Reloads from an unknown source

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crest117

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A friend gave me several hundred .357 magnum reloads that he had purchased at a gun show about 20 years ago. All look to still be in excellent condition. They are loaded with round nose uncoated lead bullets which I would assume means they were loaded to less than max velocity. My question is, should I dare shoot them or should I break them down and reuse the bullets and cases with a new known powder charge. Note, if I did shoot them it would be in a Ruger Service Six, a very strong revolver. Thanks in advance for advise.
 
If it were me (which is not a euphemism for "This is what you should do.") I wouldn't do it. In fact, I had a similar situation a few months ago. I inherited a pistol and it came with some reloads the family member had gotten from a friend of theirs. I pulled them all.
 
Years ago, I once worked at Kurta and one of the QA folks said a "friend" had given him a box of 357 reloads and when he shot the first cylinder full, in his S&W, he had to use a screwdriver to drive the cases out. Bullets were hollow point 1/2 jackets and I can't remember the powder stated on the box. He asked if I would check them out.

I pulled the bullets, dumped the powder and reassembled the loads at 3/4 max. I didn't have a scale then, only a powder balance, so I put about 2 tablespoons of left over powder in a plastic sandwich bag, and gave the cartridges and loose powder back to him. He said he had no problems with the reloads. Now,.... I would not do that again.
 
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I quit useing reloded ammo other then my own.
I use to buy reloaded ammo from gun shows and off the local gun forums.
A guy bought a butt load of relods from an estate sale and resold a bunch of thrm. I bought a lot of the 357 magnum ammo.
I shot a lot of it and got one that must of been double charged. It was LOAD AND HURT MY WRIST.
It really hurt and I am lucky it didn't ruin my revolver.
Ever since then I don't trust reloads from other people.

Friday morning I will be picking up two hundred pieces of reloaded 222 Remington cartridges and a set of RCBS 222 Remington Dies from a guy who inherited his 90 plus year old father inlaw who chashed in his chips.
This guy was shooting some of the old guys 45 acp reloads and got a double charge.
I will be tearing these cartridges down and reload them myself.
It's not worth the risk of injury or death.
 
crest117 said:
A friend gave me [COMPONENTS] enough for several hundred .357 magnum [rounds] that he had purchased at a gun show about 20 years ago. All look to still be in excellent condition.

... should I break them down and reuse the bullets and cases with a new known powder charge
Click to expand...
There, fixed it for you.

Yes, you should reuse the bullets and cases with a new known powder charge. :D

Primers should be good so you can resize the brass without depriming pin to save the primers.
 
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not worth the chance and the trouble it can bring you. break the ammo down and dump the powder. now you got some components. you know breaking down several hundred 357 mag rounds will take some time and will begin to be a pain in the butt.
 
When it comes to items of any sort that could, if defective in any way, result in personal injury to anyone I apply my Trusted Supplier Rule. I only use products or services that I believe are most likely to exercise the best quality control and processes. I would or more shoot ammo fabricated by a person I did not or do not know personally. I like to save money and get good deals, but when it comes to safety I only buy known quality products and services.
 
I have been reloading for a few decades, and I'm still human (I think?) and I can make mistakes. Fortunately my "mistakes" are minor like seating a primer backwards, or charging a case that has no primer, and stuff like that which posed no danger, but they are mistakes. I would not trust my guns, my fingers, or my eyes to an unknown reloader. Commercial ammunition factories have invested quite a bit of time and effort to insure excellent quality control to produce safe ammo, and I'm sure that's way more than "Randy's Reloading Stuff" reloaded ammo...
 
crest117 said:
A friend gave me several hundred .357 magnum reloads that he had purchased at a gun show about 20 years ago. All look to still be in excellent condition. .
Click to expand...

Interesting question with many of the long time favored responses. I at this point would have to agree only because of the unknown, unverified origins.

With that said I look at it this way; if had purchased them at a gun show 20 years ago for myself they would have had to pass a couple criteria. One the vendor would have had to been a commercial reloader with an FFL to do so and then I would have had to be confident enough to believe that what he was selling was safe and wasn't just some Joe Smoe selling a bag of leftovers. If I purchased it I would have shot it but I wouldn't be passing it along to a friend.

A few of the local shows have vendors there that are run by shops locally that are re-manufacturing ammunition, it is safe and they sell a lot of it.
 
Go over to Facebook reloading pages and read responses by people that have been “reloading for 40 years and still have my fingers”. You’ll never think twice about NOT shooting someone else’s reloads. It’s just scary.
 
kmw1954 said:
at this point would have to agree only because of the unknown, unverified origins.
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Thing is we are all human and our memories and stories can deviate over time.

Many members "claimed" such and such took place when posting "Funny thing happened at the range today" threads where case wall failure/rupture/KaBoom occurred.

When we conducted root cause analysis, "stories" get fuzzy and doubts surface as to actual powder/charge used, reloading process (was there a double charge?), and no verification of neck tension/bullet setback prior to the case wall failure.

An overly expanded (Can you say 9mm Major) and repeatedly work hardened brass that will split instead of being malleable to contain chamber pressure looks like any other brass after being cleaned/polished. So just because a bag of rounds look shiny with an alleged "story" of being bought at a gun show won't show potential dangers of overcharge, wrong powder, internal corrosion, etc.

And we have no idea how these rounds were stored as powder deteriorates faster when storage temperature increases - https://www.hodgdonreloading.com/reloading-education/safety/gunpowder-stability

20 years is a long time and if rounds were stored in higher temperatures, powder breakdown would have accelerated.

No, I would not shoot these rounds and recommend pulling them.
 
crest117 said:
My question is, should I dare shoot them or should I break them down and reuse the bullets and cases with a new known powder charge.
Click to expand...

Well you can do as you wish.

Personally? I would NOT shoot them.
You have no idea of the quality control the user had.
Is it possible that there's a dbl charge in any of them?

I'd pull the bullets, reuse the case & primer to add my own powder.
Use the old powder to fertilize the lawn or the garden.
 
LiveLife said:
When we conducted root cause analysis, "stories" get fuzzy and doubts surface as to actual powder/charge used, reloading process (was there a double charge?), and no verification of neck tension/bullet setback prior to the case wall
Click to expand...

Never see the 5 whys on here though
 
Looks like you agree pulling them is a good choice.

I have a tool called a grip-n-pull that I like. Used an inertia hammer type on a set of about 30 unknown reloads and decided to look for something else shortly after. Ended up with this tool in a couple of different versions, works great for jacketed bullets. Will mess up pure lead bullets half of the time, especially small round nose varieties.

If you dont care for the type of bullet you're pulling or plan to melt them down into something else this could be a good option. Otherwise the hammer method may be best.
 
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