mystery bag of 45 acp ?

mr phil · Nov 25, 2009

So for years my brother in law has been trying to give me a zip-loc bag full of reloaded 45 acp's that somebody gave him . I've always been like , no thanks man . Having no idea who loaded them or how they were loaded or why who-ever did did not shoot them . I mean he has had them for like 10 years rolling around in his garage, like 2 or 3 hundred rounds. I've got everything i've needed for reloading 45's but just have not set it up yet.
Should I take them and .......
A) just start shooting. :shocked3:

B) pull one apart and see how it's loaded . Then mabe keep em
C) Pull them all apart ( seems like a major pain) and cannibalize the brass and boolits :bannana:

Atlasarmory · Nov 25, 2009

pull'em sounds like a good snowday project

joppaj · Nov 25, 2009

mr phil said:
C) Pull them all apart ( seems like a major pain) and cannibalize the brass and boolits

BenL · Nov 25, 2009

mr phil said:
C) Pull them all apart ( seems like a major pain) and cannibalize the brass and boolits

This.

I'm not even sure I would trust the primers. (You can never be too careful)

trickg · Nov 25, 2009

Reloads are an interesting subject. Everyone that used to shoot with us trusted my Dad's reloads and had no qualms about shooting them. Then again, everyone knew how meticulous he was with that kind of thing, and he always included a little card similar to the following:

.45 ACP
200 gr LSWC
4.2 gr Bullseye
date
(sometimes he'd list the primer used too)

At least that way you have an idea. Personally, with that baggie of reloads, unless I was desparate and being chased by zombies, I wouldn't use them because you don't know any of the reloading data. I'd pull them and as others have suggested, I'd cannibalize the bullets and the brass - I'd probably carefully extract the primers too, although in truth they probably wouldn't make that much of a difference - I've used both standard and magnum large pistol primers in my .45 ACP reloading and haven't noticed much difference.

novus collectus · Nov 25, 2009

mr phil said:
So for years my brother in law has been trying to give me a zip-loc bag full of reloaded 45 acp's that somebody gave him . I've always been like , no thanks man . Having no idea who loaded them or how they were loaded or why who-ever did did not shoot them . I mean he has had them for like 10 years rolling around in his garage, like 2 or 3 hundred rounds. I've got everything i've needed for reloading 45's but just have not set it up yet.
Should I take them and .......
A) just start shooting.
B) pull one apart and see how it's loaded . Then mabe keep em
C) Pull them all apart ( seems like a major pain) and cannibalize the brass and boolits

Pulling them apart is far from a pain if you think of it this way....when making new rounds you do ot have to worry about decapping and priming the brass so half the job is done.

A few hundred bullets if jacketted is worth a lot nowadays and might be worth about ten or twenty bucks (or more?) on their own.

novus collectus · Nov 25, 2009

BenL said:
This.

I'm not even sure I would trust the primers. (You can never be too careful)

.45 ACP is very forgiving. Unless one was trying to make +P rounds or something or trying for extreme accuracy I don't think the primers are an issue.

Threeband · Nov 25, 2009

Consider this: if you don't take them, they'll eventually end up in someone else's gun.

So if you don't break them down, at least make sure they're disposed of safely.

Jim Sr · Nov 25, 2009

BenL said:
This.

I'm not even sure I would trust the primers. (You can never be too careful)

+1

organized_mayhem · Nov 25, 2009

I would take them and pull them apart. You have no idea if they are loaded with proper charges or even what powder they are loaded with unless you know who loaded them and they can tell you for sure. Reuse the brass and bullets if you reload or give/sell them to someone who does. As Threeband has said they may eventually make their way into someone else's gun and that may be a very bad thing if not loaded properly.

zombiehunter · Nov 26, 2009

if you don't want em, PM me i'll pay shipping for them

K31 · Nov 26, 2009

Pull them apart. If it seems like too much of a pain get a collet bullet puller for your press or just pass on them and direct to BIL to a range that has a "dud" can or wherever the locality tells him to dispose of ammo (here it's the PD).

Even if the recipe is written on the container, I still wouldn't trust it. I read about a person who purchased reloading gear and reloads from a widow. The second reload the guy shot almost blew up his gun. Turned out the man had Alzheimer's disease.

helg · Nov 26, 2009

I would disassemble one of the rounds, weigh the powder, then take off one third of the powder, and shoot it. Then work up this way to reach the whole charge. While disassembling weigh the powder - if the variation is above 10%, disassemble them all. It should be reasonable to assume that the while batch uses the same powder. If I see that the powder takes a half of the case or less, I would worry of double-charges and also disassemble them all. Otherwise, after this kind of "working up", I would think that they are safe.

VRC Racing · Nov 26, 2009

I would shoot them and call it a day.

-Russ

j8064 · Nov 26, 2009

zombiehunter said:
if you don't want em, PM me i'll pay shipping for them

Geez, I thought this thread would've been resolved and gone by now.

I agree w/ zombiehunter. I'll pay the shipping to get them too, but he's first in line if that's the resolution to the 'mystery bag'.

What to do with them?:
- Shoot 'em? = no thanks. I didn't load 'em...I don't know what's in 'em.
- Dump 'em? (safely I mean), Why? The cases, bullets and primers are likely still very usable to rebuild new cartridges with a fresh charge of known propellant.
- The primers in them? Likely OK - many of us have fired 40+ year old primers from known origins. They can be test fired for viability once the cases are emptied.

Pulling bullets out of .45acp rounds - even with a kinetic hammer, isn't all that difficult.

Biggfoot44 · Nov 26, 2009

Sounds like a job for a Blackhawk.

surplusfan · Nov 27, 2009

Shoot a round. If it works shoot another. Repeat.

organized_mayhem · Nov 27, 2009

surplusfan said:
Shoot a round. If it works shoot another. Repeat.

Until a improperly loaded round (overcharged, seated too deep, etc) blows up in his hand. Not worth the risk. Pull them.

K31 · Nov 27, 2009

organized_mayhem said:
Until a improperly loaded round (overcharged, seated too deep, etc) blows up in his hand. Not worth the risk. Pull them.

+1 even if all it did was wreak his firearm.

mr phil · Nov 27, 2009

Well Im just gona get em pull em reload em and shoot em
BA-Bang Baby !

mystery bag of 45 acp ?

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