A way to determine if another's reloads are safe?

Take the heaviest and lightest few, pull them and see what they look like. If you've got a double charge in the heavy ones, Or a lighter-than-normal charge in the light ones, I would NOT shoot any of them.

If the charges are fine in both, fire away!
 
Thanks for all your response. I believe I will pull the heaviest and weigh the powder. I believe he did say that he cast the bullets and the brass is Winchester for what it is worth.
 
The loads with Trail Boss worry me a little - because with a cast bullet, he's loading them over the published max in the tables...( and I have a hard time trusting someone that would load over a published max)...
Click to expand...
While it may appear difficult to argue with hard, published numbers...
I think I will anyway. :p

Hodgdon also states clearly in their manuals that Trail Boss isn't like other powders and that YOU, the end user, can create your own safe maximum loads with it.

They, in print, suggest that you can fill the case to the bottom of the bullet without and compression or breaking of the donut-shaped flakes and and as long as you don't compress the powder, you will have made a safe (and still popgun weak, in my experience) "maximum" load.

There are many powders that can do dastardly deeds when you toy with max and overmax, but Trail Boss is on the other end of that spectrum.
 
Let me ask you one quesiton- why are you assuming the 11 grain weight spread is only in the case and bullet weights? With a charge of 4.5 grains, your reloader could have Double charged a round AND still had 2 grains of variation left over for case and bullet.
 
In general I'd take apart and check the 2 extremes, a handful of random rounds and only shoot them if I wouldn't find a higher spread of 0.3gr. Another general requirement would be that your friend loaded all rounds on a progressive press. If he made a mistake on the progressive your chances of finding an issues with random samples is good. In single stage mode tho every round could be a potential problem.

That being said I never have and never will shot somebody else's reloads. My inspiration with this hobby is, that "I" reload and not anybody else. It is also unlikely that somebody else would match my eye for detail. Why should I put my lovely guns or my health at risk? But that's just me and I'm by far not the standard.
 
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