Dead peoples reloaded ammo.

[witchhunter]

Only thing I would add is; what if someone gave him the ammo and he was going to pull it for the components and just hadn't done it yet, I don't buy reloads, I make my own, and I don't shoot anyone else's. Most of my guns have never seen a factory load, most never will.

 

[Analogkid]

BTT. Remember this fiasco??
(I tried to space this out so it is easy to make out what was in the truck load of ammo)


I got a call last night that the family just wanted it out of the house no questions asked. I am so wore out from carrying 50 cal ammo boxes up stairs it isn't even funny. Apparently what I initially looked at wasn't even the tip of the iceberg I guess they had a huge lot of this stuff and they just got what they could carry. Mostly what I Saw initially was unmarked blue tubs and a few unmarked .38 and .357 cans as stated in first post.

Looks to be about maybe 800-850 in each ammo can of .38 and .357 The .38 is a mix of round ball and wadcutters. The .357 is 90% jhp remington and hornady. 125gr .140 and lord knows what else.

There's I donno, 10 cans each of .38 and .357 I think. The original Reloader (Now deceased) went through the trouble to put them all in little baggies of 20 each??

Most of the baggies have component and charge written on a piece of paper in them. Most of the .357 does have load data in each bag. Not all...most. Looks to be loaded with h110 so I am not sure what I Am going to do with those yet. Several 1000 piece bags of lead swc .357 as well.

Several big freezer bags of 32 h&r marked 1000 pieces swc. <don't even own one of those revolvers?

Then there's maybe 2000 rounds of factory Magtech .357 mag defensive ammo in huge freezer bags.

Along with it I got a Maybe A Bazillion reloaded 30-30 rounds Don't own a
30-30

Maybe 400 44 mags all jhp.

Mabe 4-500 factory rb .45 acp and 1000 or so reloaded swc .45 acp.

And 15pcs of 45lc......LOL!

There is a bunch of 32h&r in boxes that have the load data on them and the Handwriting is all the same the 3's in all the calibers are all identical in all the handwritten data. Probably need to get a .32h&r revolver...

I also got quite a bit of Paper Hulled 20 and 12 gauge bird shot. I do not know what I am going to do with that...

So ...........some of it does not have data, mostly the 30-30 and the other rifle calibers that I didn't bother to look at yet. A lot of the 32h&r doesn't either. Lot's of half spent factory boxes of ammo in all sorts of pistol and rifle calibers.

I did not take any 9mm since I had already been reloading that for a while and am stocked up,he has a friend that wants that anyway.

I may take one from each bag of .38s and pull them and see what they look like. Same with the .357

So It looks like a Need a 32h&r for sure at least!

All of it looks very professionally reloaded.. It is blatantly obvious he had some sort of idea on what he was doing. Every crimp is damn near perfect and all of the brass looks new. The Majority of the reloaded ammo is nickel plated. He did scrimp on the load data on some of the stuff though

Here is a cropped photo of one of the *No load data* .38 cans opened up on my Messy Garage floor. All of the others are filled the exact same way save for the cans with the half filled boxes of ammo and small baggies with small counts of odd ammo. Crazy..

 

[bocefus78]

Holy score batman!

 

[Walkalong]

Sounds like a great haul, even if all you do is recover components.

I have a Load # and load data in every can or box I have ammo in. If I croak it will be easy to verify the load by breaking a couple down to check bullet and charge weights and looking up the data in a manual.

Probably need to get a .32h&r revolver...

Most definitely. Fun round.

 

[Lj1941]

It looks like the wait was worth it,

 

[oneounceload]

I'd shoot it. This guy took the time to put stuff in bags, was doing it for a long time. I'd shoot a few and see how they worked. This isn't some Bubba at a gun show, trying to make a profit

 

[rondog]

I'd be interested in some .30-30 if you decide to sell it. I'd take it loaded, but I'd love any empty brass if there is any.

 

[Analogkid]

To be completely honest I actually forgot all about it. I put the word out to plenty of friends and gave them his contact info. I have been ill off and on for the last few months with hemochromatosis .

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hemochromatosis/basics/definition/con-20023606


I have not even shot much nor reloaded for a bit so when they contacted me I just assumed one of my friends had gotten it and that was that. I do know that there was a bunch more that family got and some of his buddies.


I think the story was the guy's wife passed on near their retirement and he reloaded pretty much till he couldn't any more. He was pretty much left alone save for friends and family that would visit. This lead up to him reloading to pass the time. I know he had a substantial amount of reloading equipment and components. The family went through that pretty quick. I think the lead he had was recycled and apparently he had a pretty big lot of it.

I Asked.....he still had all his fingers and was a regular at the conservation range.

I'll probably run by the conservation range tomorrow and let a few off down range for him. Even If I Do just pull the majority. I certainly do appreciate his family called me back to come get it.

I do plan on being pretty conservative with the un-marked ammo. I have a few pullers and plan to put them to use. My Wife and I are going to get them a few Gift cards to some nice restaurants.

 

[Sport45]

Threads like this one help reinforce in my mind I'd doing the right thing. When I pass my sons will inherit all my shooting stuff. There will be ammo cans full of surplus and factory loaded ammo, hundreds of pounds of bullets, many thousand primers, buckets of brass and more powder than my insurance agent needs to know about. But there won't be more than a coffee can or two of my reloads. There never is...

 

[leadcounsel]

deleted... seems resolved.

The wait paid off, but I think you should still offer at least a small payment for the ammo cans and what you feel is fair for the ammo or components. There is some value there.

The small baggies lead me to believe he was a reloader and sold them at gun shows. I'd inquire about that. I can see no other reason someone would go through the effort of putting the ammo in small baggies in an ammo can. So it's probably trustworthy...

Still, I wouldn't shoot them though. It only takes 1 error to ruin your gun and get seriously injured. The old guy could have been suffering from dymensia, or an alcoholic while he reloaded, or got reloads from others in trade... which may explain the inconsistency in the reload data and appearances... it's all just unknown really, and that is dangerous.

I've had only 1 "kaboom" in my life and it was with someone's reloads. Never again. It's unwise to shoot unknown reloads.

I've got a few boxes of reloads that I received as package deals with gun purchases, and I need to get to a local reloader to pull them.

(This is one of a million reasons I don't reload. Reloaded ammo value is less than component prices to other people due to the need to pull the bullets. In a financial pinch, I can sell factory ammo for near new value. But not reloads.)

 

[Analogkid]

In Talking to his friends and family he never sold anything but lead and primers when people couldn't find them.

He was not a Alcoholic nor had dementia this guy was sharp as a tack till the day he Passed.

All of his ammo is packaged like this save for the factory ammo in ancient boxes.

If this was stuff thrown into boxes and a big jumbled mess... I Wouldn't mess with it but use it for components.



I plan to pull a round from ever package and check it. But I have a feeling this guy was a much better reloader than I am.

 

[blarby]

If I had to guess on the baggies...

Probably had a few 5 shot revolvers, and could only shoot 4 cylinders at a time comfortably.

Makes sense for a guy into carrying a small revolver, and still wanted to keep his trigger finger in shape. Grab a few bags and go. No need to cart many pounds of ammo around unnecessarily.

 

[Ironicaintit]

I see no reason why you wouldn't shoot them. I would scrutinize them to check for sloppiness or inconsistencies. Run through them all with a caliper and a scale. Check them for unseated or damaged primers, pull some samples to take apart and check the recipe, and call them good.

my dad would've surely come back to haunt me if I'd pitched out all of his handloads!

 

[DeltaVictor4]

play it safe

I would walk away, not worth the risk. My G-Pa did the same thing with a bunch of 12Ga and my SG didn't like it

 

[rglassma]

I would pass.

 

[FROGO207]

FWIW I get a fair amount of locally turned in ammo/flares to dispose of. I will take the ammo apart to salvage the components and dump the propellant unless I can positively verify it is factory loaded and looks like it is not corroded etc. Most is taken apart and scrapped/recast. It is your call and were it me, I would also take a few apart and weigh the charges to see, then if consistent to your satisfaction try a couple from random bags before going all out and shooting them up.

 

[knfmn]

The original loader sounds like a lonely man who took his mind off of things by very meticulously reloading as much ammo as he could. I would pull down and spot check random rounds throughout the stash. I'm willing to bet that you'll find that they're all right on the money. Go to the range he frequented and touch off some of his reloads. I'm sure he's glad that someone got them who will appreciate them.

 

[readyeddy]

I would approach the ammo the same way as the OP.

Do a visual on a large sample. Check for even crimps, split brass, backward primers, high primers, dirty brass and any other signs of poor QC. Pull a dozen or so cartridges (for rifle and handgun) and weigh the powder charges to look for consistency and check the load data to see if they are within spec.

If it looks good, then I would shoot it. It's a personal choice and you accept the risks if you decide to shoot. But even factory ammo comes out defective now and then, and just because you load your own doesn't mean you're not capable of making a mistake. All we can do is try to minimize the risks and always shoot with eye and ear protection.

 

[Reloadron]

This subject can be beat to death ads I am pretty much sure we have done that. One note about being dead is you can figure your shooting days are done. Well we can absolutely be assured without a doubt the deceased will no longer need his ammunition, be it hand loaded or commercial store bought.

I taught my brother to reload and I trust his loads as well as my own. My brother - law passed a few years ago and my sister gave me Mike's stuff. I truest mikes reloads as much as my own. Both Mike and my brother were meticulas hand loaders.

Looking at the ammo in this thread? I would shoot the stuff. Someone went through extensive care an patience loading the stuff.

Ron

 

[just for fun]

I think your friend has unrealistic expectations about the value of 2nd hand handloaded ammo. I would walk away, at least for a while. If someone swoops in and buys it all, great! But if he begrudgingly sells it to you for what it is actually worth, it might impact your friendship. He needs the reality check to come from a stranger, not a friend.

Just my $.02.

This is the best reply I've read in a very long time! I reload for myself and my son and have all components on hand to load approx. 7k of assorted rounds. Still I only load in batches of 500 for the very reasons we are reading about right here. You can always sell it for purchased price-until you put it all together. As of right now I would not be willing to sell any primers or powder. You would have to be a very close friend for me to loan you a pound of powder and 1K of primers. Oh, did I say family (outside of my son) is out of the question! Too many lessons already learned! With O'Boy raddling the gun issue again. Don't be surprised to see another RUN on reloading supplies.

 

[egd]

I've been curious, have you shot it all up yet???
Serious, have you shot any and how'ed it do? Or are you still sorting?

 

[Analogkid]

I have shot a bunch of the .38 sp Wadcutter reloads. The Powder in all of them look to be Dirty nasty but Oh so consistent Bullseye.

I took a selection of 200 and pulled 1 out of each bag. They were all the same and close within a few grains. Pretty Anemic plinking loads. Not a Hot one in the bunch.

I Am Still looking for a .32 h&r magnum Revolver, Lord knows I Have a Lifetime supply of those plus a Large lot of .32 h&r magnum defensive rounds he made up.

 

[egd]

That's great.

 

[TIMC]

Since you have info on who loaded it and know he had many years of experience and if he didn't doe from a reloading accident then I would say, Shoot it.

 

[Analogkid]

Shot 200 or so of the 38 wadcutters this weekend and 100 or so of the .357's he loaded.

All ran pretty good. Pretty fun shooting wadcutters again!