What to do with reloaded ammo

[osok-308]

Hey guys, I tried to search before posting but didn't find anything. I had a family member who reloaded a lot; but they have since passed away. This family member left me a S&W 686, which is amazing, and about 700 rounds of reloaded .357 magnum ammunition with it. Looking at his notes for the ammo and looking in his reloading manual, these all appear to be max power loads. My fear is that they may be a bit too hot and as such, I do not shoot them. I am more than happy with the revolver, but I have no place to keep 700 rounds that I have no intention of shooting. While searching to make sure that some variation of this topic has not already been posted, I saw many people saying not to buy/shoot reloaded ammo from someone you don't know (makes sense to me). I am planning on getting rid of the ammo and the plastic reloading cases with it, but I feel that turning it in to an LE agency to be destroyed is a waste. I'm curious if there is a way that this ammunition can not go to waste. Are there reloaders who are interested in the components and willing to disassemble the reloaded ammunition? Any other suggestions on how I can make sure this doesn't go to waste? Thanks guys.

[DenverGP]

I'd be happy to take them off your hands. I'd plan on unloading them, and re-using the primed cases and the bullets.

[TFOGGER]

Or buy a pistol caliber lever action and shoot them in that..

[buffalobo]

Or buy a pistol caliber lever action and shoot them in that..Time for a Henry in .357.

If you're unarmed, you are a victim

[Grant H.]

If DenverGP doesn't take them, I'd take them to pull down and reload.

[Great-Kazoo]

Put me third in line.


What powder did it show him using?. If as it should, showed what he used, a quick look at a few manuals would be helpful for reworking loads.

[cstone]

Give them away.

Sell them as components.

Shoot them.

As long as you are honest and provide as much information as you have to the buyer, and make clear that you are not selling it as loaded ammunition, you should be fine. I personally have bought components in this fashion.

[osok-308]

Working with DenverGP right now. I'll let you guys know if anything comes up. Thanks for all the advice.


Or buy a pistol caliber lever action and shoot them in that..

My dad got a .44 mag with about the same amount of ammo as well. I'll let him know that a lever action would be a good idea.


What powder did it show him using?. If as it should, showed what he used, a quick look at a few manuals would be helpful for reworking loads.

He has a few different loads that had powder, throw weight, primer info, and bullet info on the tops of the cases.

[osok-308]

Sorry for the double post, but it went to DenverGP. Quick side note, I mentioned my dad got some of this max pressure ammo in 44 mag. When he shot a cylinder in his 629, it was so powerful that it was skipping cylinders and the cases were getting stuck. Would it be safe to use this stuff in a lever action still? Or would the best route be to get it to someone to disassemble?

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[Great-Kazoo]

Sorry for the double post, but it went to DenverGP. Quick side note, I mentioned my dad got some of this max pressure ammo in 44 mag. When he shot a cylinder in his 629, it was so powerful that it was skipping cylinders and the cases were getting stuck. Would it be safe to use this stuff in a lever action still? Or would the best route be to get it to someone to disassemble?

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Pull it and reweigh them. It's not an issue once you check them out, sounds like you might consider reloading. . If you were closer i'd be happy to do something with them.

[osok-308]

Pull it and reweigh them. It's not an issue once you check them out, sounds like you might consider reloading. . If you were closer i'd be happy to do something with them.I would like to reload, but my wife (and lack of space) prevent me from doing so. Haha

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[DenverGP]

Osok, were the ones in the blue case the ones you fired? There are 12 fired cases in the box, and several of them have flattened primers, with one partially pushed out. According to the label, 125gr bullets, with 8.2gr of Accurate #2. The load manual I checked showed a max load of 8.0gr.

One thing I noticed, on ammo listed as having been loaded in the same date (jan 95), they've got 4 different powders, and at least 5 different types of bullets. He's got H110, Accurate#2, Accurate#9, and 296. Also noticed a pretty big amount of OAL variation in a couple of the boxes.

I'll weigh the powder charges of a few rounds from each batch to see how close they are to the labeled charge.

[osok-308]

Osok, were the ones in the blue case the ones you fired? There are 12 fired cases in the box, and several of them have flattened primers, with one partially pushed out. According to the label, 125gr bullets, with 8.2gr of Accurate #2. The load manual I checked showed a max load of 8.0gr.

One thing I noticed, on ammo listed as having been loaded in the same date (jan 95), they've got 4 different powders, and at least 5 different types of bullets. He's got H110, Accurate#2, Accurate#9, and 296. Also noticed a pretty big amount of OAL variation in a couple of the boxes.

I'll weigh the powder charges of a few rounds from each batch to see how close they are to the labeled charge.

Yes, those 12 were the two cylinders that I fired. It was after shooting those that I figured that they were loaded hotter than I should be shooting.