of fun to shoot with 38sp's

Thanks in advance for your recommendation.
 
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Nice neatly labeled reloads with all the info? Heck, I would probably shoot them, but it is your risk, not mine. :)
 
Nice neatly labeled reloads with all the info? Heck, I would probably shoot them, but it is your risk, not mine.
Click to expand...

I would probably shoot them also given the care to label them so well....that is after I used a caliper to verify the overall length of most of the cartridges.

I only shot 7 9mm reloads of unknown origin before coming to an abrupt halt when one of them over expanded in the chamber and had to be tapped out with a brass rod. I have 100 more to take apart as I will not shoot another one of these poor reloads. It is unreal how much variation on the overall length you could see just by eyeballing them. :barf:
 
Considering the way the ammo was stored and all the information is there I also would probably shoot them. Reason?? Because if both powder charges are accurate neither are anywhere near the Max charge weights for those 2 rounds. Actually, both are close to the starting charge so even if there's a little more powder in the case than written they are safe.

BUT, like said above, it's your choice, not mine...
 
My concern would be with why the gun has changed hands twice in such a short amount of time.

(Hope it didn't have anything to do with the reloads.)
 
due to the risk of a squib or double charge personally I'd have to pull all the bullets and check the powder charge. The risk far outweights any return imho.

I'd suggest buying some commerical ammo and putting them aside until the day you decide to reload your own ammo....when you'll have a kinetic bullet puller and press to do the necessary.

Be sure to keep all the brass you shoot as you'll have perfectly good once fired brass to work with when the time comes to start reloading.

or just get into reloading now :D
 
If it's a sqiib you'll hear it. And you can't double charge with H110, it'll overflow the case. I'd shoot them but it's not my gun.....
 
I'd be happy to help you take apart a few rounds for a quality check if you want. If they match up go the labels you should be gtg.
 
Labeled like that and Starline brass. Probably would shoot a couple and see how they do. It is possible that they could have been dumped and scrambled up or the 'labeled' boxes were re-used.

Bottom line is that if you didn't load them (or know who did) and didn't see them placed into the box, it is a gamble.
 
I don't shoot any ones else reloads, particularly someone I do not know. I only takes one to turn a good day to a really bad day.

The componets used are good stuff. If I was going to shoot I would weight and pull some to check the loads. Then from those results you can make a reasonable assumption if it's good or bad.
 
I never shoot anyone else's reloads. EVER! I just bought an SP101 .32 Mag with 500 rounds of loaded ammo. And yes I will pull all 500 rounds. Actually already started to. All were labeled with data, but I don't care. It's my eyes and hands.
 
Just buy new ammo and set the unknown loads aside in the "zombie box" for the future ... or trade them (as components) to someone who does reload.
 
Some one gave me their reloads and i decided to take a few apart to weigh the powder and out of ten cartridges 3 of them had no powder! I will never trust hand loads or reloads from another party. It's obvious that whoever loaded the rounds given to me forgot to turn his powder measure on at some point and it probably cost him his gun and is surely the reason that he gave his loads away. Luckily they wont cost another shooter his firearm or worse.
 
Set them aside and get ammo that you don't need to worry about. Odds are, you would likely be fine, but why mess around.
Sell/give them to someone who reloads if you aren't planning to reload any time soon. Think of them as primed brass with some prep work involved.
 
I'd pull 'em & give the brass & bullets to a reloader.

I'd burn the gunpowder on a manhole cover. Good times...
 
My advice, go buy a kinetic bullet puller (which is handy when you do start reloading) and pull them all down. I think I paid about $15 for my RCBS. Save the brass and the bullets, dump the powder. Consider it the first of your reloading supplies, or sell them to me really cheap! You could even post components here and use your proceeds to buy factory stuff.
 
I say pull them. They're a known unknown and you're gambling a lot on the prior owner not dropping a double charge in there.

It would be a small investment to buy some dies and a Lee hand press (the "V" shaped one). You will then have ready primed brass and bullets to use.
 
Since the reloader took the time to put down a lot more data than many reloading folks do, and one was pulled and the specs were right on, I'd shoot them and save the brass for when you do start reloading
 
I know some folks that have beautiful handwriting, but have to stop and think before removing a screw (let's see is it "righty tighty"? or...) Ever hear that old saying "you can't tell a book by it's cover"? Sure, good lables tell you the loader was a good record keeper, but he could have copied something from a magazine article too. :D

Put them in your "Later Box" for when you start reloading and can use the components.
 
Why not weigh every cartridge and see if they are relatively consistent with each other and consistent with what is written on the box?
 
Pretty lables don't mean the ammo matches the lable. Boxes could have been a yardsale find, the cartridges could be experimental compressed Bullseye loads-no one knows.
 
I've found it doesn't really take long to pull 100 rounds. And then I'm 100.0% confident in the load and quality.

Everyone has their own anal rententive factor.
 
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