Remanufactured Ammo

[CyberJCM]

Internet ammo shopping has led me to some nice cheap prices on whats called Remanufactured and/or blemished ammo for sale.

I think I get the idea, that basically its fired brass thats been reloaded.

Has anyone ever purchased and shot this stuff? I like the price, but have to admit I worry about the quality and safety of it. Don't want to blind buy without some sound advice.

Thanks guys

 

[tinashubby]

There are several brands/manufacturers, you may get best results for feedback if you name names. I shot some years ago, cannot remember brand and it was fine.
The remanufactured ammo that I currently shoot (Waynes Bench) works great in 9mm, and .38spcl, some issues with.243, but you don't need to worry about getting any of this stuff...

 

[R-squared]

I had a box I believe call Ultramax a few years ago that was remanufactured. It was a mixture of headstamps. It shot fine, but also shot extremely dirty. I suspect cheap powder was the cause. It smoked like crazy when fired, and left the firearm much dirtier than normal. I used that box and haven't used any since.

 

[CyberJCM]

There are several brands/manufacturers, you may get best results for feedback if you name names. I shot some years ago, cannot remember brand and it was fine.
The remanufactured ammo that I currently shoot (Waynes Bench) works great in 9mm, and .38spcl, some issues with.243, but you don't need to worry about getting any of this stuff...

Right! The two I've seen the most of are by a company named HSM and another that's BVAC (Bitteroot Valley I guess). Price is good, 50rd. boxes of .40 for $17 before shipping.

Anyone familiar?

 

[Wishoot]

I've purchased reloaded ammo from both Georgia Arms and Freedom Munitions. Both are of excellent quality and value IMO and I would buy again when the need arises (pretty well stocked at the moment).

That being said, you really need to play with the numbers. Once you factor in shipping, some of these reloaded deals aren't much of a deal at all. Often, you can find new ammo for the price of reloaded if you just shop around.

 

[azshooter40]

Georgia Arms, Black Hills, and DFS make some decent ammo. The Black Hills is great for competition if you do not reload yourself and would not hesitate to purchase some if I needed ammo.
I prefer factory ammo if just plinking so I can collect the brass and use later.

 

[Beerhunter]

Black hills for me and things seem to be loosening up ammo wise. I swear if I was a ammo mfg I would have put my prodt on the public market for a higher profit instead of selling it to the govt for prolly much less.

 

[PugslyCat]

Black hills for me and things seem to be loosening up ammo wise.

I have definitely noticed some slight loosening up in the ammo market. In the last month I have been able to find any pistol ammunition that I wanted except .22LR. If it wasn't at the first shop it would be at the second or third for about pre-panic pricing.

I swear if I was a ammo mfg I would have put my prodt on the public market for a higher profit instead of selling it to the govt for prolly much less.

That's easy for us to say from the outside looking in, but the guys I normally buy from tell me those government contracts were mighty enticing. I think we're all going to have to accept that going forward there will be ebbs and flows in the market that we just need to prepare for.

 

[PugslyCat]

How are the shipping costs on that stuff? I have to wonder about the costs of shipping lead around the country, but it may beat having nothing.

I seem to recall reading something about a hazmat fee on a per order basis when shipping ammo or maybe that was reloading supplies. If so, how much are we talking about?

 

[CyberJCM]

Not sure right now Paul.... Gunbot appears to be down and I can't remember where it was previously listed. But, I almost bought some factory ammo from Cabelas and I'm pretty sure it was about $9 shipping.

 

[Hangten]

I use patriot ammo supply. Awesome company. They even give discounts it I ship them my brass or they will reload my brass pretty cheap. They use standard UPS shipping. They also promise to never get involved in Fed contracts so te ammo will always be there.

 

[Kilroy08]

Ultramax is fine, but shoots dirty. I had to put in a little extra elbow grease to get my pistol shiny after that range session.

I cut out the middle man and have a nice little reloading set up in the man cave. Be warned! This will cause the onset of a different strain of RAD, known as READ. Reloading Equipment Acquisition Disorder.

Your first reloading set up is great. Then you shoot more since ammo costs you less. Next, you want more production speed and step up to a progressive press. All the priming, powder charging, and case prep do dads. Gizmos and gadgets.

Then you get a gun in some obscure caliber just to reload for it.

Next thing you know, you're on a first name basis with the sales reps at all the major reloading supply retailers.

When it's all said and done, you have spent $500.00 to save $5.00. Wait, not again, why does this keep happening to me?

All I wanted to do was quit spending $5.00 a piece on Mach III cartridges.

 

[PugslyCat]

I cut out the middle man and have a nice little reloading set up in the man cave. Be warned! This will cause the onset of a different strain of RAD, known as READ. Reloading Equipment Acquisition Disorder.

Your first reloading set up is great. Then you shoot more since ammo costs you less. Next, you want more production speed and step up to a progressive press. All the priming, powder charging, and case prep do dads. Gizmos and gadgets.

Been there, done that. Not so much equipment for me but a component AD. After all, if a full brick of primers is on the shelf today I need to buy it because I never know when I'll see another one. Same with 500 count boxes of inexpensive cast bullets. And repeat...

On the other hand, Wayne has been a bit of an enabler. He sent me his surplus powder measure so now I feel compelled to get all of the upgrades that go with it so that I can fully utilize his wonderful PIF.

I started reloading to make a 600-1200 round per year habit affordable. Stocking up for the zombiapocalypsese just kind of happened somehow...

Then you get a gun in some obscure caliber just to reload for it.

Quite the opposite for me. I'm shopping for 9mm and .40 S&W just because there's so much more range brass available for them than the .38 & .45 ACP that I currently reload for.

 

[PozzSka]

I have purchased 100s of rounds from FreedomMunitions. They do new and factory-remanufactured ammo. I've never had an issue, neither has anyone I've known who's purchased it. As mentioned above, mixed head stamps, but it's always clean.

Also, if you save your brass and send it to them, they give you current market value of the brass by weight in a coupon. So you can save some money by sending them your old brass.

 

[CyberJCM]

I like this idea of sending off the brass for credit or to be reloaded! I don't have a great deal collected, a few hundred rds. as of now, but that sounds like a good deal if all the costs involved are reasonable.

That is, until I can get my Pops releading equipment and give it a go. He passed away earlier this year and my grandma has said I could have that stuff. I'd like to give it a go. I'd love the "me time" sitting at my bench with some tunes going just repetitively making rounds.

Hey Paul, you've started with .40? Thats pretty much all I have thats reloadable. How's that going?

 

[PugslyCat]

I like this idea of sending off the brass for credit or to be reloaded! I don't have a great deal collected, a few hundred rds. as of now, but that sounds like a good deal if all the costs involved are reasonable.

The remanufactured stuff sounds like a good deal if the costs work for you. I didn't find out about that until after I really got into my shooting and went down the path of doing my own reloading. At the time the only options I knew of were buying off the shelf and reloading. At the time I didn't even know you could buy ammo over the internet. I just figured it would be a hazmat issue and didn't explore beyond that.

That is, until I can get my Pops releading equipment and give it a go. He passed away earlier this year and my grandma has said I could have that stuff. I'd like to give it a go. I'd love the "me time" sitting at my bench with some tunes going just repetitively making rounds.

Sorry for your loss. I regret that I gave my late uncle's press away a decade ago. As great as it would have been to connect with him through the hobby of reloading while he was alive, reloading with his gear now would be a neat experience on par with using my great grandfather's shaving mug, which I do most weekends. I don't know about you, but those kinds of connections give me a certain satisfaction.

Hey Paul, you've started with .40? Thats pretty much all I have thats reloadable. How's that going?

I started reloading .38 and .45 ACP about six months ago as outlined in the New to Reloading On a Budget thread. I don't anitcipate .40 being any different. Reloading any straight walled pistol cases is really pretty simple. I would recommend you check out some of the YouTube videos to see how simple it is and then do some more reading to get the finer points.

My single stage press isn't fast, but I can knock out enough ammunition for a range day in one or two evenings. If I choose to buy new cases (Starline, Remington or Winchester bagged brass) the cost of reloading is about the same as it was to buy ammunition at pre-panic prices, the cases being half the cost. Reloading with cases I already have is typically at 40-60% of the cost of new ammunition, depending upon whether I use a simple cast bullet or something fancier.

Recently I began collecting spent range brass for .40 and 9mm just because it is so plentiful that I can get into those calibers without having to purchase any new brass. I haven't actually done any reloading in those calibers, yet.