Reloaded Ammo

[cyphertext]

Seriously? There are ranges that don't allow the most common ammo on the planet? Did you mean steel core?

No, I mean FMJ... outside ranges that have been in existence for years and home developers decided to build houses behind the range... progress!

 

[Rastoff]

That's insane. What are they afraid of? I mean, I understand the potential over penetration of steel core stuff, but what can FMJ do that's so bad? Any backstop I've ever heard of will stop it.

So what do you shoot? Hard cast? What about these?:

 

[cyphertext]

That's insane. What are they afraid of? I mean, I understand the potential over penetration of steel core stuff, but what can FMJ do that's so bad? Any backstop I've ever heard of will stop it.

So what do you shoot? Hard cast? What about these?:

Have to shoot soft points or hollow points. They are afraid that the FMJ can ricochet outside of the range, potentially skip off the berm and carry over it.

At the range I shoot at most often, there is a dump behind the range, and then houses beyond that. A couple of years ago, a man was hit with a .22lr round while mowing his yard and he claimed it came from the range... it would be a heroic shot for this to happen, as it is a mile from the bench to his yard, and the range is lower than the dump. Kids shooting rats in the dump is more likely...

The media also claimed rounds were coming from the range and hitting houses in the neighborhood. They even showed the brass from a round that hit a house... yep, that AK must have thrown that brass a mile!

 

[JaPes]

I am going to a gun show this weekend and am wondering if its a good idea to buy some reloaded ammo just like for target shooting with my AR? It always seems like the booth that sells it is always busy so im hoping that is a good sign.

Seriously? This is going to be harsh, but it is what it is. Just because you see the table is busy is not an indicator that reloaded ammunition is safe. You could just be observing a gaggle of numb nuts all doing the same stupid thing. There's something called critical thinking skills. USE THEM. THINK THIS STUFF THROUGH.

There are three types of reloaded ammo.

1. Reloaded ammo that you loaded yourself. Since you have a personal vested interest in not only keeping your firearm intact, but also your hands, eyes, face, and anything else shrapnel can tear up, you have incentive to be OCD about the quality of ammo produced. You produce an out of spec round, it's your darn fault for not paying attention to every step of the reloading process and implementing quality control steps. I know this first hand.

2. Commercially remanufactured ammo. A Federally Licensed, registered business, that is bonded and insured, uses commercial machinery to load ammunition. They also have automated quality control and human quality control inspections. Ammunition is sold with production lot codes printed on the box/container just like factory new ammo. If you experience firearms catastrophic failure and/or physical injury and the root cause is determined to be faulty out of spec ammunition, you have legal recourse for financial remediation.

3. Ammunition made by some stranger who purchased a table at a gun show. He doesn't have a registered business. He just cranks out rounds on his home reloading equipment to make a few bucks. If you experience catastrophic firearms failure and/or physical injury and the root cause is determined to be faulty out of spec ammunition, good luck finding that guy and proving he made/sold you anything. You just trusted your safety to some unknown stranger out to make a buck.


The only reloads I shoot are reloads I made myself. I will shoot commercially remanufactured ammunition from established, well-known businesses such as Freedom Munitions. I will never shoot some ammunition cranked out by some dude who bought a table at a gun show.

 

[JaPes]

1. Reloaded ammo that you loaded yourself. Since you have a personal vested interest in not only keeping your firearm intact, but also your hands, eyes, face, and anything else shrapnel can tear up, you have incentive to be OCD about the quality of ammo produced. You produce an out of spec round, it's your darn fault for not paying attention to every step of the reloading process and implementing quality control steps. I know this first hand.

Here is the result of a causal chain of screw ups from a round of .357 Magnum I hand loaded.

This beautiful Taurus M66:

Became this nightmare that I was lucky to have walked away from with a scratch on my hand.

• Was not paying 100% attention.
• Chasing max charge / max power.
• Not enough QC checks integrated into my reloading process.

Blew the top strap off. Halved the cylinder. Shrapnel blew mostly upward. Shrapnel lodged itself into the lane ceiling. Lane dividers caught shrapnel that blew sideways. My safey glasses took a hit that would have made me blind. I was lucky to walk away. I was even more fortunate not to have injured anyone else on the firing line.

Reloaded ammo is no joke. If I can let this happen to me with my own reloaded ammo, what vested interest could some stranger have in my own safety and well being? Absolutely none.

This was first and hopefully only time I make this series of mistakes.

 

[Rastoff]

Thanks for those pics and the story Japes. It is good for us to check ourselves from time to time.

Guns are dangerous. This is a simple fact. Using a gun, for any purpose, is a series of accepted risks. Those risks include trust in many sources. Trust in the ammo manufacturer. Trust in the gun manufacturer. Trust in the target. Trust in the back stop. Trust in the skill of the shooter. The list goes on and on. Most of us never think of all the risk associated with shooting a gun.

Reloads just add to the risk.


One thing that bothers me is this:

• Chasing max charge / max power.

Why do we do this? What's the advantage of trying to get the last millibar of pressure out of a load?

My father-in-law told me once, "Yeah, I was reloading back in the day. I had a [insert gun brand] that I reloaded for. I pushed those loads as hard as I could and that thing would really bark!" I will never shoot a round that he's reloaded.

I've known a few people to bleed from their reloads. Fortunately I don't personally know anyone who was seriously dismembered or died. Still, the statistics are in, max loads don't give us any advantage. Even factory +P is a mystery to me, but they sell it by the millions of rounds. +P+ is just ludicrous.