Remanufactured Ammo versus Reloaded Ammo

I would and I have done so before I started reloading.
Remanufacturers must have a FFL to legally sell their work. As with any ammo manufacturing company, inspect for quality and performance. There are good and bad remanufacturers. Don’t buy from “Joe who produces in his garage and only sells at gun shows” and you’ll be ok.

One has a license to sell their "reloaded" ammo and one does not. That's the difference.

Some of it is very, VERY good quality, say the stuff from Atlanta Arms. I understand the AMU uses their reloads.

Here's one member of my home forum shooting at 100 yds with AA reloaded ammo. (He does not reload.)



So like anything else, don't pre-judge simply based on one description.
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Reloaded ammo is like 10x better than factory stuff!

PADoubleX said:

Both need a Type 07 FFL to sell, you may reload for your personal use only.

I didn’t mean the legality, I meant quality. Would/do you shoot remanufacture ammo?

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Find a good quality manufacturer... Atlanta Arms comes to mind, also Georgia Arms. Both are well respected.

Just becasue someone has a license doesn't mean they are any good. Two operations in the area; the local one was tried by the local police departments (shop local and all that) Ammo was crap, dirty, malfunctions, etc; they will not buy from him - and he only sells to LEO and military. Small shop by the side of the road, probably has a few guys cranking out stuff on some Dillons. Other outfit out of Alabama makes reman and brand new; reman currently costs more than their new - go figure that one. Have shot both in 45, all have gone bang; but neither was Bullseye quality in MY gun; but good enough.

Years ago I was shooting at the local indoor range and noticed the man next to me having a problem. I offered to help. He had bought some 9mm that was reloads at a gun show in Oklahoma. What had happened was he had squid, and next round would not chamber. Which tuned out to be a good thing or it could have gone bad. I carry a brass squid rod just for this case. I remove the bullet from his barrel and started checking what he was shooting. I ended up doing the plunk test on the remaining rounds. Only 1/2 of the box was going to chamber. The loads were so inconsistent you could hear the difference, round to round. I told him if he has any more return them for full credit.

Remanufacturers have to have an FFL as stated above. Part of that requirement is to have liability insurance. Hopefully those that do actually try to mimic a factory loaded round that is safe in everybodys gun. That said, some have a good reputation. Ultramax was a past remanufacturer that made decent ammo. To me it is all about consistency and accuracy and the ability to be accountable if you make a bad round and I get injured.

It seems more and more 'remanufactured ammo' sellers pop up in times like this. All are looking to make a buck and you don't know how they run their operation. Odds are that some are good and some are not.
A while back I had a co-worker that had a license to sell ammo. He loaded to the absolute max and claimed his was the most powerful ammo for hunting, etc. From my experience, it seems to be a pattern with people that want to sell their reloads to push it to the max. Seems unsafe to me.

No thank you.

I believe it is still OK to load for family members, but that where I draw the line. Not only know who is loading for you, but also what they are loading. Knowledge of a loading recipe that can be verified
will certainly help figure out the quality of the ammo.

I've never purchased re manufactured ammo but was given several boxes of Freedom Ammunition's 9mm remans. They were a little slower (around 1000-1050 fps if I remember correctly), but they all fired and had decent accuracy.

My limited experience with remanufacture ammo, it has not been all that great. I was using Ultramax and a local place when I live in North East Ohio called National Bullet (now out of buisness) when I first got into UPSPSA and to be honest the quality was not all that great. I had issues with leading and the the velocity was never close to what was advertised. A year or so later I had a Dillon setup and for USPSA I have not bought ammo since.

PADoubleX said:

We all know the "don't shoot anyone else's reloads" mantra....

Personally, I believe we are headed into "remanufacturers realm" for ammo.

Why or why not would you buy remanufactured ammo?

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This list is small when it comes to the folks I will shoot their reloads, even smaller is the list of them that I would fire their ammunition in one of my firearms.

Many of the people doing assembly at “remanufactures” are not reloaders or even shooters rather just equipment operators. As one might guess results can vary widely on what a business produces quality wise.

It’s important to understand that the reman guys are having as hard a time as everyone else, when it comes to components.

During the last panic (Obama 2nd term win and Sandyhook) I know one business in Dallas that was paying employees to poke a quarter million primers out of APS strips to feed Camdex machines, because that’s all they could get at the time.

"Remanufactured" is advertising. They are not doing anything we don't do, just on a larger scale. I prefer to call them "commercial reloaders."

As said, quality varies, from outright dangerous, to true "match WINNING grade."
The old PMA once tested a brand of commercial reloaded .38 wadcutters. They did not expect anything out of mixed brass loaded with a brand of bullets they had not heard of. But they got surprised, the ammo was as accurate as any and better than many.

Generally I don’t buy ammo, period. I reload everything I shoot, a dimly buy factory ammo to get brass. It’s nice to at least have a box of factory rounds to shoot and see what it’s supposed to feel like before jumping into reloads and flying blind.

That said... Repop ammo is no different in my eyes than factory new. It’s all about buying quality. You can get online and find brand new ammo that you have never heard of and it may be great, or it may be trash. Similarly reman ammo may be great or it may be trash. There is a brand I found a few years ago that I would gladly buy before buying “target” ammo from big green or cheapo white box, and that is Zero. My only complaint is mixed headstamps in pistol ammo, but it all worked like it was suppose to and it felt a bit peppier than target ammo. They also make bullets and I have tried a few times to buy them but so far no luck. I’m casting now so I doubt I buy many more bullets.

Mark_Mark said:

Reloaded ammo is like 10x better than factory stuff!

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I have to respectfully disagree with that blanket statement. Over the years I have produced some very good handloads and some really poor handloads. I have shot some factory ammo that shot as good or better than anything I could produce and I have shot some that were absolutely pathetic. There is some factory ammo out there using proprietary components that handloaders can't even obtain, and there is some boutique ammo out there that is as good and consistent as anything I have ever shot. If reloaded ammo was all 10X better than factory, why do we refuse to shoot other's reloads, eh? If factory was really junk, why would anyone use it? For the average reloader, most are lucky if they ever achieve the quality, accuracy and consistency of name quality brand factory ammo. In some cases, we may produce ammo that shoots better than factory for a particular firearm. But 10X? Not hardly.

buck460XVR said:

I have to respectfully disagree with that blanket statement. Over the years I have produced some very good handloads and some really poor handloads. I have shot some factory ammo that shot as good or better than anything I could produce and I have shot some that were absolutely pathetic. There is some factory ammo out there using proprietary components that handloaders can't even obtain, and there is some boutique ammo out there that is as good and consistent as anything I have ever shot. If reloaded ammo was all 10X better than factory, why do we refuse to shoot other's reloads, eh? If factory was really junk, why would anyone use it? For the average reloader, most are lucky if they ever achieve the quality, accuracy and consistency of name quality brand factory ammo. In some cases, we may produce ammo that shoots better than factory for a particular firearm. But 10X? Not hardly.

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you don’t think my 500g 45/70 is not high quality????

Back in the 70s, I got a manufacturers license and was making Remanufactured Ammo. Reloaded to strict record keeping etc. Not much different than new except the brass was fired before and had to be inspected well. I gave it up after my attorney told me how stupid I was as a small shop, doing this. Then I found, even in the basement of my Garden Apartment where I had a Nice Storage room, I could sell sporting goods items with a lot less liability and make a lot more money.

Here is what my storage room looked like in 1971 before I moved to my own store in 1973.

Bob

rkittine said:

Back in the 70s, I got a manufacturers license and was making Remanufactured Ammo. Reloaded to strict record keeping etc. Not much different than new except the brass was fired before and had to be inspected well. I gave it up after my attorney told me how stupid I was as a small shop, doing this. Then I found, even in the basement of my Garden Apartment where I had a Nice Storage room, I could sell sporting goods items with a lot less liability and make a lot more money.

Here is what my storage room looked like in 1971 before I moved to my own store in 1973.

Bob

View attachment 983698 View attachment 983699

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LOOK at all the goodies!!!

Blue68f100 said:

Years ago I was shooting at the local indoor range and noticed the man next to me having a problem. I offered to help. He had bought some 9mm that was reloads at a gun show in Oklahoma. What had happened was he had squid, and next round would not chamber. Which tuned out to be a good thing or it could have gone bad. I carry a brass squid rod just for this case. I remove the bullet from his barrel and started checking what he was shooting. I ended up doing the plunk test on the remaining rounds. Only 1/2 of the box was going to chamber. The loads were so inconsistent you could hear the difference, round to round. I told him if he has any more return them for full credit.

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"Squid"? I hate it when sea animals make themselves at home on the shooting bench. If I had time I would tell the story about the sharks stealing brass. Sorry, I couldn't resist having a little fun.

Theoretically... Remanufactured ammo should be basically the same as factory ammo. The only material difference is the brass.
In practice... The "reman" outfits have a stereotype of running their production equipment 'fast and loose', suffer from inconsistent quality control and they get a bad rap. It is difficult to tell if a particular company has actual commercial grade loading equipment or a few guys running an automated Dillon in the back room while smoking a cigarette.