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I know most of us here know enough to avoid random gun show ammo, but I thought I'd share a little story.
I'm not talking about quality ammo from a reputable commercial loader like The Proficient Marksman (his stuff is good). I'm talking about the other stuff you see in zip-lock bags and dog-eared old boxes. I admit, I've bought stuff like that before, and even fired some, but only based on experience and really knowing what I'm looking at. I also like to go to gun shows just to wander around and pick up odd-ball old stuff to tinker with. Waste of time? Yeah, it would be if I didn't enjoy it.
So, last weekend I picked up a baggie of .44 Mag ammo, 50 rounds for $10. The couple rounds I looked at close really appeared to be JHP factory ammo. I asked the guy and he said "Yep, factory loads". I expect he had no idea, and I didn't care much. Ammo in a baggie is components, if it's cheap enough. I chuckled to myself when I got home and looked closely. A half-dozen rounds were clearly factory ammo, and the rest were definitely nice-looking reloads. They were a real bugger to pull down. Some of them were crimped so hard that the cores came out of the jackets when using the inertia bullet puller. Some of them were loaded with a heavy charge of what I'm pretty sure was 4227, and some had a light charge of (most likely) Unique. I dump the powder, of course. They were really nice looking reloads, and to the inexperienced eye they really looked like nice factory ammo, but as we all know, you just don't shoot random reloads.
I wasn't surprised or really out anything, other than a little time trying to pull some really stubborn bullets. I like to tinker, and I'll use the brass and bullets. Maybe I saved someone else from buying and shooting them.
I have a friend who will shoot anything. He's a hunter, more than a gun guy. He was complaining about the accuracy of his 30-06 a few years back, during the ammo shortage. He showed me the ammo he was using, and it was some tarnished old random, mixed reloads of some kind, different bullet styles and probably weights. Someone had given it to him and he had no idea where they originally came from. Probably some random junk someone picked up at a show.
I'm not talking about quality ammo from a reputable commercial loader like The Proficient Marksman (his stuff is good). I'm talking about the other stuff you see in zip-lock bags and dog-eared old boxes. I admit, I've bought stuff like that before, and even fired some, but only based on experience and really knowing what I'm looking at. I also like to go to gun shows just to wander around and pick up odd-ball old stuff to tinker with. Waste of time? Yeah, it would be if I didn't enjoy it.
So, last weekend I picked up a baggie of .44 Mag ammo, 50 rounds for $10. The couple rounds I looked at close really appeared to be JHP factory ammo. I asked the guy and he said "Yep, factory loads". I expect he had no idea, and I didn't care much. Ammo in a baggie is components, if it's cheap enough. I chuckled to myself when I got home and looked closely. A half-dozen rounds were clearly factory ammo, and the rest were definitely nice-looking reloads. They were a real bugger to pull down. Some of them were crimped so hard that the cores came out of the jackets when using the inertia bullet puller. Some of them were loaded with a heavy charge of what I'm pretty sure was 4227, and some had a light charge of (most likely) Unique. I dump the powder, of course. They were really nice looking reloads, and to the inexperienced eye they really looked like nice factory ammo, but as we all know, you just don't shoot random reloads.
I wasn't surprised or really out anything, other than a little time trying to pull some really stubborn bullets. I like to tinker, and I'll use the brass and bullets. Maybe I saved someone else from buying and shooting them.
I have a friend who will shoot anything. He's a hunter, more than a gun guy. He was complaining about the accuracy of his 30-06 a few years back, during the ammo shortage. He showed me the ammo he was using, and it was some tarnished old random, mixed reloads of some kind, different bullet styles and probably weights. Someone had given it to him and he had no idea where they originally came from. Probably some random junk someone picked up at a show.
