Watch those Yard Sale "Bargains!"

[Adam Helmer]

Everyone likes Yard Sales. When it comes to reloading components, I have some cautions that need to be given wide dissemination.

1. Never buy a can of powder that is NOT still factory sealed. What is inside a partial can of powder may, or may not, be the same powder as Listed on the can.

2. Partial boxes of jacketed bullets may, or may not, reflect what is on the box label. Buy the partial box for a dollar, or two, but weight the projectiles at home and measure the diameter with a good dial caliper. Today, I weighed a few bullets out of a Sierra 75 grain bullet box of .243 projectiles I got a few years ago. The bullets weighed 100 grains and were .264". Nuff said.

3. Avoid reloaded ammo regardless of the low price asked, who knows what was loaded therein? I got a huge wooden box of reloaded ammo a few years ago that was loaded 5 years before by a guy with Altzheimers. I paid $2.00 and used my inertia bullet puller to salvage the .30/30, .264, .30-06, and other bullets from the trays of reloads. I put the powder on my garden, put the brass in the trash and recycled the reloading trays and bullets.

I enjoy going to yard sales where there is reloading stuff. I have filled my library with many old classic reloading manuals, found many neat tools and empty brass for odd-ball calibers. Just be wary of powder cans, partial boxes of projectiles and reloaded ammo.

Adam