I think I just got swindled on 50 bmg ammo

[Drew50bmg]

I bought some ammo for the 50 online. I admit that I know very little about reloading, but what I got just looks bad. I was hoping you guys could take a look and let me know how bad it is. Maybe everything is acceptable...

About half the primers look like they were not aligned properly when they were pressed.




And the placement of the bullets is off. Also, there are dents on the casings and marks on the bullets.



Overall length varies by .008"

I'm not worried about sub MOA accuracy, but I want safe-to-shoot ammo that's reasonably accurate. I am getting started and don't want a bad experience.

 

[lanwickum]

Re: I think I just got swindled on 50 bmg ammo

What is the ammo supposed to be, brand, make?

 

[Drew50bmg]

Re: I think I just got swindled on 50 bmg ammo

They are reloads of supposedly once fired brass with surplus bullets.

 

[chariotdriver]

Re: I think I just got swindled on 50 bmg ammo

Doesn't look too bad for surplus components. I've found some of the stuff to be loaded on the hot side; works good for busting rocks but leaves a bunch to be desired in punching paper. How much did the stuff cost is a big factor too.

 

[Iamironman]

Re: I think I just got swindled on 50 bmg ammo

The primes look fine, what makes them look crooked is the primer crimp in the case.

The marks in the bullets is from it being pulled. As far as them being seated, I can't really answer that. I don't recall how precise the crimp grove is, so that could be what is off, or they aren't seated evenly, but they don't look that far off. It's not precision ammo.

 

[zuke]

Re: I think I just got swindled on 50 bmg ammo

.008 is the thickness of 2 human hair's.
If you can shoot a 50 that comfortably and accurately that .008 matter's, with pulled/reused bullet's you have my admiration.

 

[northern50]

Re: I think I just got swindled on 50 bmg ammo

Looks good to me. It's loaded surplus 50 what do you expect?? If you plan on reloading this make sure you check for case head seperation on the inside before you begin the reloading process. You never know what it's first firing was through..

 

[0311@LAR]

Re: I think I just got swindled on 50 bmg ammo

Who reloaded it? Some schmuck, or a know company/person? That would be my biggest concern. Since each round will have 200+ grains of powder, you basically have a small pipe bomb going off next to your face. I would want some reassurance that the person who reloaded the ammo knew what they were doing.

 

[HBAM1]

Re: I think I just got swindled on 50 bmg ammo

squeeze one off, let us know how it went.
If it went bad, send photos

 

[Drew50bmg]

Re: I think I just got swindled on 50 bmg ammo

I got them from 50 BMG supply. I expected that they would have all the right tools to catch variations and discard them. I was thinking that I got their scratch-and-dent lot.

The primers are what really bothered me. I thought the crimp being off could create a weak spot in the case, possibly causing it to fail. I had never seen primers look like that.

The dents and marks are less concerning to me. I just hope none of them make it hard to remove the spent casing.

The necked down groove in the bullet, the varying gap between the bullet groove and the casing, and the burr at the top of the casing all made me think that these were just just thrown together with no QC. I never would have thought that the bullets would have a groove in them. And I didn't expect burrs on the casings or inconsistent gaps.

After measuring the bullets out and hearing your responses, I think most of the variations come from the projectiles. The casings are pretty consistent in length (within a couple thousandths). The projectiles must have been loaded the first time at varying depths, creating the grooves at varying depths.

Thanks for the insight. I guess I expected too much, but this ammo should be fine for the recreational shooting I want to do. I'll know to start reloading or buy new ammo if I want to be picky.

 

[0311@LAR]

Re: I think I just got swindled on 50 bmg ammo

Yea, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I'm sure they will go bang when you pull the trigger. It just looks like they used pull down componets, telltale pull marks on the projectiles. They might have even resized the projectiles since they are pull downs. A while back I bought some .50 ammo that was loaded by Talon, when they were still in business that looked just like that.