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38 spl.

alan self
Last weekend I bought some 38 spl. reloads cheap! at a gun show. Starting to wonder about them. Is there some way to tell if they are any 'good' other than tying the pistol to a tree & pulling the trigger with a long string? Don't know weighing them would tell me anything Or just take them apart and reload them ?
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Comments

14 comments

Date Votes
  • Pearyw
    The only safe way is to take them apart.
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  • Rocky Raab
    If they are commercial reloads, they are probably fine - the seller's liability insurance depends on it!

    If they are reloads from some guy's table of odds and ends, no.
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  • longspur rider
    Weigh one , then pull it & weigh the components. If it is an acceptable load, weigh the rest of the them & see if they match the weight. Got some reloads from a friend once & had a problem with one, no bang just a pop. 8 of them in the box had no powder.
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  • alan self
    This morning went ahead and weighed about 30 with fed. head stamp. They weighed all over the place varied up to .8 grains difference. I think I,ll just take them apart. That's reason enough not to fire them. The components are worth more than I payed ?
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  • reloader44mag
    If you were taking them apart to check powder weight...you would need to know the type of powder used and charge....my 2 cent, .8 grains difference is not that much when weighing a completed round depending on the bullet manufacturer. as an example next time you buy bullets in .38..weigh 10 bullets and you will know what I'm speaking of...but when in doubt pull them unless you run them through a .357mag.
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  • Bubba Jr.
    I weighed some of my recent reloads and was a little concerned that the weights were not at all consistent. Today I was weighing de-capped cases, and I found out real quick why there was so much variance in weight. I weighed 9mm cases from Federal, Winchester, Mag Tech, Remington, and Fiocchi. The average variance was 1.5 grains between the lightest and heaviest cases. One brand had 2.1 grains difference.

    Mystery solved.[:)]
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  • partisan
    With what you know from weighing, I'll go along with 44MAG, and say shoot the in a .357.
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  • garanch
    Weighing a loaded round or number of them will do you no good. The empty cases vary considerably in weight. Even if the primers, powder, and bulllets all weighed exactly the same your completed cartridge will vary in weight.
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  • ColtDoctor
    Howdy Pards,

    Some years ago a fella offered to sell me his .38 special reloads. I respectfully declined, but my pard picked them up. Well some informal shooting went on later that week and my pard loaded his S&W up and handed it to Dude to shoot. Well, Dude ended up holding what looked like a metal banana peel in his hand after he pulled the trigger. Thank the lord no one was killed or injured. Moral of the story. Don't trust ammo some other cowboy loaded. Your life may depend on it. Not to mention the life of your hogleg.

    Shoot Straight,

    MW
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  • ColtDoctor
    partisan pard,

    A .357 mag is no defense from a squib load either. Be careful with your advice my friend.

    Respectfully,

    MW
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  • ColtDoctor
    44 Mag,

    See above.

    Respectfully,

    MW
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  • partisan
    COLTDR- There was nothing mentioned concerning a squib load. Alan Self seemed to be more concerned with the .38spl's being loaded too hot.
    I'll stick by my info to Alan, and with nearly 20 years as an NRA certified handgun instructor I feel confident with my knowledge, PARD!!!!
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  • jonk
    Depends entirely what they are loaded with. Probably fine but who knows?

    If you pull them and see a readily identifiable powder- very few- but Red Dot comes to mind for instance- then you could work out the load and whether it is safe. Otherwise it must be assumed that you can't count on it.
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  • machine gun moran
    I don't shoot anybody's reloads, unless they are from one particular commercial reloader whom I know. Of the commercial reloaders whom I did not know, I checked a box of the reloads of one, that were on a store shelf. Of the first 25 rounds, three had primers that were in backwards. I happened to get a glimpse of another commercial reloader (.223's) in action just as he had a machine jam. There was cases, bullets and powder flying everywhere. Some of the powder actually swamped some of the other already-charged cases in the conveyor, which he then restarted into the bullet seating operation, giving a new meaning to the term 'compressed load'. Hopefully, he scrapped the entire lot. But I never knew.
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