Buying Reloaded Ammo At Gun Shows?

I wouldn't do it unless it's being bought to break down into components.

Reloaded from a random reloader or from a licensed manufacturer who reuses components?

The former I'd stay away from but the latter would get a look.

Folks that reload for resale are licensed and insured. They generally are making their living on their reputation. Much different than the average Bubba that makes reloads for everyone he knows.

My take would be to ask how long the place has been in business and to see any reviews or referrals and then use my gut feeling from there. Before I started to reload, I would buy from a small local company ran by a former Vet. Good stuff at a affordable price, and never had an issue.

Reloaded by a guy? Not a chance unless I wanted to pull the bullets for components.

Reloaded by a manufacturer? I'd consider.

With .223/5.56 available at $250/1000 I'm thinking of passing on reloading my own unless I want to reload target or varmint rounds. Same with 9mm. Both are now too cheap to bother with buying reloads.

As diligent as I am, and having found mistakes in my reloading, I would never buy reloads from another, except a licensed business, i.e. my local range.

Even after over 10k rounds loaded, I just had a 9mm squib. argh. been along time since I had one, but still. I wouldnt want to find one in someone elses reloads.

dont be cheap, be safe.

SeniorXJ said:

So is buying reloaded ammo at gun shows which is cheaper a good deal & idea or not?

Click to expand...

STUPID idea

Not advisable.

But I have done it without problems.

I know, sounds crazy but a guy at the show was selling all his deceased grand dad's stuff and I bought pretty much tons of .38Special, from mild to hot. Every cartridge performed exactly as labeled. And by labeled, in excruciating detail, from powder to fps, including the guns he tested it in. In virgin plastic cases. I can tell if someone is selling me a story. He said he grandfather passed away quickly, so it's not like these were dementia loads. I wish I had some of that ammo still.

There is another guy at the show, or used to be. He was "pro" like, I'm thinking he had a license. Not sure, he didn't come off as running a factory and never said so, but his ammo was great as well.

I buy a lot of factory reloads from these guys. www.georgia-arms.com. But wouldn't buy from just anybody.

SeniorXJ, from personal and professional experience,I would not. Not even if it is supposed to be "factory remanufactured", super wonderful and cheap, "just as good as new",etc. I can recall purchasing "factory" reloaded ammo at gun shows just twice in my life. Two different calibers, by two different "manufacturers", at two different times. Bad experience with both. My former employer bought "factory remanufactured" ammo, used for training, from the same outfit for years. It routinely caused malfunctions. Finally, a "Ka Boom" during training one night put an end to using reloaded ammo. Another manufacturer of reloaded and new ammo tried to get us to use their ammo and provided a sample. That sample damaged a pistol barrel beyond repair. Not a good way to start I think. FWIW, I've been a reloader for many years and do not shoot reloads that I did not personally load. lf there's an issue, it's on me.....ymmv

I've mentioned this before but it's so fitting to this conversation, it bears repeating.
While I've also bought a lot of other peoples' reloaded ammo, it definitely pays to know your source.
A fellow at our local range decided to get into the reloading business and was always selling (pestering) everyone about it.
That ended dramatically when one of his highly touted rounds blew his own gun up, sending parts through the roof.

I have no reason to buy reloads from anyone but some food for thought. Is that contract part time piece work employee who might not even be a shooter rolling as good of ammo as the old retiree who's a lifelong shooter using the same Dillon and selling some at the gunshow?

I used to buy reloaded ammo from Atlanta Arms.
It was dirty, but worked well. It went "BANG" and never hurt any of my guns.
In retrospect, I think it was dirty because they were using a powder that needed more pressure to burn cleanly.

I’ve bought “Commercial” reloads from guys at gun shows and never had a problem. But, I stick with the sellers with a lot of product, not the guy with a dozen or so ziplock bags. I also ask how they are loaded (Type powder, charge, bullet weight/type (jacketed, plated, etc.) and if they can’t tell me, I go to the next table.

All depends -from "Joe who does it in his garage" with no insurance, quality control and uses a Dillon or similar and has his grandkids help? No way. From a commercial operation that has all of the regs covered, insurance, commercial equipment and QC? No problem at all

^^^ Exactly, thanks for making that clarification

No....

Id say; no.
You have no idea what quality they are in or if they will function properly.
Some gun rental places & ranges mandate the use of "range ammo" .
I've had problems with these cheap handgun rounds in the past.
There are decent factory made high quality rounds out there.

I used to back in the 1990s trying to save a few bucks here and there. Although they are good to go but they are usually loaded on the low end of the spectrum.
Today i buy all factory loaded ammo and surplus which are loaded hot mama!

I have in past. Mixed results. I have bought from a "guy" and one was great, another had so dang much wax, others were oversized to fit in chamber.

I once bought reloads from large scale reloader. This place supplied for area Law enforcement traing, number of PDs training ammo (this was in 1990s before most places used duty ammo for training)

Well it was great price. 500 rd bag. I had a LOUD/heavy recoil in 30 rds. I checked gun/seemed fine, shoved on mixed group of bullets, no sign of setback.

Did another 20 rds and BLAM. Very loud/recoil, detail strip, no cracks/damage. Called place they asked me to bring it back, gave me my money back. They of course offered to replace/I declined.

I used to pick up ammo for gun club I was member. Never a issue I can recall. (other then concern I would be pulled over with car FULL of ammo. In back, floor rear seats, floor pass side..... 38, 45 acp, 9mm mainly.

Wouldn't an FFL be required to legally sell ammunition manufactured to sell? So shouldn't step 1 be asking if he has proper FFL to produce the ammo he is trying to sell?

And as far as buying reloaded ammo I have done it but I also have torn a few rounds down to check consistency of loads before burning powder.

Not for me. I have seen some very poor quality control from more than one outfit. They give the good ones a bad name.

Arizona ammunition being a "good" one, off the top of my head. Dallas Reloading Supply has sold ammo that was so bad that is was obvious that no one actually looed at the finished product, as an example of "bad".

I've bought some such ammo at gun shows for trial runs when experimenting with different ammunitions for new guns. If he's in the business, then he's licensed.

That said, I stay away from the BS ammunition, stuff that's usually hyped up in performance wordings or otherwise advertised as some kinda wonder ammo. I don't buy "magic bullets" because...well, they just ain't, that's all.

And let's face it...we all pretty much have already settled in on whatever specialty ammo we want anyway, if we've been around a while. We stick with a proven performer for our self defense ammo, sight our hunting weapons in on whatever we like to hunt with and we vary from this very little.

I rather suspect that where we vary significantly in ammo is in new gun purchases where we're trying several types and brands to see what gives us the best performance with respect to reliability, accuracy, and terminal ballistics. After that, we settle down into a predictable pattern with little deviation.

The rest of our deviations are most likely deals and bargains we find to support our target and plinking hobbies, where we're more after the entertainment and training value than specifics on long range accuracy and terminal ballistics.

I would have said yes, buy from a known, trusted reloader. However, a couple of years ago a very close friend passed away and his widow asked me to dispose of all his reloading stuff and his ammo and guns. The factory ammo I sold at a gun show to help the widow. The reloaded stuff I was gong to keep and shoot myself mainly for the brass. However, after having two squibs in one box of 50 and another squib in the second box, no way was I going to shoot or sell this stuff. Now this man was a PhD chemist/physicist and he certainly knew how to reload, and had been doing it for probably 50 years. BUT-- he made a lot of mistakes. I finally found a guy locally who pulled down all the ammo for the lead and half of the brass. No way I would shoot anyone else's reloaded ammo, and no one shoots my reloaded ammo.