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Due to the lack of ammunition many are turning to gun show re-loads, I cannot caution people enough to avoid these at all costs. It is better to not shoot than risk yourself to some back yard unlicensed hack looking to make a few bucks at your risk.

The below pictures are from last week, a friend let somebody shoot 38 special re-loads that were purchased at a gun show in his handgun. The revolver is a S&W Airlight PD chambered in 357, no problem shooting 38's through it right? The picture will speak for itself.



Being the type of person who wants to know why this happened he let me take the gun and ammo to do some research, so out came my trusty reloading tools, a scale and my calipers. I weighed each cartridge first, I know that I should not have been amazed but I was, the range was from 199.0 grains up to 209.9 grains, all had the same JHP bullets seated in them. There is almost an 11 grain swing, the bullets and cases are the same. Sounds to me like double and triple charges were put into the cases although I have not yet taken any apart to formally verify this by weighing the individual componants. The finished cartridge lengths are also all over the place the majority well below the specified lengths in re-loading manuals.

Fortunatly nobody was huurt, the shooter was hit on his safety glasses by a flying object, no damage, strike one up for lady luck. Notice the shell case and bullet, we believe that is the one which caused the damage. It appears that the shell case burst before the projectile could leave the barrel, instant hand grenade!!!!!

We need to educate everybody we know about purchasing re-loaded ammo from people that they do not know, .... I wonder how many of the people with baggies full of ammo are licensed to re-load and sell?

Wow! Scary stuff. I avoid reloads altogether.

I do a little bit of handloading for my rifles. Those are the only handloads that I put in any firearm that I own or am operating. I have spent long hours with an inertia bullt puller taking apart a tray of rounds that I had just loaded because I thought that I MIGHT have made an error. Better that than the results shown above...or worse, an injury.

Holy Cow!! That is scary! I wonder how many of those rounds are in other people's hands right now?

AndyC wrote:

Salty1 wrote:the range was from 199.0 grains up to 209.9 grains, all had the same JHP bullets seated in them. There is almost an 11 grain swing, the bullets and cases are the same. Sounds to me like double and triple charges were put into the cases although I have not yet taken any apart to formally verify this by weighing the individual componants.

I can see some variance in weight ocurring between cases, bullets and powder - but I'd be really interested to hear about powder-charge differences when you get to pulling the bullets.

We likely won't know the powder used, but we could get pretty close if you post some close-up pics of the powder granules - and then relate those charges to loading tables.

Any chance that 1 shot was a squib-load, which stuck a bullet in the barrel, and the shooter simply cranked off another round? No offense, just trying to check the possibilities of there having been undercharged loads.

That was exactly my first thought.

AndyC wrote:

Salty1 wrote:the range was from 199.0 grains up to 209.9 grains, all had the same JHP bullets seated in them. There is almost an 11 grain swing, the bullets and cases are the same. Sounds to me like double and triple charges were put into the cases although I have not yet taken any apart to formally verify this by weighing the individual componants.

I can see some variance in weight ocurring between cases, bullets and powder - but I'd be really interested to hear about powder-charge differences when you get to pulling the bullets.

We likely won't know the powder used, but we could get pretty close if you post some close-up pics of the powder granules - and then relate those charges to loading tables.

Any chance that 1 shot was a squib-load, which stuck a bullet in the barrel, and the shooter simply cranked off another round? No offense, just trying to check the possibilities of there having been undercharged loads.

No offense taken, I am looking for input such as yours, thanks......

I know the person who ownes the revolver and his many years of experience I would have to doubt it was a squib load scenerio, the barrel was clear afterwards, I know it could have pushed the stuck bullet out but tend to doubt that with all the other combined factors. I will wait until I can gather some small packets for each componant so I can properly catalog and store each item, brass, bullet and powder. If it was me I would take all the gathered information to the re-loader and demand a new handgun, but that is not my call. I willprovide all the documented information that I think would hold up in a small claims court. Most likely will be a few days before all the fact gathering is completed then with the owners permission I will share it on the forum.

Salty1 wrote:

AndyC wrote:

Salty1 wrote:the range was from 199.0 grains up to 209.9 grains, all had the same JHP bullets seated in them. There is almost an 11 grain swing, the bullets and cases are the same. Sounds to me like double and triple charges were put into the cases although I have not yet taken any apart to formally verify this by weighing the individual componants.

I can see some variance in weight ocurring between cases, bullets and powder - but I'd be really interested to hear about powder-charge differences when you get to pulling the bullets.

We likely won't know the powder used, but we could get pretty close if you post some close-up pics of the powder granules - and then relate those charges to loading tables.

Any chance that 1 shot was a squib-load, which stuck a bullet in the barrel, and the shooter simply cranked off another round? No offense, just trying to check the possibilities of there having been undercharged loads.

No offense taken, I am looking for input such as yours, thanks......

I know the person who ownes the revolver and his many years of experience I would have to doubt it was a squib load scenerio, the barrel was clear afterwards, I know it could have pushed the stuck bullet out but tend to doubt that with all the other combined factors. I will wait until I can gather some small packets for each componant so I can properly catalog and store each item, brass, bullet and powder. If it was me I would take all the gathered information to the re-loader and demand a new handgun, but that is not my call. I willprovide all the documented information that I think would hold up in a small claims court. Most likely will be a few days before all the fact gathering is completed then with the owners permission I will share it on the forum.

Where did the bullet come from in the picture? I find myself wondering if that bullet could have been the squib and the one that was in the next chamber went off to bullet never never land in the kaboom.

Glad to hear your friend is ok. I have shot a couple thousand rounds of reloads in my time and never had a problem. Then again I never bought rounds from someone I did not personally know or a reputable company.

Your friends second clue is never buy a bag of loose ammo that a company doesn't put its name on. He also must have been desperate for ammo because $22 for 50 rounds of reloaded .38 is highway robbery.
I just recently payed $13 a box for 38 reloads

My gun - and I was right behind Handgun 101 student when it happened. Man and wife had new Model 638 and I was letting them use my ankle gun for just a bit to get a feel of benefits of a little trigger work and Crimson Trace lasers. No unusual noise or recoil on prior rounds. Noise was extra loud on the one that blew it. Bullet shown was found sticking out front of one of the undamaged chambers.

Greybeard- so it was your gun and their ammo? That stinks. Glad to hear all are ok. I saw a sp101 like that once but not from reloaded just to hot.

Back when I was young and stupid, I would reload .38 cases w/ .357 loads. why? Because I was young, poor, and stupid, and i had a range that would give me loads of .38 brass but no .357. Anyhow, shot thousands of rounds of it through my .357 with never a problem, but if that stuff would have gone in a .38 i'm sure it would have gone bad.

I've bought some ammo in the past from individuals who as they put it, load new. New casings, etc. I've had good luck so far. However, I just bought some of these "new" loads from a different company. After seeing these photos I have concerns. What is the consensus on these type of loads?

Commander wrote:I've bought some ammo in the past from individuals who as they put it, load new. New casings, etc. I've had good luck so far. However, I just bought some of these "new" loads from a different company. After seeing these photos I have concerns. What is the consensus on these type of loads?

Would you wear a parachute you didn't pack? just sayin'.