Since we are on this subject, I wanted to share my own experience as a piece of advice to everyone. Even commercial reloads can have a problem, so if you think something is wrong, don't ignore it without checking things out. This is not an indictment of commercial reloading, just advice from experience.
One time I bought a couple boxes of commercially reloaded 45 auto shells at a gun show. It was a pretty substantial set up, so I didn't assume there were any problems with the shells. My brother and I later went to an indoor range near his house and we took a pair of .45 auto pistols and started shooting the shells I had bought. After only a couple shots, I heard my brother talking to the range officer about having a squib load. I had fired a couple rounds, and with all the other shooting I couldn't hear whether or not my last shot went off. But something didn't seem right, so hearing my brother talk about a squib load made me check out the gun I was using and it turned out I had a squib load too! With another shot we could have wrecked the .45 that belonged to our dad, and the Jim Clark Heavy Long Slide Government Model I had just acquired!
Luckily on the box was a telephone number for the commercial reloader, and I called to let them know what happened. Apparently the reloader had a number of prior calls about squib loads, because the gentleman I was speaking to was figuratively falling all over himself saying to send them the bill for any "armorer's charge" for removing the stuck bullets from the barrels, and to send back for a refund the shells I had bought. The reloader paid every dime.
Alls well that ends well, but the prospect of wrecking two guns with substantial monetary and sentimental value, plus maybe losing some fingers, was pretty scary. Since this thread came up, I wanted to give everybody the benefit of a first hand experience rather than third hand rumor.
