Any ammo to stay away from?

[66snub]

I had a box of Winchester silvertips in 38 special that had about a 25% hard primer situation that required restriking when I tested them before putting them in my carry piece. I'm glad I did. A word to the wise, ALWAYS test your ammo before you trust it with your life.

 

[ladyT]

The only ammo to stay away from is my ammo. It's spoken for.

 

[Otreb]

Any factory loaded .38sp or .357 should be fine in the 586. Stick to reputable reloads from makers like BLack Hills, Gergia Arms, Miwall, etc and you'll be fine as well.
I generally don't use steel cased stuff in any of my guns except the commie makes like the makarov or AKs as they are designed around them and have sturdy extractors for it...you'll rarely see steel cased in revolver rounds, I'd simply avoid what exists because they tend to be really dirty shooting and don't always seal the chamber like brass or even aluminum cased.
Factory loaded +p+ .38sp is loaded still a good 10k or more psi less than .357 mag. It was loaded in 110gr, corbon loaded it in 110, 115 and 158gr, fed had a 125gr and both fed and win had a 147gr. The discontinued corbon 115 was the hottest and said to be around 26k psi.....cake in a .357mag revolver. I've chrono'd the win +p+ 147 gr at just under 1100fps in a mod 15 4" revolver....nothing to fear in a .357 mag.

 

[Buford57]

It's my favorite target load in my 642. Perhaps a bad batch?

I have never had a dud, but the last four boxes I bought generated a lot of heat. The cylinders of both a 642 and a 28-2 became too hot to touch after one cylinder full. I noticed no increase in recoil, report, etc. and no extraction problems. This was my favored practice ammo for ranges that do not allow reloaded ammo. I have not checked the lot numbers. It would not surprise me if there are multiple "recipes" in use for this economy ammo and suitable (if not optimal) powders left over from runs of other rounds are used up this way.

I'm not saying it's defective, let alone dangerous, but I will probably switch to the Federal white box if I have to buy factory practice ammo. I have a 148 gr. DEWC load using Clays that leaves the revolver cool after a full box, groups nicely and costs me about $5.00 per box to load. Compared to $23-$28 per box for factory practice ammo, it doesn't take long to recoup the cost of a used single stage press and a set of Lee dies.

 

[bananaman]

1)Stick to commercial brand name ammo.

2) Stay away form "gun show" reloads.

3) If you want to use reloaded (aka: remanufactured) ammo, buy from well known companies (Miwall, Georgia Arms, Black Hills etc) who are licensed, bonded and insured.

There was a mention about steel cased ammo earlier. There was only one single 357Mag steel cased load made and sold on the market, and that was WOLF Performance brand made by Tula Cartridge Works, and it was a very limited production and probably very hard to find. So no worries there.

As for A-Merc (American Ammunition), this company went out of business long ago and it is unlikely anyone will come across any of this ammo in large quantities.

Best rule of thumb, stick with commercial manufacturers (Fed, Rem, Win, Speer, Magtech, Fiocchi, S&B, Prvi Partizan, Aguila, etc.). Cabelas brand ammo (Herters) is also good ammo (previously made by Fiocchi and now by S&B).

You never really know what another persons reloads have in them. If it is someone you know and trust them with your life, that is another thing.
Have been tempted to buy before, but never did. Do my own! Bob