Old 44 mag ammo of dubious origin...what to do?

1
I know SailDesign just asked a similar question, but in the interest of future searches, I though I'd start a new thread for my 44 question.

I have a small pile of 44 magnum ammo that has to be 20-25 years old now. It came with a Taurus 44 that my father in law bought from his cousin (I think?). His cousin was a gun guy and reloaded. But I never met the guy, know nothing about his knowledge or skills. I also hear a lot of stories about that side of the family being not the brightest bulbs in the lightbox.

There are three different types of ammo.
  • 25 rds Hornady 300gn XTR
    These look like factory loads. They are in the original box and all headstamps match. Lead tips are corroded and 4-5 of the cases have scary splits in them.
  • 50 rounds 240gn reloads
    These are in a Federal Eagle box, but headstamps are mixed and writing on the box indicates reloads. lead tips are corroded and very oddly about 1/3 of them seem to have small pieces of gravel in the hollow point. I have no idea what that is. Was it something people did at one point? Did someone just somehow drop these all in a pile of tiny gravel and not clean them out?
  • 15 rounds of what looks like factory Federal Eagle.
    I probably wouldn't have a problem shooting this. It seems in fine shape.
So, I've got old ammo of dubious origin, some of it damaged, some of it possibly damaged, in a large caliber.

Thoughts?

(right to left - Hornady, Reload, Reload w/gravel, Federal Factory)
Image


Image


(Scary Crack)

Image

Re: Old 44 mag ammo of dubious origin...what to do?

5
I'd dump the lot into the "dud bucket" at the range. The box with the split cases is probably a "fuck up" box where the bullets never got pulled.

The thing about mag brass is that it gets a serious work-out AND it's expensive. So reloaders are tempted to push limits a bit. Kind of like semi trailer tires. That's why you see a lot of blow-outs along the highway.

A trailer can safely handle a single blow-out. Your revolver???
Image


"Person, woman, man, camera, TV."

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests