Realoading for others

[Brutus]

Just read a post in the revolver section about a guy looking for a new frame for his revolver. Asked him what happened to the original to which he replied it was the victim of some ones handloads. I replied:

Rule #1 never shoot other peoples handloads. Best of intensions can cause hard feelings and a loss of property.
I've had a lot of friends ask me to reload some rounds for them, especially in .44 and .357 Mag. Not for hot loads but my easy shooting target loads and on occasion I have complied but always with the understanding that @#$% happens and you use them at your own risk. I try real hard to discourage the requests but after all they are requesting "Brutus's bullseye bullets".


So what's the consensus out there, how do my fellow reloaders feel about this subject?

[FITASC]

Maybe you should have your friends over and show them how to reload your magic bullets on your equipment - let them buy the components; that way THEY loaded their ammo

[daboone]

I have 3 sons and 2 SILs. I have 2 reloading buddies. I load 99% of my family's ammo both pistol and rifle. According to them I'm not producing enough fast enough. The benefit is they do pay for components. My 2 buddies and I swap reloads anytime we think we've found a new pet load. then friendly insults are exchanged. I do not except reloads offers or offer mine to folks I meet at the range.

[Brutus]

While they do chip in for component cost none of them shoot as much as I do.
Besides if I taught them my secrets I may have to buy the beers after our range session.

[rebs]

I only shoot my own reloads and do not reload for others.

[kmw1954]

I load for our guns, mine and the wife's and these rounds are tested in all our guns. They fire equally well and accurate in all. This ammunition is stored in common load boxes and we each fire from these boxes. There isn't a box marked "mine", "yours". So the odds of a random bad load is equally great to either of us. I just wouldn't shoot a load that I thought was unsafe and certainly wouldn't allow my wife to shoot one either..

I too have a couple of friends I shoot with and they also hand load. I have no qualms about shooting their guns with their reloads just as they have shot mine. But again, I know these people and I trust them.

[Unclenick]

I prefer teaching people to roll their own. I like the idea that I'm propagating the hobby and like the support for the industry that results.

[T. O'Heir]

"...Best of intensions(SIC) can cause..." Legal issues. The guy with the blown revolver could sue the guy who did the loading.
"...use them at your own risk..." Signed liability waivers may or may not matter where you are.
Show 'em how and let 'em use your kit(and even your components the first time), but do not load for 'em.

[std7mag]

I load for only a select few outside of the family.
Everyone i load for knows that they buy their own components. And everyone has sat down with me to outline what they are looking for ( with me keeping them realistic at the same time), and they have a hand planning the load development. Everyone has had their turn pulling the lever.

So far i've helped 3 people get into reloading. And still keep in touch to see how things are going.
I feel it's a responsability that i have.

[FITASC]

^^^ way to go!

[RC20]

I excahgne (or shoot) my brothers reloads and he will shoot mine.

We both will shoot one guys reloads occasionally but its a special case.

Otherwise I won't do it for anyone else, turn people down as I have no interest in the possible issues and I don't trust anyone else either, let alone time which I don't have but the other superseeds that regardless if I did.

[gw44]

I never have done that, just because !!!

[HiBC]

"What could possibly go wrong?

Weigh the risk against the rewards. Of course folks enjoy having you provide them with ammo.Or you could smoke briskets and feed them.Keep cold beer on hand,too.

Having "Ammo dependants" is not necessarily a good thing. I don't feed seagulls or stray cats,either.

I DO however,fully support the idea of giving a shooter a mentored start at handloading. Lube the toggle pins on the press and your student won't wear it out.
Plenty of folks that enjoy cherry pie have never pitted cherries with a paper clip.

Let them experience the time and effort. They pulled the handle for each step,they own the ammo.
With your mentorship,they can become safe and competent.

And,depending on their needs,a functional loading outfit can be a Lee hand press ,a tacklebox,scale,etc. You don't HAVE to have a dedicated room,bench,Dillon 1050,etc.

You are free and friendships are safe...and there is another one of us.

[pwc]

I only reload for my guns. I have no real shooting friends, acquaintences, yes. Any one else I shoot with either already rolls their own or prefers comm'l. I have been asked to reload by 3 different people. Two I said if they buy thier components, I will teach them on my single stage. They did and one did get into reloading, much bigger than me. (means see how fast he can shoot up what he has), the other one didn't.

The third one had a S&W 357 he had to drive the cases out of the cylinder with a screwdriver. He said a friend that reloaded and gave him a box. He gave me the box and the info on the box said it was an overload when I looked it up. I pulled all the bullets, saved the powder and reloaded with a mid range load for that powder/bullet, put the unused/left over powder in a zip lip sandwich bag and returned it and the box of ammo to him.

Never reloaded for others again.

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

All my firearms have been proof tested once. I see no benefit doing a second time.

[FrankenMauser]

I load for no man.
My loads are my loads.

And the only time I shoot some one else's reloads is when trust that person, and the loads are going in their firearm.
Reloads from strangers? Not a chance!

Two recent situations have me somewhat considering bending the rules, but the above is my general approach.

Recent situation 1: I inherited a rifle with a few hundred rounds of handloaded ammo. Although the person has had some sketchy practices in the past, and I have pulled down EVERY one of the past handloads I've received, they have also never had a KB or squib with a rifle in however many tens of thousands of rounds (hundreds of thousands?). I might shoot them after verifying data.

Situation 2: One of my brothers used to be very lax with his reloading practices, and had some scary incidents, including a catastrophic failure that killed a Ruger Hawkeye. He has, however, become quite anal-retentive about reloading in the past few years - possibly even exceeding my own anal-retentiveness. If he gave me some of his handloads from the past year or newer, I'd probably shoot them without a second thought.

[Brian Pfleuger]

I load for my family occasionally. The only "hot" loads I've ever done for anyone else were 4,500+ fps 35gr .22-250 loads for my uncle. Those were carefully worked up and charges metered by an RCBS Chargemaster 1500, plus I was there with him to monitor pressure signs, so I wasn't worried.
I would not load for casual acquaintances, ever, or even for family under most circumstances.

[Nick_C_S]

I don't have any friends. Problem solved

But seriously, I have let a few friends shoot a small amount of my ammo on a couple rare occasions over the span of several decades. It's a rare event.

My brother and I will go shooting once or twice a year with our 1911's (he has firearms, but he's not a "gun guy" like me). On those occasions, we shoot pretty much entirely my handloads. He's also given me $'s to purchase more components.

I have no personal rule against it; but then, the thought does make me a little nervy.

All joking aside regarding my friends - or lack thereof - I do run in a very small circle. My step son has expressed an interest in loading. If we ever get to it, he'll get to keep the ammo we made.

[daboone]

As one of my sons was a scoutmaster for his church. We did several introductory classes for them. Several of the boy's dads showed up for those classes. It's the only time I've seen kids more interested in the subject than their phones and tablets.

[Wag]

My late brother-in-law used to buy hollow point .45 JHP's and I loaded them up for his Taurus Judge. As it turned out, he was too disabled to get back out to the range to actually use 'em. When he passed away, he left me the Judge, the Circuit Judge and all of that reloaded ammo and a boatload of a factory ammo. Of course, I have no issue shooting my own reloads.

My wife and I used to tune up ammo for both of "our" firearms so in a sense, some ammo was "hers" and some was "mine." We finally got a load for her GP100 that was a same-holer at 25 yards. For her, that is. I was never that great of a shooter.

Occasionally, when I take people out to the range, I'll use my reloads but recently, I've become a bit more paranoid about it and I bring factory ammo for most of the shooting we do.

A neighbor gave me a box of 200 .223 reloads he had put together for me to "try out." The ammo shot just fine with no failures but the powder he used was really dirty and I had to clean the rifle out at the range, especially the chamber, after only 120 rounds. I shot the rest of the ammo and didn't have any further issues. However, that was the day I started to get more paranoid about shooting other people's reloads and paranoid about give other people my reloads to shoot.

Too risky.

--Wag--

[mikld]

I agree with Brutus. I have an edge though, most (all) my "gun friends" are reloaders so while we may swap components, we all stick to our own handloads. My guns shoot two kinds of ammo; my handloads (99.95%) and a few factory (rarely)...

[Dano4734]

Only for my son in law who has the exact same 06 as me and only with new brass, nosler accubond and a load that is sweet and I shot hundreds of.

[Brutus]

I've only mentored one person, my cousin. Biggest mistake I ever made, in the beginning it gave me a warm & fuzzy helping him get started. Now 20 years later I have to buy the beers 50% of the time.

[mgulino]

I load for only one person other than myself, my son-in-law. These are medium range 9mm and .223 loads which I have worked up using his guns.

After being asked by a few people interested in reloading, I have introduced them to the sport. Only one, my father, has actually bought his own press and dies and began rolling his own.

I am not interested in shooting anyone else’s reloads in my guns.

[Brutus]

G26 I'm not following your train of thought. The only "trick" I know of in reloading is to find the load your particular firearm performs the best with, which to me is the ultimate goal. In addition I want to find more than just one load. For example in .44 mag I want a load that will provide a one shot kill on a game animal but at the same time I want a load that's going to provide accuracy and enjoyment at the target range. That's what I love about the reloading hobby. By the way, I find that at the range you can always tell who the single stage reloader is. They shoot slow and deliberate because it took so much time to reload the batch of rounds their shooting, unlike the commercial or progressive shooters who go through a 100 rounds in ten minutes.