Mystery reloads, not so gentle reminder.

[Ankeny]

For the last 20 years or so I have had a standing policy not to shoot any reloads other than my own. Today I was reminded why.

A friend of mine owns a commercial reloading business and he has been admiring my new Kimber. He was cleaning off the overstock shelf and he set 300 rounds of his commercial reloads aside for me. He had loaded the ammo for a mutual friend who fell ill a couple of years ago and passed away. The loads were .45 auto loaded with 200 grain bullets. Some bullets were FMJ and others were JHP, all weighing 200 grains. The powder charge was 9.5 grains of AA5 ("stiff" but below max). I told my friend I wouldn't shoot any reloads other than my own. He replied by calling me paranoid and he pointed to his Dillon 1050 and told me they were loaded, "Right over there on that 1050". He also asked, "How can anything go wrong with a Dillon". Well I handed him a ten dollar bill and took the 300 rounds of ammo. The price seemed right.

This morning I was shooting the ammo up for the brass and I had shot perhaps 200 rounds of this "Mighty stiff" ammo when I had a wee bit of a problem. I fired my pistol and it recoiled excessively and a bit of a flash occured. The report was a bit loud and I watched in amazement as the brass flew well beyond the other spent rounds.

Just like the rest of you would do, I walked directly over to the piece of brass and picked it up for inspection. The primer had flowed around the firing pin and the case was split from the case mouth 3/4 of the way to the base. Obviously the problem was excessive pressure and not just crappy brass. By the way, no damage to the pistol or shooter but I think I need to go back to my old policy.

I don't want to start a flame war, but I am wondering. Is this the type of incident that I here about that results in a kaboom with unsupported chambers? Would a Glock G30 have survived?

 

[Art Eatman]

Anybody can goof. That's why Remington, et al, have all those quality-control checkers.

I've omitted the powder in a few .45ACPs with my Dillon. My fault. I caught all but one, before shooting. The problem was that the last one was the first of a double-tap.

So, after I replaced the barrel...

If the reloader is using a load which is more than half the case volume, double-charges generally cannot result. I ask around before using unknown reloaders' stuff, and ask any reloader what he's doing. Been lucky, I guess.

Overall, your policy is best.

FWIW, Art

 

[Reddog]

Art, If the first shot didn't go off, how did the second shot of a double tap chamber and fire behind the bullet of the first, and destroy your barrel? Reddog

 

[Nyterunner]

Red, the large pistol primer is still enough to push a bullet into, but not through, the bore. second round fires, and OOOPS!

 

[Mal H]

A primer will indeed push a bullet into the bore, but it sure doesn't have enough power to fully cycle the slide. ??? Art, "you have some 'splainin' to do Lucy!" Maybe you had a very light load of powder.

 

[Rome]

I'm a new member to this forum and thought I'd be the only one who swore off "private" reloads. My brother and I are fairly new to the sport and shoot at S&W in Massachusetts. One evening he went on his own and asked to borrow my Beretta 40 caliber to shoot with his guns. I didn't give it another thought until that evening when he came home to tell me that he'd blown up my gun. I thought he was joking but lo and behold there was a big hole on the top of the barrel and the butt had expanded a whole bunch. Fortunately no injuries but he did close the range for a few minutes until everyone checked everything and the parts of their bodies. Turns out the load was from a friends business. Ruined a perfectly good weapon, I'll tell you not to mention the fact that I'll never, never, never, ever lend my gun to anyone for any reason, period. It could have been really bad but the gun responded properly. New ammo for me unless I load my own, too. Now I'm paraniod to shoot another Beretta and have "graduated" to a S&W .40 and a Para Ordnance p13-45. Slick as a whistle.
Rome

 

[James K]

That policy of not shooting "strange" reloads is a good one. Go back to it and stick with it.

Jim

 

[Kframe]

So are Black Hills reloads okay?
I mean, they are reloads, but really are totally remanufactured.
I've never thought they might be dangerous, are they?
I never buy "grab bag" ammo at gunshows, but I guess I didn't know if "commercial" reloads are alright.


On another note, I wouldn't lend a gun of mine to anyone for any reason, ever. That includes my family members and dearest friends.
The potential risk to the gun is certainly one thing.
I'm more concerned with the moral and legal liability of letting one of your weapons be unsupervised and possibly accessable to the wrong hands.
I'm sure you would get fried in court if you lent a gun to Mr. Smith Next Door, and he left it in the toy box and Junior ventilated the Baby by accident.
Even of greater importance than staying out of jail(at least to me), I just would not be able to live with myself if I somehow contributed to an easily prevented tragedy.

My guns are my guns. If you need one... Go buy your own.
(But I will be happy to take you shooting and I will be watching you and my gun at all times.)
That's the way it is.

$.02, -Kframe

[This message has been edited by Kframe (edited February 05, 2000).]

 

[pluspinc]

You can get problems with new factory ammo. Our range has a nice collection of such things.
As for reloads, I once bought two boxes of .357's at a "deal" price in a gun store that they took in with some guns and stuff. I fired one in my Model 19 and stopped when it seemed pretty stiff, but figured I'd try one more. Stretched the frame and buldged the cylinder. No more of that.
I've visited Blackhill's and their stuff is pristine as it can get and Jeff Hoffman is a long time shooter, good guy, and knows his stuff and I would vouch for anything the man makes including home made beer.
He's the kind of guy who returns calls, answers questions and won't let you be unhappy.
When we shoot we are dealing with high pressures and any part of the chain can cause a problem even with new. Thus WEAR THE GLASSES KIDS!!!. What's double tap? You mean there's a limit? Why not capacity tap? Me thinks stopping or slowing down could be fatal during a nasty encounter. At least in the real world.

------------------
Specialists in the use and training of lethal force.

 

[fubsy]

Art,
Were you using that powder checker of dillions?.....that thing has caught me a few times----most often when ive been having primer seating problems and have a light load.

On reloads, if some one gives em to ya, pull em for the components and reload em.

When ya go to the gun shows and talk to some of the white box reloaders you'll find from time to time, be aware ofthe parameters of pressures your reloading manuals say for the caliber your interested in and ask em questions,,,,,,We encountered one that was tell us he didnt bother with that he'd just work up a load until it started showing signs, and then would back it off,,,,,,,well I might do that for my stuff, but I sure dont want anyone else doing that for me.....

On factory ammo--I was hanging out at my local gunsmiths and he gives me a 2 1/2 686 with 4federal 125jhp's and two mag safes in 38+p loading, so I go fire em and could not tell ya when the magsafes were in the cylinder--I dont remember point of impact, I do remember the magsafes required extra effort to remove from the cylinder.....it could have been loosely cut cylinder holes from the factory, dont know,,,,,has anyone else experienced this?....fubsy.