Reeder Custom Guns - I know I have trust issues. I'm one of those

pious individuals who think my loaded ammo is better than factory. Actually my mindset is more "I did it, so if it's bad it's MY fault". But I do not trust mass produced factory ammo. Scores of dud .22 LR have reinforced this over the years. I know there are some external issues, such as storage, that influence.

This late instance indeed had some poor storage issues. I'm not really for sure where I acquired them, but I didn't buy them myself. The partial box of "cheap" Remington ammo had two rounds still loaded but sporting dented primers. Several rounds had external corrosion while a round next to it in the box was perfectly clean. Some corrosion had oxidized into green powdery spots. I cleaned that off with fine steel wool. Picking a "dud" round I unloaded it with a bullet puller. Only about 15 grs. of extruded stick powder came out. The bullet itself was green on the base with some granules adhered to the green goo. I dug some powder out of the case and it was clumpy as if wet. It did not smell fowl nor did I detect a nitro smell that should have been there.

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I not sure the brass should be used. It's not pitted under the corrosion though. The tumbler might restore the brass cases. I will clean the projectiles and reuse them. Were it not for the obvious duds or external corrosion I might have trusted them for an important outing. I'm happy I discovered the issue.

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It is always my hand loads. I do 20 or 25 rounds, manually weigh each charge and projectile. Then fire three or four to check my zero ( if using a scope) or accuracy with open sights before the hunt. I purchase some factory ammo for the range and to get brass for reloading but not hunting.

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I had 2 boxes of reloads from a well known gun supply that fell apart when I touched them. Grabbing the bullet and bending the round broke the case at the base of the bullet. I think the cases were loaded while still wet inside as they were formed using some method of pressure not a die. If fired the neck would have left with the bullet. Not a pretty sight. Also had Hornady 17 hmr duds that had solid powder when examined. So The second round blew the magazine to pieces. Hornady did replace the ammo but you never know.

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due to a factory load bulging one of the bolt stops! I ran some of it through my Marlin Model 1894 .41 Magnum levergun and chronographed them. I don't recall the exact velocity but the the first couple ran in the 1700's. Then one blew the primer and blew the hammer back to half cock. It's velocity was close to 2000 fps.

I packed up the ammo and returned it to the manufacturer and told them what happened. Never heard a peep out of them. And I did not push it.

The gun was .. AND IS .. as accurate with the cylinder Gary built as it was previously.

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I know I have trust issues. I'm one of those

I know what you mean, whenever I hunt

corrosion

I had Gary build a new cylinder for my .41 Magnum years ago