Substandard home-loads.

[Grandhubert]

There are "reloaders" and then are "handloaders" in my view.

The former load ammunition to save money or because of
availability and are not particularly interested in the art or science of hand loading ammunition.

The latter see it as almost a seperate hobby in it's own right and lavish much time, money and care on their ammo.

this is not to demonise anyone but I would be very careful shooting reloaded by the former and interrogate the latter as to their load data. If they don't know then they are not part of the latter at all.

 

[njc110381]

Firstly, I would not fire that ammo. It could end up costing you more than a lot of money. It's not worth it. If you can see issues with the naked eye, they're big issues!

Secondly, I think it's ok to trust someone else's home loads. If the rounds are made to spec, full length sized and not near the top of the load chart they will be fine. Once the loads get tuned to a gun, neck sized and worked up close to maximum then avoid at all cost.

There are indeed two different types of home loaders. But not all of us who do it to save cost without being anal about every last mm of group size will produce dangerous ammo. For my deer rifles I full length size and load about half way up the chart. I would be comfortable with someone else firing them in their rifle. When they shoot sub 1", Usually closer to 1/2", that will do for my deer gun. On the other hand, I can't make much of a list of people I would trust to load ammo for me. There are a few, but not many.

 

[Brimfire]

Secondly, I think it's ok to trust someone else's home loads. If the rounds are made to spec, full length sized and not near the top of the load chart they will be fine.

Certain calibres have small loading windows where min and max loads are 1 grain apart. The importance of working up a load is more so in those particular calibres, especially when they involve fast burning powders.

Once the loads get tuned to a gun, neck sized and worked up close to maximum then avoid at all cost.

Neck sizing is exclusively for the gun it was fired in, regardless of powder charge.

 

[gus308]

Its not generally a good idea to use somebody else`s reloads. I have found that over the years Norma factory produces very similar results to my reloads out to about 200 yds but after that up to about 500 yds the reloads are far better, none of which makes any difference at all when your shooting deer at 150 yds! I find reloading to be cost effective as i spend a lot of time sending lumps of lead downrange at a target and i have to say its a very enjoyable hobby. You don`t need to reload to be a successful stalker, in fact most people i know don`t.