Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Do you shoot other people's reloads?

Nope

if they are 75 years old with coke bottle thick bifocals and hand tremors.....

I have a friend that lost his right eye shooting other peoples reloads n his rifle. No safety glasses...

I just started shooting a buddies 9mm reloads in what was formerly his gun. Other than that I would be very leery of other peoples reloads.

My late brother passed away in 2011. He was an avid reloader, and loaded for a number of cartridges. I helped his wife dispose of all the reloading supplies and ammo that he had. There were several thousand rounds of reloads, and every box was labeled as to what it was.....case, powder, primer, and bullet. He was careful, and meticulous when it came to reloading. I'm still shooting it to this day, and have yet to experience any problems whatsoever. Can't say that I'd shoot anyone else's. My son and his daughters have yet to kill a deer with a factory load, as I reload all their deer ammo.

When I was about 12, this was 1952, my Dad and I got interested in reloading. This was back when reloading was something new to most people and considered sort of exotic. Anyway, local gunsmith took us in his shop and taught us the basics. He pounded it into our heads that we should NEVER shoot anyone else's reloads and NEVER reload for someone else.

I have adhered strictly to this advice to this day and consider it as solid as the day I first heard it

Many years ago in anchorage, there was an indoor range called the firing line (some here may remember). Wife went there to shoot a cheap Rossi 357mag, believe it was a 971??

Anyways she bought some house reloads. For some reason she didn't grab any of our ammo anyways that handgun became a paperweight real fast. Luckily the gun didn't come apart but bent and bulged a few things.

I think this was the only time she didn't say anything as I'm chewing her ass.

No

NO.

No

I have before.

I don't shoot most other people's reloads 'cause I don't trust most other people to take the care that I do.

Hell no !!!

Neil

I’ll shoot my sons, and two brothers reloads, that’s all. Was offered nearly 1000 rounds of a friends .223 reloads after he died, from his wife. I passed as I’d seen him pierce lots of primers. That was 15 years ago. Today, I’d take them and dis assemble.

I shoot reloads by one man only other than me. He is just as anal as a Reload bench as I am.

After listening to some of the nonsense spewing out of people’s mouths in the gun/reloading store. No.

Nope. If I’m losing fingers or eyes I want to be the reason why.

I'll shoot someone's reloads if I've watched them reload or know them (and their work techniques) very, very well. And I make "reloads" for others, but it's usually part of a load workup after I've done the juju on a rifle, usually a rifle that should shoot better than it is. Biggest batch I've ever made is a little under 100 rounds, I don't reload just to reload, I'd rather cook up the formula for them and help THEM make their own (at my bench or theirs).

I shot one other guy's reloads as part of a diagnostic I was doing for another guy. Results were lousy out at the target and primers looked a bit flat, so it was only a couple groups, primers showed firm but not scary pressure. So, I pulled down a couple rounds, and sure enough, they were a half grain above book and were some other guy's "pet" that were in a box of 50, not developed for THAT rifle. So that kind of warned me off shooting anything "unknown." Pulled the rest, used the cases to do the usual workup, gave the package back saying "Don't shoot John Doe's reloads again. Make your own."

Known rifle, known loader, known load, sure. But any unknowns, no. Better to pull them down.

Don't, but I have one time.
Bought a gun second hand from a guy
that included 4 or 5 plastic boxes of reloads.
First chance I got to shoot I was alone at the
range with the owner that I'd known for a
few years. He sat down by me to watch me
shoot my new/used gun. The first one had
tremendous recoil and a big fireball. The
man said to shoot one more. Samey same
He said let me try one. Samey same.
He advised me to not use any more of that
ammo. I got back and called the previous
owner and loader of the ammo and asked
what was the load he had used. His reply
was " I dunno. . . whatever was maximum
in the book. . . maybe a little more. . ."

No I do not, no reason too as I load my own. In these Covid times I have 2 friends that needed hunting ammo so I loaded up some for them, told them they were far from max loads so sight your rifle in with them. And return my brass!

Nope.
I'll pull bullets and save components.

I've had "factory" ammo by small time producers that couldn't be trusted and am still in the process of pulling bullets on 1k plus 1980's Norma factory 10mm ammo with bullets seized up in many of the cartridges. Never got wet and was stored in dry conditions, but...

When I first started reloading I threw some double charges in a run of about 500 .45 acp rds. Found out when my 1911 blew the mag. base plate off and the guts fell out onto the ground after the second round. Figured out the charging bar on the Dillon would get a little sticky and not close up between charges. The lesson is driven home when you pull lots of bullets over several evenings of time. Better than blowing a gun apart and losing fingers, or worse.