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I came across an ad for 80 rounds of .22-250 for a reasonable price. ($35 ) Upon further investigation, it turns out that the guy took the ammo on a trade. He says it is reloaded, but he does not know the specifics: (bullet weight, powder charge etc.) Would I be a fool to buy this ammo? Would you feel comfortable firing this ammo in your gun? I haven't seen it in person yet, but I may go take a look. I was looking for opinions from the NWFA Braintrust.

Have any of YOU ever bought or used reloads from an unknown source?
 
I know I would not feel comfortable shooting someone else's reloads unless I knew the person and they had load data so that I could double check the loading.

Is the savings worth the cost of your gun?

You can always pull the bullets and load with a powder load that you know.
 
Yep. Good answers given. I would take it even further and not completely trust MY own hand loads, but that is just me. Too many non controllable variables and all of them could be bad.

Years ago a not named gentleman was drunk hand loading and he did up some 5.56 with 25.0 grains of 2400. The CAR lasted 10 rounds before blowing up. Amazingly tough AR15 design.
 
My strongest recommendation is not to shoot reloaded ammunition from others. To me the few dollars you save is not worth the cost of the firearm or the forcefully damaged body parts. Use it for components only.
 
Another example came up during a Hunter Ed Shooting session. The Instructor had built some handloads for a .30-30 and they blew up the gun. Turned out he had purchased a can of ammo at a local Gunshow. The lab test indicated it appeared to be "floor sweepings" with at least four different powders involved! Not Good.
 
I came across an ad for 80 rounds of .22-250 for a reasonable price. ($35 ) Upon further investigation, it turns out that the guy took the ammo on a trade. He says it is reloaded, but he does not know the specifics: (bullet weight, powder charge etc.) Would I be a fool to buy this ammo? Would you feel comfortable firing this ammo in your gun? I haven't seen it in person yet, but I may go take a look. I was looking for opinions from the NWFA Braintrust.

Have any of YOU ever bought or used reloads from an unknown source?

Me? I would NEVER put any of that in any gun I owned or was even going to shoot. I would not want to even be around the guy who decides to test it. If it damages your gun how will you feel about saving a few bucks?
 
Thats a BIG 10-4 - buy as components only!
Even then you don't REALLY know what you are getting. Maybe the Loader used seconds for bullets. What Brand of Primer? Magnum or Regular Primers? How many times have the cases be reloaded AND were the loads Maximum or maybe Maximum+? You can't even be sure if the lead bullets are hard or soft or pure lead. How long will it take to break down those components and decide what is usable? Maybe you can get a couple bucks for the brass and lead but just how much?

Just not worth it.
 
After taking what I thought was surplus ammo.. Ill never buy/accept ammo that isnt from a factory box or a person I know and trust to reload. I knew something was up when I saw the primers were non matching and newer..

The 7.62x51 I have that I got from a member here when I bought my cetme turned out to be loaded so hot it'd blow the primers.. I then foolishly thought it was just the roller lock rifle and the firing pin puncturing the primer.. NOPE.. Tried a round in my bolt action and the case damn near welded itself in there due to the expansion. The primer still blew out jamming the extractor making extractions a PITA..

Never again will I buy ammo that isnt in/directly from a factory box or loaded by a trusted person I know.
 
I once accepted a box of 45LC from an old friend, who loaded it himself. I knew he favored 'hot loads' for his SAA Colts and proudly argued with his targets & etc, about his recipe choices. I any case, I took a box he would not let me escape without.

A few cylinders full and I was adapting to his version of 'cowboy pistol fun'....when one cylinder expressed it's own opinion of his charge weight.

No real damage I could spot on examination, & my gunsmith lectured me soundly on the error of my ways.

I still have most of the box left after all these years. Some day I'm going to disassemble a few & see just what his blue dot favorite load really was.
 
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Over the years I've seen a number of "Blowups" but Two have left really lasting impressions. One was a Ruger Super Blackhawk in .44 Magnum. The whole Top Half of the Cylinder, Top Strap and about three inches of the Barrel we're missing, never to be seen again! Number Two was another Revolver but this one was in .45-70 Government. Yep, a 7-1/2" Magnum Research Hand Cannon. The results were very much the same. Strangely enough both came from what might be called the same source. Both came apart after being fired with "White Box Special" ammunition purchased at a Gunshow.

Most of the "White Box Special" ammunition I've seen comes from the guy who buys something like a Dillion and tries to Recover his investment by loading extra and peddling it at Gunshows and Flea Markets.
 
It isn't necessarily safe even if you know the person who reloaded it. When my father in law passed away my son ended up with most of his reloading equipment and some reloads. I'm pretty cautious so I suggested we pull a few bullets and weight them and the powder charges. Good thing we did. Powder charges varied significantly between rounds and some were way over safe loads.
 

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