Safe to shoot non factory rounds from gun shows?

[6.5mmman]

A buddy of mine recently moved out of state, and sold his 1911 before he went. O was helping him clean out the last of his stuff the other day and we found a bucket of about 600 .45 ACP rounds. They are semi wad cutter, cast lead bullets loaded in remington brass. All the load info is on a label on a bucket. They obviously came from a gun show. He said he forgot to include them when he sold his 1911, and he was in a hurry, so he said I could take them if I wanted them. I said hell yeah I do, and took them. When I got home and started thinking more about it, I'm not sure its really wise to shoot them in my pretty Xdm. What do you all think.

TL;DR,-------Came into 600 .45 acp rounds from a gun show. Tempted because that's a LOT of fun for free, but is it safe.

 

[6.5mmman]

Re: Safe to shoot non factory rounds from gun shows?

Load data from the bucket,

45 ACP
Powder: Win AP 7.5gr
Primer: Win WLP/Fed 155
Bullet: Meister 200gr SWC Lead.

 

[Country]

Re: Safe to shoot non factory rounds from gun shows?

It is a risk if your friend did not use them and confirm that they are Ok . You can lessen the risk by selecting a numer of rounds from the batch randomly through out the volume of the bucket and then pulling the rounds apart . Weigh the bullets and the powder loads and try to identify what powder it is . If the load data is correct then you should be able to buy a can of the stated powder and match it's appearance and grain structure against the new can. If the weight of powder checks out against a load manual for the stated powder and the bullet weight for the cartridge , then it is looking ok to use .
Another precaution can be to reduce the load by a few grains of the unknown powder and reload the rounds you pulled apart . If they don't show high pressure then load them up again increasing the charge until you get to the full charge that is in the suspect rounds. Then all the rest of the rounds should be ok as long as they are all the same batch.
To be 100% sure you would have to reload them all yourself . However after these precautions the risk would be no more than buying factory rounds anyway.

Link to 45 loads http://shootingnews.com.au/Reloading/pistol%20reload/Reloading%20PISTOL%2045%20ACP.php

 

[turbo54]

Re: Safe to shoot non factory rounds from gun shows?

There is a really good chance they're good to go.

There is a higher risk of a problem than with factory ammo.

They were probably done on a Dillon 650 or 1050...pretty darn reliable.

 

[armorpl8chikn]

Re: Safe to shoot non factory rounds from gun shows?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Safe to shoot non factory rounds from gun shows? </div></div>

Maybe
Is it worth the risk? Hell No

 

[LawnMM]

Re: Safe to shoot non factory rounds from gun shows?

You will probably be fine. That said, you never know what kind of rinky dink operation loaded them either. If its not a company you are familiar with, I'd say take em to a gun show and sell em to somebody else. You certainly don't want to hang fire or squib the 1911, too nice a gun.