I was wondering what people’s thoughts are on purchasing and using remanufactured ammo from the various reman ammo companies I keep seeing. I like many of you have taken a serious hit to my practice schedule due to the ammo craziness, but i see affordable prices on brass cased reman ammo from the likes of freedom munitions and lax ammo. Does anyone have bad experiences using remanufactured ammo for practice and training only? I’m only interested in 9mm and it will only be shot out of my training gun, not my carry guns. Before the madness I was shooting 1200-1500 rounds of 9mm a month but I’m down to shooting about 300 a month now. I would like to at least double that number.
I used to use remanufactured ammo form a place in IN called Precision Cartidge (or something like that). (Our local PD also bought large amounts from them for practice.) I was highly impressed - and saved money in the process. They used - I believe - only once-fired brass, and it looked 95% as good as new ammo. Now, hoever - they only supply to their “large” customers like PDs, so I am looking for other sources of reman ammo (9mm & .45) for personal use, i.e., a few thousand rounds at a time.
john
Have had some good experiences back in the day. Could buy local re-manufactured ammo at a lower price and other then generally being dirtier it worked fine as range ammo. However, locally one of the two local places, the last 500rds I bought in .40 were loaded light as hell and would not reliably cycle a pistol. The other place that is local is selling their ammo at or above what I can be new manufacture for, guess which I choose?
If your reman vendor assures you that your ammo is loaded with once-fired brass, yet reminds you repeatedly to send your brass back in when done…danger.
How much were you paying for ammo before? I think around $.20 a round for brass cased ammo was about standard before looking at order histories for early 2012. I regularly can find brass cased ammo for $.33 a round right now and steel case at $.29 to $.31 a round.
Putting the math to it:
1200/.20 = $240 a month
$240/.33 =~ 720 rounds a month at current prices so you are well over double the 300 mark.
And a lot of the reman ammo I see listed for sale is in the $.30-34 range so you aren’t saving much at all.
That said, I would be hard pressed to trust reloaded ammo right now. People are pushing QC standards and workers into over time to get ammo out the door. Or just flat telling lies. I just got back from a class where the guy brought 2000 rounds of “reloaded” ammo down. It kept not lighting off and one time it did light off either it didn’t extract or was too hot. Blew the extractor out of his glock in half. I’ve got a cut on my calf where it hit me. We started looking at the ammo and it was a mix of some crap reloads and mostly milsurp egyption sub gun ammo. It worked great in an mp5 and uzi but it was not handgun friendly.
So why must they use once fire cases? I’ve reloaded .223 and pistol rounds many times! Once fired or 5 times fired whats the big deal as long as the case are not showing any signs of cracks, seperations, primer pocket still tight reload it!:rolleyes: Funny I could have sworn Black Hills ammo started out as a Reman ammo co.
Last year I chrono’ed some ammo from ZERO MFG. I THINK they are located here in Alabama.
This SHIT was f-ing dangerous as hell. I cant find my log book, but
velocity was as much as 150fps different in most every round. It wound up I wouldn’t even finish the box, I literally disposed of them.
It was also absolutely the filthiest crap, and most inaccurate stuff Ive ever seen in 40 years or more of shooting. Like they used charcoal or something. Also had some f-upped zinc-alloy bullet that look like shit.
The 9mm wasn’t any better. STAY AWAY FROM ZERO AMMO. Comes in a yellow box.
You’re not a commercial remanufacturer with deep pockets to claim against.
Once fired or 5 times fired whats the big deal as long as the case are not showing any signs of cracks, seperations, primer pocket still tight reload it!:rolleyes: Funny I could have sworn Black Hills ammo started out as a Reman ammo co.
Brass specs in loads can change without notice, and unless the reloader is privy to them they may have no idea what they’re getting or what the safe thresholds will be. They can inspect and test, but it’s a cost:benefit.
I’ve had once-fired cases of known origin fail with loads well within SAAMI specs. The analysis afterward found that the cases were minimally engineered for one firing and failed at consistent intervals when used again.
It was this same minimalist engineering that was consistently found in the case failures of new factory loads in virgin brass early in the Glock .40 “kB!” reports.
I’ve just bought large sums of some from a well known reman. Shot 800rds of 9mm over the past two weekends without any trouble with Several more cases to go. If you’re weary about doing it, just stick to the bigger names.
I have used remanufactured ammo from a couple of places without issue. I know a number of shooters who do the same also without issue. The larger and older re manufacturers are probably safe as they have a track record and generally insurance policies. May not be Winchester or CCI, but they are still deep enough pockets to want to take care of business properly. Random dudes at the local gun show. Not so much.
Your math is spot on, I’m used to spending $200 per 1k and my ammo budget was around 2-300 a month. When sandy hook hit, I had around 3k of 9mm and since I knew I couldn’t replenish I reduced my shooting to ~300 a month without buying any new ammo. Now I’m down to less than a case and ammo prices are coming down so that means I can replenish my supply. I haven’t bought ammo in 6 months since I refused to have any part in this ridiculous ammo hoarding, and buying at more than 22 cents a round still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Unfortunately I need to shoot so I have no choice but to buy at what I consider still inflated prices. I’m setting a goal to try and shoot every other week at 300 rounds per session as cheaply as possible which is why I’m asking about reloads.
So it seems based on my research and everyone’s experiences here that reman’d ammo is generally hit or miss depending on who’s reloading it. Big names generally have good track records while smaller less well known places have a poorer record. So has anyone used freedom munitions? They have 9mm reman for 300 a case, and I’m looking to buy at least 2 cases if i can get some decent feedback. I haven’t found anything bad on them from a quick google search.
I regularly can find brass cased ammo for $.33 a round right now and steel case at $.29 to $.31 a round.
Would you mind sharing where you are finding 223/556 brass cased ammo at that price? About the only thing I have found lately at anything close to that price is Wolf or Tula and it is still closer to $.40 a round in bulk.
I’ve bought and shot remanufactured ammunition, as long is its from a reputable company loaded to SAAMI specs you should be fine.
If you have any doubts about it at all, then dont shoot it. Safety first.
A nice way to shoot more is reload your own ammo, being careful to follow the safety rules for handloading, keep yourself in spec, be careful and ask questions or get help as you go along.
