Question:

Will shooting reloads made by a major manufacturer void the warrenty on your firearm if something were to happen?

I'm just curious as I like to shoot reloads from Freedom Munitions.

My thought on this subject is this: It's like a gas engine that fails and the car dealership claims you didn't change the oil, or put the incorrect oil in it. They have to prove that the failure was do to reloads, and how would they know that is what you used.

Lately I have only purchased new from Freedom as the reloads are not that much less expensive. I still have around 800-1,000 rounds of their 5.56/.223 remanufactured and have shot a lot of it in the past with no problems.

The direct answer is: read the manual.

 

The indirect answer is: you could have a bad time if you're making a warranty claim for damage to the firearm after a Kaboom. Some manufacturers will be more accommodating than others, regardless of the ammo used. If you are using a "name brand" reloaded cartridge, then you stand a better chance in the case of a problem. That all being said, YMMV.

How will the manufacturer know?

How will the manufacturer know?

It is actually somewhat easy to figure out if a problem was caused by a squib or overpressured round. Either case, they are going to want to know who made the ammo, and would likely tell you to contact them (or they would directly). A company isn't going to replace a gun for free when there obviously was an issue that wasn't their fault.

 

If the gun breaks because of an unrelated issue to ammo, then you are correct... they would never know. Mossberg just got my SRII back for the second time... first was a cosmetic issue on the forend and one of the ejectors locking up the action. It went back this past time for the stock cracking at the wrist.

 

I started keeping track of my ammo and rounds through each gun about two years back. I use an iPhone app called AmmoBase. Since I got that Mossberg after that point (5 months ago), I easily told Mossberg that a crack shouldn't have developed... as I shot 525 rounds of Federal target loads (has shooting history, including summaries where I can write specifics on how the gun functioned... including the one failure to fire, which went off the second time through). No Magnums, no reloads, probably some of the weakest low brass loads a person could put through a gun.

 

Mossberg had no issue sending me a label, and I was very clear on the return slip that I'm unhappy sending it back for a second time. Probably a Turkish manufacturing issue where someone didn't fit the stock correctly... but with Mossberg's name on the side, it's their problem. Actually keeping my eyes on the lookout for a used 12 Gauge Citori with an adjustable cheek piece (shot a round of trap with a friend's this past Tuesday, and was great... except the rib being too high to get a decent sight picture), but will use the SRII until I find one or it breaks again. It will go back to Mossberg for a third time if that occurs.

No, not unless the warranty was essentially worthless to begin with. 

 

If reloaded ammo is going to damage your gun, it's going to be due to an overcharge. That damage wouldn't be covered by any warranty really, so any coverage you would get would be by the manufacturer's good graces. I've dealt with a few manufacturers. None ever asked about the ammo used because I wasn't trying to remedy an "I blew up my gun issue". 

 

I have seen people get a warranty replacement form glock for a KB though, even after admitting it was a home made reload and must have been over charged. 

I have a hi-point firearm and thier manual states "using reloads voids warranty".

 

I had a gun replaced by a factory ammo company that made the reloads that I used that blew up my 1911.  They gave me a bunch of crap at first how their policy, blah blah blah.  I told them I bet the ATF would be very interested in learning about the double loaded ammo they were selling - they quickly agreed to send me a non-disclosure agreement in exchange for buying me a new gun.

30 minutes ago, Howard said:

I had a gun replaced by a factory ammo company that made the reloads that I used that blew up my 1911.  They gave me a bunch of crap at first how their policy, blah blah blah.  I told them I bet the ATF would be very interested in learning about the double loaded ammo they were selling - they quickly agreed to send me a non-disclosure agreement in exchange for buying me a new gun.

 

 

Didn't you just violate that NDA?

 
 
Didn't you just violate that NDA?

Nah, I did not state who made the ammo.

19 minutes ago, Howard said:

Nah, I did not state who made the ammo.

Cough

1 hour ago, Howard said:

Nah, I did not state who made the ammo.

I know who it was.  It comes in a blue box, in bulk and the bullets are all lead round nose.

5 hours ago, Bagarocks said:

I have a hi-point firearm and thier manual states "using reloads voids warranty".

 

Pics of this gun, PLEASE

27 minutes ago, Ray Ray said:

I know who it was.  It comes in a blue box, in bulk and the bullets are all lead round nose.

Pics of this gun, PLEASE

I've seen many an unboxing of hi points.

Pics of this gun, PLEASE

No blue boxes, nice guess

I've often laughed at warranty statements like "using reloads voids warranty".

 

Seriously, how are they going to know?

 

 

1 hour ago, Howard said:

 

No blue boxes, nice guess

 

Sold in Dicks, and has the American flag on it

I blew up a 1982/1983 S&W model 469, cracked the frame on it.  It was with reloads, although not sure if it was really the reloads fault.  For the purpose of this discussion however I guess that doesn't really matter, because I told S&W that it was reloads.  They informed me the lifetime guarantee didn't start until 1989, but they would see what they could do.

They sent me a brand new M&P 9 gratis.  So there's one company that REALLY stands behind their product, no matter what you do to it! 

What they really want to say is "don't use out-of-spec ammo" but that's not realistic (can gauge cartridges if you really wanted to but double charges are invisible once completed*). 

 

"Don't use reloads" is as close as they can get. But we all know in-spec reloads are just as safe as anything else. 

 

EDIT: *yes, some over/under charges might be spotted by weighing but it's probably in the noise of other component variations unless it's a gross error

I've often laughed at warranty statements like "using reloads voids warranty".
 
Seriously, how are they going to know?
 
 

I doubt they could find out and nobody is going to tell them .....

What they really want to say is "don't use out-of-spec ammo" but that's not realistic (can gauge cartridges if you really wanted to but double charges are invisible once completed*). 
 
"Don't use reloads" is as close as they can get. But we all know in-spec reloads are just as safe as anything else. 
 
EDIT: *yes, some over/under charges might be spotted by weighing but it's probably in the noise of other component variations unless it's a gross error

Variation from case weight and bullet weight would make that impossible to tell from weight of finished cartridge.

I would think a system like a hornady powder cop wired to some electronic alert would alleviate those issues.


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3rd party you rely on whatever they do or don't do. For your own practices, IMO, you have one or two options to up your QC. 

1) Watch the powder load. IMO the best practices for this is either batch reloading with loading blocks, in which case you do a visual inspection for uniformity, or you have bullet and case feeders in a progressive setup and your job is to watch powder charge. 

2) You use a powder check of some sort and drop either case feed, bullet feed, or get a press with enough stations to support all three. IMHO the best for this is the RCBS lock-out die. 

I never understood the "reloads void warranty" claims.

On one hand I get that with reloaded ammo there is far more room in quality of ammo, depending on who reloads it.

On the other side, factory ammo can have issues too and plenty of it documented.

Have not read other manuals, but am shocked Hi Point put it in theirs.

On 6/19/2017 at 8:21 PM, Howard said:

Nah, I did not state who made the ammo.

Freedom thats what you use.

...Along with American Eagle, Remington, Herters, Blazzer, and a few other brands.