Commercial reloads-are they safe???

D

Dave3006

New member
I have found a company that sells commercial .44 special reloads for $12/50. That is a great deal for practice purposes with my 1894P.

My only concern is that people bad mouth reloads. How safe would you consider commercial reloads to be?
 
Dave, I have shot some in 30-06 and they were functional. Not overly accurate but functional. I have an ex-brother in law that has fired probably thousands of commercial reloads in 38 Spl. 158 grain LRN, and never has had a problem. I do not know if they are on the same safety level of factory ammo (Remington, Winchester, Federal, etc.) but if not in my humble opinion they are close to it.
 
Dave. I would imagine that outfit would have liability insurance. Then again, maybe not. It was the cost of liability insurance that put me out of business. I'd ask. Sorry to be so simplistic
If ir were me, I'd ask him what he put in those loads. Then buy a box and break ten rounds picked at random and weigh them. If he says, for example 7.5 gr. of Unique, the total weight of the ten rounds should be in the 75 gr. average ballpark. Remember, if the total has a tenths figure, like say 75.6, then the average charge would be 7.56 gr. Sorry to be so simplistic, but I wanted to be sure you understood where I was coming from.
Paul B.
 
Most of the gun-show reloads I've shot in recent years seem to be one or two grains under max, depending on the cartridge.

Tort liability.

For most any product, it never hurts to get to know your dealer. :D

Art
 
I was just thinking about that today. I have shot many thousands of commercial reloads when I used to hang out at the indoor ranges. Never had a problem. But, I was talking to my dealer the other day about the Dillion 1050 press. He was telling me that a gun store in another town had a 1050 for each caliber and had high school kids in their cranking out reloads. As I got to thinking about it, I don't want to shoot any ammo loaded by a high school kid unless I watched him load it. They might be in there on the phone, or BSing with each other, not paying attention, stoned, whatever and not really understand what they are doing in the first place. I think the main problem would be them running out of powder and not realizing it, or running out of primers or seating primers upside down, but the possiblility always exists that they could double charge a case. I personally don't like the whole idea and will stay away from it in the future.
 
I have bought commercial reloads before. No complaints from me. I have bought 223 Rem by 3D under their Coyote label and a bunch of 38spl wadcutters from Custom Cartridge in Mesilla Valley, New Mexico.
 
One point I forgot to bring out is that I was talking about no name reloads produced usually in the back room of a gun shop or range. There are several companies producing "remanufactured" ammo and custom reloads that are a horse of another color. These are producers of serious ammo and ammo is their business, not a sideline.
 
The large commercial reloaders turn out a pretty good product. Still, I don't like to use reloads. With my own reloads, if something goes wrong, I know the name of the SOB who f***ed up.

Jim
 
Try some from Maine Cartridge Co..I have had very good luck with their loads they load many calibers good price.See their ads in SHOTGUN NEWS & sometimes in GUN LIST.Tel.# 207-826-2267
 
All of the ones I have bought work great.

I have bought thousands of rounds for my pistols at gunshows here in the PRK. Probably 2000 for my 9mm, 1000 for the .40, and I think even 500 for the M1 carbine. Never once had a problem. At the gun show there are usually two or three booths selling mass quantities of these reloads and for plinking and practicing, you can only beat it on your own press.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top