Reloaded Ammo

[HealthyGunz]

In the next week, I'm going to fire my new Ruger SP101 for the first time and I'm considering firing my shooting range's professionally reloaded ammo. Is this bad? I've used and seen their ammo used in their rentals many times with no apparent issues but I know that my SIG P226's manual says you void the warranty when you do this. Is this true with Ruger and every other manufacturer? I'm just trying to save a little dough when shooting at the range. I go to Iron Sights in Oceanside btw which is a great range.

[cbaer5]

Buy a box of factory ammo if it goes bang your in the clear shoot as many reloads as you can afford

[Sanderhawk]

Not sure how the manufacturer can tell if the ammo you shoot are reloads so I think they are blowing smoke up your butt.

[jdg30]

I would shoot anything you want out of the SP101. When I started reloading .38 special I tested my first loads through my SP101 because I knew it could handle anything from light loads to hot loads. I've shot several thousand reloads through mine and it shoots as good as ever.

[HealthyGunz]

Buy a box of factory ammo if it goes bang your in the clear shoot as many reloads as you can afford

Haha will do. Yeah, Ruger's manual isn't as anal about it as SIG's is. I've never seen the shooting range's ammo blow up on someone though and I've used it in their SP101 just fine.

In general, is shooting range reloaded ammo pretty safe? Would a range foot the bill if they did serve you up a bad round? I don't know much about reloading but I assume those disclaimers are for people who really don't know what they are doing. I think a .357 is packed to the max anyway though so it probably still wouldn't do anything to an SP101.

[drdarrin@sbcglobal.net]

They put that in their warranty (IMHO) for CYA reasons. Commercial ammo is loaded to SAAMI specs; guns are proofed using these same specs. That's not to say mistakes aren't made but generally speaking, pressures will be within specs. Your range's ammo will probably fall into the same category. All depends on their QC.

Reloaded ammo, on the other hand, is up to the loader. You'd be surprised; there are some folks who can read a loading manual which says use 4.6 grains of powder and they figure they can take it up to 6 grains. Lets say they plan to run it through their Ruger revolver in 9mm. It might be able to handle it. Run that same ammo thru your favorite semi auto and it would likely shorten it's life and maybe yours.

[HealthyGunz]

Gotcha, thanks for the rundown!

[1 SIG fan]

I'd bet your more likely to get a squib round then hurt the gun with overpressure

[MongooseV8]

I'd bet your more likely to get a squib round then hurt the gun with overpressure

Agreed^

I only shot reloads through my Ruger. All very accurate and powerful, never hurt the revolver.

[CSACANNONEER]

I don't like most range's commercial reloads. They are usually not loaded consistantly enough for me. Also, they typically load them as light as they can. While I like loading and shooting my own powder puff loads, I don't like paying for similar. I suggest buying at least a couple boxes of half way decent factory ammo, a box of the reloads you want to use and compare them.

I would not worry about shooting QAUALITY (the key here is "quality") reloads in a Ruger revolver or any other gun period. But, a Ruger wheelgun is so over built, hardly anything short of a triple charge is going to hurt it.

[GuillermoAntonio]

In the next week, I'm going to fire my new Ruger SP101 for the first time and I'm considering firing my shooting range's professionally reloaded ammo. Is this bad? I've used and seen their ammo used in their rentals many times with no apparent issues but I know that my SIG P226's manual says you void the warranty when you do this. Is this true with Ruger and every other manufacturer? I'm just trying to save a little dough when shooting at the range. I go to Iron Sights in Oceanside btw which is a great range.

And how much are the reloads?
Walmart has pretty cheap ammo, that helps me stay away from reloads.

[Skunk2Racer]

^^^^ I agree if the difference is just a few $ I'd rather shoot new factory ammo. In fact ALL I shoot is new factory ammo

[scarville]

There's a difference between reloads made by your buddy, Joe "the Guzzler" Sixpack and what a production reloader does. Range reloads are made by licensed and bonded reloaders. I doubt a range could get insurance if they sold any other kind of reload. The reloads are often pretty wimpy but are very unlikely to damage your gun.

BTW, don't listen to anyone telling you that your Ruger is so tough it can stand a double or triple charge. Unless you have a hanklering to lose some body parts...



A double charge will blow up a Smith and Wesson too.

[chim-chim7]

Production reloading uses automatic indexing presses. There is zero way to get a double charge unless it was intetionally done. Hand loaders load one cartridge by hand and might have made the mistake of overloading without notice. My machine will always drop the same amount of powder even after 10,000-20,000 rounds. I also have powder checks in place that alarm if I have too much or not enough powder in each case. Production reloads are fine. Shoot away.

[Speedpower]

The problem is that the shooting range often sells the reloads way more than the factory loads that you can buy at Wallmart