[Bula]

Loads were given to me by a buddy who's grandfather recently passed. He was a very experienced handloader and shooter. Some are very clearly labled (charge type, shot weight, wad, and shot #), others are labled with shot weight and shot size only with comments like "TRAP". All are very neatly packed in OLD boxes. I have no way of knowing how long they've been in storage.

Would you shoot them, or pull them down for components and start over?

Thanks in Advance

[shaggy430]

I'd shoot them, but that's just me.

[highorder]

I'd shoot all of it.

Or you can send it to me. :)

[steveracer]

+ a million on shoot it. I love when co-workers come to me and say, "I found all this old ammo in my attic. Where can I send it to be destroyed?"
"I'll come get it for you." Is my instant response. Most recent was a box of ".32 rimless smokeless" from ~1925. Shot great.

[MMCSRET]

Shoot it!!!!!!!!!!! I purchased 100 boxes of handloaded trap loads from the estate of a world class trap competition shooter about 10 years ago. I've still got about 10 boxes left. That ammunition was better than anything I've ever bought new or been able to load myself.

[xcgates]

Note, I have not actually reloaded, an have only shot someone's reloads once, in their gun, but all the advice I've read has come from people who claim they won't trust anyone else's handloads, as you cannot be sure of what you are getting.

Is that something that is different between metallic and shotshell reloading?

[rcmodel]

If you double charge a shotgun shell, the crimp won't crimp, and all the shot runs out on the floor, reducing pressure to a safe level. :D

Seriously, assuming the guy loaded these on a typical shotgun reloading press, it is very difficult if not impossible to make a mistake and still get a good looking crimp on the shell.

This is not the case with metallic reloading where any number of reloading errors are completely impossible to detect.

About the most serious mistake you can make with shotgun is using the wrong powder.
Like a heavy dose of fast trap load powder in a Magnum field load.
It would fit & crimp!

rc

[Bula]

RC,
So if he loaded and mislabled a trap load with a heavy feild load charge (or visa versa), they are still safe to shoot? Another thing I failed to mention, these are all 2 3/4 shells. All the crimps look fine, but there are some shells that seem to have developed a stress crack at the crimps seam edge.

[MMCSRET]

The crack at the seem is common on reloaded target ammunition. I use them until the crack. Shotgun target loads are low pressure and most shotgun target shooters load for low recoil and uniform shot patterns. If he was, as you say, a very experienced loader, I'd try a few or break them down and sell the shot to someone that casts boolits!!!!!!

[nofishbob]

Hi guys-

I am just starting to reload shotgun shells, and came on this topic earlier today...apparently the ability to double or triple charge a shell and still get a workable crimp is under discussion.


http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=204972

Bob

[depoloni]

Guy off the internet - no.

Family member, whose reloading practices (and presumably shooting too) were well known and respected, who used the ammo for his personal use.........a million hell-yesses. Shoot that stuff.

Safety should always be a primary concern, OF COURSE, but given your circumstances unless something seems funny during the first box or two, I wouldn't even pause for a second. You're taking my word for it - on an internet site at that, I understand, but I'm a pansy when it comes to taking risks especially with reloading. And I would giggle away at every broken clay or fallen timberdoodle :D

[rcmodel]

the ability to double or triple charge a shell and still get a workable crimp is under discussion.O.K. so the village idiot could figure out a way to do it.

I'm just saying the way most shotshell reloading presses work make it almost impossible to double charge a case without knowing it.

Almost all press designs use a combination powder / shot charge bar that slides back & forth in the press.

You push it one way to get a powder drop, insert & seat the wad, and push it the other way to get a shot drop.
You are always going to get a shot charge after every powder charge when you slide the charge bar, no matter what you do wrong, or how you do it.

To double charge a case, you would have to have the shot charge drop on top of the first powder charge before the charge bar could possibly pick up and drop a second powder charge on top of the shot.
Surely you would notice that?

rc

[highorder]

Even a deliberate double charge with a MEC press would be obvious and awkward.

[nofishbob]

Hi RC-

The way I understand it, the guy who did the 2X and 3X charges was just trying to prove that it could be done in response to people saying that any reasonably crimped shell cannot contain a multiple charge.

Note that he used an electrically actuated press so increased effort pulling the handle would not come into play.

I also cannot see any plausible way to get a multiple charge except for:


inattention on a progressive press where you have a problem and lose track of which hulls have already been charged.

a powder bridge in the drop tube that under or no-charges one hull and then dumps the extra in the next.


Bob

[USSR]

Some are very clearly labled (charge type, shot weight, wad, and shot #)...

Easy enough to check out the grandfather's work. Simply take apart one of the shells and verify the powder/shot weight.

Don

[JimKirk]

He was a very experienced handloader and shooter.

With shotshells that says it all !
Some are very clearly labeled (charge type, shot weight, wad, and shot #), others are labeled with shot weight and shot size only with comments like "TRAP". All are very neatly packed in OLD boxes
That validates even more so, if a guy is that methodical, he most likely would have been extra careful!
I have no way of knowing how long they've been in storage.
The time frame has very little to do with the quality of the shells. How it was stored means more more!

With rifle or pistol then I would be more inclined to check some how?

Jimmy K

[243winxb]

Plastic shellls last a very long time. If some are paper, that may make a difference if in dampness.

[xcgates]

Ahh, thats good to know. I haven't actually shot my shotgun yet (bought it Christmas eve, went out of state on a family trip, then back up here to school a couple days later), but I already have my eye on the Lee Load-All II for cheapness and simplicity.

I don't reload metal either, but I have kept my eye on that topic, and the one constant was not wanting to shoot someone else's loads, hence my inherent cautiousness around things that go boom close to my face. Now if I could only learn that cautiousness when dealing with engines...

[ranger335v]

Given the source, I'd sure shoot them. Us grandpas don't usually make serious mistakes, that takes more energy than most of us want to exert. And it is a bit more difficult to screw up a shotshell than a cartridge.

[oneounceload]

Note, I have not actually reloaded, an have only shot someone's reloads once, in their gun, but all the advice I've read has come from people who claim they won't trust anyone else's handloads, as you cannot be sure of what you are getting.

Is that something that is different between metallic and shotshell reloading?

No, the inherent dangers are still there. Depending on how they were loaded, how they were stored, and what the loads are, and whether or not you TRULY trust the person who loaded, would depend , IMO, whether you shoot them or pull them

And it is a bit more difficult to screw up a shotshell than a cartridge.

Not really - shotshell pressures are low - an overcharge can cause serious issues.

[243winxb]

Some years ago people were using flour as a buffering agent instead of the plastic fillers for hunting loads to get a tight patern. I would not shoot any of them if so marked.

[Starter52]

+10 with what everyone else said. Shoot 'em, enjoy 'em.

[ants]

Beware of light charges. I just bought a complete Remington Model 11 autoloader with a bulged barrel from a handloader who only got a partial powder charge under the wad. It fired, the shot went down range, plenty of recoil to operate the action, but left the wad in the barrel. Second shot bulged the barrel.

I bought it for $125 and got a new barrel for $90.

[ArchAngelCD]

Because they are shotshells and you described who did the reloading I would shoot them. Like the others, rifle rounds would be a whole nother story.

[Sidewinder72]

To be safe, send a couple hundred to me for complete testing. Then I will let you know the results. Just kidding, shoot them and enjoy the freebies.

[Bula]

Thanks All. I'm going to pull a few apart of the labled ones, and verify charges. If all looks good, through a barrel they will go.

[rcmodel]

who only got a partial powder charge under the wad. It fired, the shot went down range, plenty of recoil to operate the action, but left the wad in the barrel. Second shot bulged the barrel.If it operated an A-5 action, I doubt it was a partial powder charge that left a wad stuck in the barrel.

A more likely reason would be a stuck base wad out of a shell head.

If reloading composite shells with fiber base wads too many times, the base wad comes out of the shell and gets sucked into the bore.
Since there is no pressure behind it to blow it on out, it stays in the barrel and causes a ringed barrel the next shot.

rc

[ants]

That sounds very likely. And hulls with separate base wad are extremely common. Good thinking.