reloaded 30-06 ammo

[pion68]

I have an opportunity to buy about 1000 rounds of 30-06 ammo from the estate of friend. It was resized, swagged, and reloaded with 150 g. ball. It has been stored in a cabinet in a garage since it was reloaded in 2006. The cases are tarnished but not corroded. I would use the ammo in my M1 garand. Is it OK to purchase and fire this ammo? I can buy the cartridges for about $.50 each. Any thoughts? The deceased friend who did the reloading was a long time reloader and shooter--very skilled.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

First, I would not because you don't have any idea if it was properly loaded. Secondly, I don't think .50 a round is a steal.

 

[Old krow]

First, I would not because you don't have any idea if it was properly loaded. Secondly, I don't think .50 a round is a steal.

I have about the same opinion.

 

[Phantom Captain]

I'm with the previous two posters.

You don't know what powder he used, how hot he loaded them and the Garands are tricky. If you do reload for them you have to make them as close as you can to the original military loadings. Garands don't like hot rounds and if they are out of military spec you can bend your operating rod etc.

If you had more info, knew the powder utilized and load grain weights it would be much easier to determine if they were good for what you wanted to use them for.

Now for a bolt gun I wouldn't see a problem, even if they were hot they would be within range, most likely. But again, you don't know what rifle he was shooting them out of and I'm sure they were most likely custom loaded to something the rifle he was using liked.

So, in my opinion, no. I wouldn't use them. And I definitely wouldn't use them in a Garand.

 

[ralph2]

I think the M1 garand has special loading considerations. My neighbor has a M1 garand that didn't like factory ammo I got from walmart. I also agree with the two comments above

 

[rcmodel]

I might offer them .15 - .20 cents a round, maybe.

Then pull them down for the components.

That would still about pay the estate for what the components cost 6 years ago

rc

 

[pion68]

I feel confident that the loads were well done--the reloader wrote notes with the type of powder, bullet, primer, etc. Still, I fully understand the idea of using reloads not done by me.

 

[Liberty1776]

then you could check the loading manuals to see if they fit within the pressure profile for safe shooting in the Garand. However, if they were not full-length resized (really highly unlikely) they most likely will not chamber or function. And that works out to $10 a box of 20 for reloads. I personally wouldn't do it...

 

[bergmen]

Additional considerations:

1) Do you know how many times the cases have been reloaded?

2) Also, do you have any idea how the reloading die was set for headspace?

These are important considerations for firing in a Garand (especially #2). You really want to have reloaded ammo resized to coincide with the headspace in your rifle (for safety and accuracy).

Dan

 

[brian923]

I think you could buy proper m1 ammo from the CMP for around the same price. then you know what you have and you wont bend an op rod. not worth it.

 

[Murphy4570]

Good for parts to make your own reloads. Pop 'em apart and verify the charge in each and every round. Better that than blowing up your rifle because somebody double charged one by accident...

$0.50 a round is anything but a deal on that stuff. I'd say offer them ten to twenty cents per cartridge.

 

[ball3006]

What the above posts said........................chris3

 

[Art Eatman]

Twenty cents would be a deal. Fifty cents isn't.

It might be worth buying an adjustable gas plug for your Garand and do the progressive adjustment for proper cycling. That way you wouldn't hurt the operating rod.

 

[trapper500]

Reloaded Ammo

I wouldn't buy no reloaded ammo that i didn't load or see it beeing load not say ill of the dead or nothing & .50 like the other poster said really isn't a steal JMO