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jpb in me

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 18, 2009
Messages
212
Location
Maine woods
I bought a ruger super blackhawk 44 mag at a gun show. The guy that sold me the gun was also selling some of his friends ammo. I bought three boxes. They are in plastic containers of fifty with no label. There is a piece of cardboard with "44 magnum 265 gr flat point 50 new cartridges 1250 f/s" typed on it. I asked the guy if these were reloads and he didn't know. He did state " if they were they were professionally done" . All three boxes are identical. All the shell casings say 44 REM MAG R.P.
Is there any way to tell if these are reloads?
I can't find them listed in the Remington ammo.
Is a 265 GR at at a velocity of 1250 f/s safe for my super blackhawk?
What would be the energy of this cartridge?

Thanks for any help.
 

contender

Ruger Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Messages
25,142
Location
Lake Lure NC USA
Most likely,, not factory Remington ammo. However,, there are some smaller companies making ammo, and it could be one of those. Or,, as noted,, possible reloads.
Hard to tell.
If that info is correct,, most likely it will be safe in that Super.
 

Bearlaker

Bearcat
Joined
May 29, 2006
Messages
71
Location
Little Green Valley, Utah
That would be safe IF that's really what that particular load is.
That's the trouble with buying reloads of unknown origins, you have no way of knowing. Do the shell have different headstamps?
 

jpb in me

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 18, 2009
Messages
212
Location
Maine woods
Here are a couple of lousy pictures. The bullet is jacketed and the top is flat.

IMG_0208.jpg


IMG_0209-1.jpg
 

45flattop

Single-Sixer
Joined
May 8, 2005
Messages
392
Location
Jackson, MS USA
The muzzle energy for a round with those characteristics would be 919
foot pounds of muzzle energy calculated according to the formula in my
and other Lyman reloading manuals. Formula below:

(Velocity in Feet per Second squared) divided by a constant of 450240
then the result multiplied by the bullet weight in grains.

((1250 * 1250 = 1562500) / 450240 = 3.47029428) * 265) = 919
I rounded off some of these figures to around 6 decimal places.
 

jpb in me

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 18, 2009
Messages
212
Location
Maine woods
Wow, I'm going to have to remember that formula 45flattop. Actually unless I write it down I'll forget it in less than two minutes :)
So a muzzle energy of 900 lbs is quite mild actually for a 44 mag right?
 

jpb in me

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 18, 2009
Messages
212
Location
Maine woods
I hate to put you guys on the spot....but if it were you would you shoot this ammo? I only paid $40 for 150 rounds as part of a swap for this ammo. Ammo is scarce and money is tight. The price of the ammo is what closed the deal for me.
 

AKGrouch

Bearcat
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
89
Location
Anchorage, Alaska
jpb in me":3ks0paq1 said:
I hate to put you guys on the spot....but if it were you would you shoot this ammo? I only paid $40 for 150 rounds as part of a swap for this ammo. Ammo is scarce and money is tight. The price of the ammo is what closed the deal for me.

If I didn't know the exact source of the ammo and exactly what it was, I wouldn't even chamber it. Where reloads are concerned, never, ever, never, NEVER, never shoot em if the source and quality are unknown in the slightest. Did I forget to say NEVER?

Heck, A week ago, I stumbled on a box of rather warm reloads I did about 30 years ago for my old flattop .44. Only problem is, I forgot to mark them and don't remember what the load or powder was. Could have been 2400, H110,, Unique......??? I have never knowingly loaded rounds that were unsafe to shoot or extreme pressure.. Will I shoot them? Nope? Had a box of loaded ammo. I now have a box of primed brass and 50 cast swc's cuz I pulled them rather than take a chance.
 

45flattop

Single-Sixer
Joined
May 8, 2005
Messages
392
Location
Jackson, MS USA
jpb in me":2o00o7j0 said:
Would I be asking too much if I were to ask you what that same bullet would be at say 50-75 yds?

That would depend on the measured velocity at a given range, everything
else being eeual.

I would get a bullet puller and yank the projectiles out of those cases
then dump the powder on concrete OUTSIDE and burn it in small amounts if I were
you, I agree that i would NOT fire it under any circumstances since you
know that its an unknown quantity and that way you could reuse the brass
and bullets; whether or not you decap and reprime the cases would be up
to you but if you keep the primers, I'd operate on the assumption that they
are magnum primers; even if they're not any calculation you make on
a new load, taking that assumption into play assures you that you won't
overload new rounds as assuming they are standard primers would.
 

jpb in me

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 18, 2009
Messages
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Location
Maine woods
Flattop this is all new to me so please bear with me. I think I will have my friend pull the bullets and dump the powder. Lets assume they are magnum primers. Rather than throw them out to, what if I just reloaded mild rounds for target practice. Would that be a safe bet?
 

45flattop

Single-Sixer
Joined
May 8, 2005
Messages
392
Location
Jackson, MS USA
That should be fine using them for mild target loads, the intent of my
earlier post is to point out that a magnum primer yields a hotter spark
than a standard and with any borderline or at maximum powder amounts,
can increase the pressure possibly to a dangerous extent.
 

BearHawk 357

Single-Sixer
Joined
Feb 18, 2010
Messages
249
Location
Ohio
I would just shoot your ammo. You have a Super Blackhawk....you have a high chance that your gun will take a stout load. Plus, you have a fairly high chance that your ammo is just fine. Go out and buy a box of factory ammo. Shoot a few cylinders of factory stuff to get a feel for the gun with properly loaded ammo. Then, load just one of your reloads up and fire it off (try to avoid squinting both eyes and turning your head off to the side when you do)....lol

Seriously, though.....there IS a chance that your reloads are not loaded correctly. However, I would just shoot them. I think that somebody loaded up a heavy, SJFP, load for hunting purposes. I would choose this load for hunting anything in North America (if the label is correct). Plus, you have to figure that a lot of reloaders reuse their boxes. They don't want to label each box with stickers sometimes becuse their loads are always changing. It's easier to just throw a piece of paper in the box with the ammo stats printed on it rather than mess with trying to write on those stickers. Sometimes the ink smears or sometimes it's just plain hard to get your pen to write on them. I would give them a try, myself.

Another option, which is probably your best option, is to shoot some of them off while your gun is fixed in a stationary rest (with remote trigger controls). This would give you a close indication of what you are dealing with. Even better....shoot this set-up trough a chronograph to pin down velocity levels. Either way, I think you would be fine.
 

Yosemite Sam

Hunter
Joined
Mar 18, 2002
Messages
2,113
Location
Cape Cod, MA, USA
In general I agree with the warnings not to shoot other's reloads. I got darn lucky one time with some .30/30s I had that actually separated at the neck...

But! I wonder if these are even reloads. Since the person stuck part of a printed label in with them, it almost seems like he took commercial ammo out of its original box and put it in plastic for storage.

Is the ammo all consistent looking? One similar to another, etc? I've seen some boxes of random handloads with different bullets, some clean cases, some dirty, different colored primers, etc. That I would never shoot.

Then again, you just never know. They could be reloads, the person doing them could have made them look good, but double charged half the cases. Heck, he could've been drunk when he made them, or had his 10 year old kid operating the press. I know people that won't even buy "production" reloaded ammo at gun shows due to things like this...

-- Sam
 

jpb in me

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 18, 2009
Messages
212
Location
Maine woods
yosemite sam the ammo is all identical, all new looking really. I'm not sure if its reloaded myself. The cardboard in each plastic case was obviously torn off a box. I just don't know.
 
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
11,654
Location
Kentucky
And that's the problem . . . ya just don't know.

Been there, done that. Decided that it's just not worth the potential for disaster.

I shoot either factory ammo (very, very seldom), or my own stuff. Nothing else.

I feel your pain.

;)
 

Jimbo357mag

Hawkeye
Joined
Feb 22, 2007
Messages
10,350
Location
So. Florida
Even if they are loaded correctly 1250 fps with a 265 gr bullet is going to be a very stout load and near max pressure even with a slow powder. I would put them aside for a while and shoot factory ammo until you become very familiar with the gun and then decide later if you want to give them a try. They look fairly professional and I would probably shoot them. Even with factory ammo there is always a chance of a problem. :D

...Jimbo
 

AKGrouch

Bearcat
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
89
Location
Anchorage, Alaska
The old rule of thumb was that a magnum primer equalled the equivalent of a grain of powder, i.e., if you were loadng 13.0 grains of powder with a standard primer and changed to a mag primer, the charge would go to 12.0 grains of powder to have the same equivalent load.

As for just willy nilly firing someone else's unknown reloads, I don't think I would want to temp fate and be a Darwin candidate. When I was younger and a lot dumber, I did just that with an old original trapdoor springfield 45-70. In retrospect, I was being a Darwin candidate.....got lucky and it just went bang with a lot of recoil. Wouldn't take that chance again. I've grown older and realized I am not invincible.....nuff said.
 
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