What to do with old handloads?

[Nick Caprinolo]

I have thousands of reloaded .223 for my ARs. Many years ago, a friend gave me 6,000 bullets when he found out I was building an AR. I built several more ARs and was shooting them regularly. Over the years, I pull one out occasionally and have a go. Shey shoot as good as new. Still very accurate.

Let the range and the rifle tell you if they are any good. I suspect you will find no real difference as long as you load any new rounds exactly as the old ones.

 

[cw308]

I had a similar situation , I found 200 cases primed and ready to load . Primed them at least 6 years, loaded up some (38spl.) they all fired fine, this week I'm firing the last 50. Fire the ones you have and see how they group, you may not see much of a difference. You can always break them down if you don't like the way they shoot , saves on barrel wear.

 

[Kermit in Va.]

I think you should just see'em to me...
I'll take care of'em the proper way...

 

[Red Khon]

If you don't need the space just save them, the day may come when you need them.people keep saying these shortages are temporary, I'm not convinced. If the politicians in DC get their way things like ammo and reloading components will continue to be very hard to find. Just my humble opinion.

 

[jds holler]

Maybe someone straighten me out on the "neck weld" issue.

Didn't US military ammo from the forties and fifties have cemented bullets and primers?? jd

 

[riflewoman]

Maybe someone straighten me out on the "neck weld" issue.

Didn't US military ammo from the forties and fifties have cemented bullets and primers?? jd

They still do. They use an asphalt based sealant in the neck. It’s primary use is as a sealant. It does increase bullet pull. There MIGHT be a sliver of truth in the “bullet weld” theory, but so far I’ve seen no hard evidence. I also recently fired some 308 Win match loads they shot into 1/2 MOA just like they did in 1998 when I loaded them.

 

[FIREPHOTO798]

I had a problem a while back with some reloads for a 6mm Rem that sat on the shelf for about 5 years. They sat bullet up in case gard 50 round case boxes. I decided to shoot them up to reclaim the cases. The first 5 that I shot had heavier than normal recoil and showed bad case expansion just ahead of the rim. 2 actually separated. I assumed it had some thing to do with the powder caking against the primer. So I turned the case gard box over (bullet down) and banged it on the bench a few times to loosen the powder. All the remaining shells fired normally with no indication of case problems.

I now make that standard practice with any loads that have set stationary for more that a year.

 

[Bill K]

Go have some plinking fun. Take a couple of kids along and get them started in the shooting sports.

 

[joshb]

“Rumor” heard from a local Texan: They’re putting something in the new gunpowders that makes it break down after a year so people can’t hoard powder or ammo.

 

[riflewoman]

Then that would mean that all the data published would have to be reshot and warnings published from here to there in big bold and loud language. Utter nonsense. Tell the rumor smith to get a different brand of tinfoil hat.

 

[jds holler]

So anyway, I once bought a pretty nice sporterized Mauser K98 that had been done by Golden State Arms -- Cartridge 30-06. The package came with a Redfield 2x7 scope.

I also bought, I think fifty rounds of US surplus ammo from our local Army Surplus Store for cheap. (stamped US 1953 or so) Korean war vintage. They had black tipped full metal jacket bullets, and I wanted to simply burn them up to get reloadable brass. Didn't really expect much in the way of accuracy.

Well I put the first twenty into a group about 1 1/2" without trying very hard. Rifle was already sighted in and everything. My opinion of surplus ammo at least US stamped was that it must be great. This happened in the mid seventies, so the stuff was 20+ years old at that time.

By the way, my reloaded ammo didn't improve accuracy much better than those original cartridges. jd