Is There an Easy Way to Notice If Handloaded?

[AZAmmo]

I have no ammo experience. How do you tell between handloaded and manufacturer loaded?

My brother passed and I have sorted about 3,000 rounds of ammo. Some of it had fallen out of degraded boxes, some in bags, some in plastic boxes, and others are in OEM boxes. I did find two plastic boxes (100 rounds) that had paper labels inside explaining the grain, FPS, etc. so these must be reloads.

Here's and example: 45 Ammo - 1,340 total rounds

[reynolds357]

Straight scratches on the brass. The stuff in the bags is almost definitely re-loaded.

[Wreck-n-Crew]

Looks like reloads to me too. Open one of those boxes of wolf and if it is brass it is not in original box. If it is in steel case it is factory and you may have a mixture of reload and factory.

[j357]

Sorry for your loss my man. I hope you, your family and his find peace and solace over the holidays.

I would consider all of that reloaded ammo for all intents and purposes.

Indicators are: lengthwise scratches on cases, black marks around case mouths, worn edge boxes, lead wad cutter bullets in bags, hand written marks on boxes, mixed head stamps in the same box, plastic plano or MTM boxes.

Everything there says handloaded, except maybe the top left boxes of S&B .45 which appear to have fresh corners but would need to be inspected. Agree with the prior post on the wolf ammo, box notes it is steel cased, put a magnet to it to confirm.

[skizzums]

compare the primer colors to a box of factory stuff. like if you have lake city 223 that has silver primers, youknow its been reloaded. that wont be for sure indicator since you can buy primers in whatever color you want, but it's a dead give away if its incorrect for the brand.

the bagged stuff is most definitely reloads, especially since its all lead cast with unmatched cases.

check the boxed stuff to see if all the headstamps match

[AZAmmo]

HI All. Thanks for the insight. Most everything in those bags came from OEM boxes that were torn, ripped, or crumpled beyond repair. It was easier to put in a bag then try to fix all the damaged boxes, insert bullets into their trays, then try and stuff trays back into boxes.

[Wreck-n-Crew]

Cast bullets = reloads for the most part. Try Armslist under reloading in your area and play it safe. Let them know they need disassembled and used for reloading. I just had a buddy who tore up his revolver shooting a double charge of 38 special in a .357 pistol. He got the reloads from someone else. Safety is first, everything else comes after. Good lick and sorry about your loss, been there too many times!

[rclark]

... and play it safe.

... Well ... I think it depends... As this man was the OP's brother, he would probably know how many guns he blew up, malfunctions due to ammo and such, was he always using a brass rod to unstick bullets from barrel.... Ie. how often he loaded his ammo, was he an avid shooter, was he always loading on the bleeding 'edge', etc... So, if it was me, I might just go shoot it if I know his shooting/reloading experience...

I'd treat them as all reloads if in doubt.

However I would NOT sell any of it someone else of course... If that was the intent, I'd unload 'em and sell the brass. If you aren't a shooter (kind of the way it sounds), then get 'em unloaded... Don't sale.... You don't want to shoulder the liability of reloaded ammo with someone else in our 'lawyer come quick' state of minded country.

[RC20]

I am sorry for your loss.

I would treat it as reloaded, I certainly would not try to sell any of it.

You might work your way through it but it would take more time and money that probably is remotely worth it.

As noted you can inspect cases (or have someone knowledge do so) and figure out what some of them were (reload or factory).

Any known friends or associate of his re-load and or shoot with him?


Really not worth it. If he had friends and was known to be a conscientious re-loader they might take his rounds.

Otherwise the safety thing to do is get a kinetic bullet puller and dissemble them. You can then sell off the bullets and the cases separately.

[SauerGrapes]

Most people won't buy ammo loaded by strangers. If he had shooting buddies, maybe one of them will buy it.

BTW, sorry for your lose.

[Unclenick]

Unfortunately there's no single method that's 100% reliable. A lot of handloaders reuse the commercial boxes to hold their reloads, so the box alone does not tell the tale. Very beat up boxes as you describe were most probably reused. If your brother tumbled his cases after resizing, the marks left by the sizing die may be very hard to see. However, most handloaders polish before sizing, and then the marks are visible as if someone had lightly drawn very fine sandpaper over the surface of the brass in one direction.

With new ammo all the headstamps on the cartridge cases in a box will be identical and that headstamp will belong to the manufacturer whose name is on the box. Sellier & Bellot, whose boxes I see, for example, have their initials SB on their .45 Auto brass. Also, in the particular case of Sellier & Bellot, I bought some once and it all had sealant on the primers. That's a step almost no handloader bothers with. In the case of the Sellier & Bellot I got, the whole primer was painted red. If yours are like that, then it is almost certainly a factory load. If there's no sealant on the Sellier & Bellot primers anywhere, it most likely reloaded.

On other brands that have sealant (mostly military ammo), it may be around the primer perimeter or may be green or some other color, but you should see it on both the primer and the case at least a little. If the primer has no trace of it, even if the case does, it is probably reloaded.

There are other signs. For one thing, most .45 Auto ammunition is fired from self-loading weapons that eject the fired cases onto the ground. The edges of the rims, in particular, start picking up tiny dings from fall on rocks and dirt. New brass generally looks perfect.

I wish we could be more helpful, but prudence suggests that if you are uncertain you err with the assumption you are looking at a reloaded round.