I have a stupid question, I received 200 rounds of 44 magnum reloads today from a guy that is a customer at my local GS. He said they were from when he owned a 29 they are 240 grain JHP reloads with 23.5 grains of H110 powder 100 hjve fed mag primers 100 have cci mag primers the MV is 1460 they are from 2005 and the brass has been reloaded 3 times per the tags on the plastic boxes. Question is would you shoot em? A bit tarnished on the brass and JHP noses. Never really deal with reloads just wanted the advice from the experts.

Thank You Pete

I only shoot my reloads it's not worth the risk of plugging the bore or injuring yourself from an overload.

If I knew he was a perfectionist and I really wanted to shoot them,Id pull the bullets on 10 of them and make sure the powder and weight were what he said they were and check the load in a current manual.

I wouldn't touch them....it's hard to say what his loading habits are or were. Better to be safe than sorry.

Yeah I hear ya to the scrap pile don't want to get hurt Thank You.

Heck yes I would shoot them. I know that there are numerous nervous nellies on this board who preach paranoia, but I aint one of them.

There's no way you can blow up a revolver with H110 and a 240gr bullet.

Undercharged H110 is probably more dangerous than overcharged; pull the bullets, dump the powder, save the rest.

What if it's not H110? Just saying.

They seem to have decent records to go with them, seeing as he actually made use of the tags.
Pull 10 each, if the records agree with the findings, load pack and fire.

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it just needs more voltage

Pull them down and reload the components yourself.

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Front sight and squeeze

Can you say, "Kaboom!!!" ?

I don't load for anyone except immediate family (wife and kids) and I don't shoot someone elses reloads. Pull the bullets, recharge the brass with your own powder, and enjoy.

I would Pull The Bullets & Discard the Powder & Use the components

Most of us make a point never to shoot somebody else's reloads. There's no need because we can make whatever we want. But I can't say I haven't done it at all depending on who it was. But in your case, I'd check them out and try shooting them...CAREFULLY. That they are marked with complete info says something. What I had a bad experience with were so called 'factory reloads' that were so inconsistent I felt like I was shooting magnums one shot and gallery loads the next. Do you have a 29 or equal that you can use?? As mentioned, you aren't going to get a double charge of 110. If it were Bullseye or some fast powder, well........

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

^

Yup!

Only shoot your own reloads.

I would pull a couple of bullets just to verify it was H110 and shoot
the rest. I don't think it's a good idea in general to shoot other
people's reloads but there is an awful lot of reloaded ammo sold
commercially. Most of the gun shows I have been to will have people
selling reloads with boxes piled high on their tables. Some people
just seem to believe that the worst will happen automatically in any
given scenario.

Don't rapid fire because of this. Shoot slow and deliberately making sure the bullets leave the barrel.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I don't shoot others reloads. Who cares what is on the box, how do you know what's inside the cases? There are a lot of hack reloaders out ther & I like my guns, fingers & eyes too much to save a couple $$. If there're free, well you scored some primed brass & maybe some bullets if they pull ok.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

It's always best to err on the side of caution. Probably better to tear them down.

Would I shoot them? No.

Over the years I've met a lot of guys that reloaded ammo. Some of them I wouldn't have a problem shooting their reloads, others I wouldn't shoot their ammo out of their guns. And the problem is you can't tell them apart until you actually shoot some of their stuff.

Did the guy tell you what was in the boxes or are you going from the tags? They could be on their fourth loading and it wasn't labeled. They could be part of the reason he doesn't have a 29 anymore. The labels also don't tell you a lot about his loading equipment or techniques. Even if you pull half of the cartridges there is no way to tell that not all of them have a proper charge, such as the powder might have bridged in the drop tube causing one case to be a squib and the next to be over. No, an over charge of H110 probably won't kaboom, but if a full load goes after the squib...

There's a lot of ifs and the ifs if something goes wrong are where it gets really exciting.

Squib loads aren't the problem, Google: Secondary Explosive Effect or S.E.E.

Been reloading for 40 years and I'm with the pull the bullets; dump the powder; and reload the rest of the components crew. It just ain't worth it. ANYONE can make a mistake reloading and if I blow up my gun I want it to be my responsibility only. The only way to insure that is to shoot only your reloads. Many powders look alike so there's no way to know if that ball powder is H110/296 or 231.

Yea and maybe it's C4! And maybe it is carcinogenic and causes testicular cancer! And maybe the bullets are secretly controlled by the NSA and will attack you in the night with little meat clevers! And maybe your dog will become a zombie!

Just saying...

I've been reloading since 1970 - 44 years. So neener-neener!

I might be worried if the guy told me he this were plinkers, using TiteGroup, loaded on his single-stage, because that powder hides in the case and a double-charge is hard to spot. One "senior-moment" and your revolver becomes an interesting forum post. But I don't worry with H110/W296. Worry even less with 4227.

And what is magic about the 4th loading? My 44 mag brass usually goes 8+ loading cycles before the case mouth cracks.

You can't get enough H110 behind a 240gr pill to blow up a revolver - fact. And a full load after a squib is USER ERROR. BTW, some factory 44 mag fodder (CCI Blazer) has a lot of bullet pull and possibly give you a squib.
And I think people watch way too much TV and actually believe that bullets spark in gunfights.

It sounds like this is somebody you only know casually, knowing nothing about his habits or reloading technique and expertise. It cracks me up that some are are characterizing those who advise caution shooting those reloads as nervous nellies. The reloads must be OK because they have labels on them? Sheesh. They put a lot of trust in a guy they know even less than you do.

A couple years ago I was given 100 rounds of 300 Win mag reloads. Started tearing them down and I'm glad I did. Some did not have enough powder, some had what looked to be to much, and some of the powder looked to have been wet. Just my 2 cents

When it comes to reloads, I believe these two "policies" are necessary:

1. Do not shoot someone else's reloads.

2. Do not let anyone else shoot YOUR reloads.

IMHO

Then I would shoot them out of one of my 44 mag rifles. The bullets are easy to pull on a 44 & reload with what you desire.

What does "just saying" mean?

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Tennessee

I think he means I hope its not bullseye to the top.:: Not putting words in someone else mouth. I am safe & know what to do. I am 69 & not ready to check out just yet. 69 was a good year.

Nobody has ever been able to reproduce this in the laboratory. Erratic or incomplete burning, yes. Squibs, yes.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I would not shoot them, however I would pull the bullet and reload them with fresh loads of your choosing.

I understand where you're coming from in re: SEE's; personally I'm not going to risk it. I think there is probably a good reason that Hodgdon tells you not to reduce H110/296 below minimum, be that SEE's, squibs, or hangfires. I'm not wanting to get into an argument; there is just one person whose reloads I would fire other than my own, & he's only a 'maybe'. Take care

-Klaus

The charge is within spec for the bullet weight. IF he loaded them as advertised you're good....and you'll be shooting "real" .44 Magnum ammo.

There is no "magic" with the fourth loading. The basis of the comment is that he has no way of telling how many times the brass was loaded, with what and by who, based solely on what the label says on the box. Even if he pulled them apart and found they were different than what the label says, they may all still be fine, but he doesn't that for a fact.

"USER ERROR"...You are correct. But two wrongs don't make a right, and it's his gun, and face, that will pay the price for this error.

I don't watch very much TV at all, I have seen bullets spark, although not in gun fights, I don't take stupid chances due to laziness that can be easily avoided, and I do take my medications as prescribed.

In order to keep the opinions expressed by all the other members unbiased, I'm going to place you on my ignore list for a while. You are most welcome to do the same.

This is true. The main load were this happens is the 2.7 gr Bullseye load and a 148 gr hollow base wadcutter. A lot of this load has gone down 38 Special barrels with no problem. I remember seeing a test done on this. They were unable to duplicate the blowup. What they did find was that a deep seated bullet with this load produced very high pressures. The were WAY above anything I thought possible. So, the blowups may be from accidental deep seating.

Getting back to the original question, no. I would pull the bullets, dump the powder and reload them with my own powder charge and with my own powder. The load is a good one but not worth the risk.

There is. H110/296 requires high pressures and high heat for proper combustion. If the pressure is too low, the powder burns very erratically and, in addition to the possibility of squibs, has been known to leave a gelatinous goo in the barrel. Both of which can cause elevated chamber pressures in following shots.

SEE is not found in handgun cartridges. The powders used in these cases are designed for them, especially with the faster powders that are always loaded to "low" density. Some powders do not do very well at low densities, and result in very poor accuracy and performance, while others are very tolerant.

Where SEE is a problem is in very large rifle cartridges, or with excessively overbore cartridges, where the slowest of rifle powders are used in reduced loadings. It has happened in many labs, regardless of what you might read on the internet. What they are misreading is that it has never been reproduced in a lab where they were trying to find out exactly what is happening. P.O. Ackleys handbooks talk about it in several chapters, along with other reasons for blow ups.

When my brother passed I got about 3 gallons of .500 S&W Mag. brass, cleaned, sized, primed & ready for loading. No note as to the primer. Does anybody want 1 quart of ? large primers. I want to be able to count to 10 on my fingers!

Old 1911 Fan

Load them, unless you are shooting max loads, primer type & brand aren't very important.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO