Problems with Gad Custom Reloading

[Cherokee Reb]

I was not sure where to post this and if it needs to be somewhere else, if you are a moderator, feel free to move it.

This is kind of a long tale, but I'll keep it short.

Several months ago I traded for a nice 1877 Lightning in .38LC ( heeled bullet) and contacted Gad Reloading for some almmo. Got it in a couple weeks, shot some, worked well and traded the remainder with the gun at a later date.

A couple months ago. I received a package from Gad with some rifle ammo of an unknown to me caliber that I had not ordered. Called Bernold who gruffly told me it was supposed to go to another shooter in Ky and to send it back and he would credit me. I did.

Two weeks after that, another box from Gad showed up with .38LC ammo and 100 bullets( unloaded). I called Bernold and told him I hadn't ordered it and would send it back. Again, he agreed to a credit and hung up on me. Within a day or so I saw Major2 advertise that he needed some .38 LC ammo and I shipped it to him for what the bill had stated. I then send Bernold a money order in the same amount.

Last month I contacted him requesting some .43 Beaumont ammo loaded with BP and he demanded to know what had happened to the ammo he had sent me. Now, be aware that I had not order the ammo he wanted to know about and I had either returned it at my cost or reimbursed him the money. He cussed a bit but agreed to send the ammo I wanted and he would pay shipping. I sent a check the next day for $60 and within 5 days it had been cashed.

Now...It took well over a month to receive the ammo and when I did I was not pleased. Of 20 rounds, 2 had case mouths so badly wrinkled I will not attempt to fire them, 14 had casting flash still on the sides and noses of the bullets and all either had the nosed mangled during loading or with large amount of casting sprue still attached.

I have emailed him twice but have had no response . Guess I'll try calling him so he can b**ch at me some more.

Here is a sample of what I received:

https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=0ed02c957fb623d7&resid=ED02C957FB623D7!500&parid=root

Bottom line...I'll plink with what I can and reload the brass myself, but never again will I order from Gad.

Cherokee Reb aka Mingo Frank

[Major 2]

I'm going to comment on this, because I was the receipent of the so called heeled 38 Colt rounds from GAD Custom Cartridges

So here is what I got    50 loaded BP 38 Colt rounds ...  they would not chamber in my Kirst Konverter ( which measure an exact .379 on all 6 chambers )
Gads un-sized bullets measured  from the smallest  .387  to . 391 several measued oval .385 & .389 on the same bullet !

Few had any grease in the two grooves at all ...others partly, at least a 1/3 were crooked in the case and crimped that way.

I also received 100 bullets ( supposed to be the same ) the bag was   marked  100   44 cal. ,  
These were if fact the same  kind of unsized heel base 38's most measure .390 + or - and  0 lube .All have cast flashing lines some have tabs of flashing.

I don't blame Cherokee Reb , he just sent on the GAD order complete with the invoice....

I will be pulling the lead ( I say this because the crimp is so weak I can pull most of them with my fingers ) I use my puller though.
re-size the shells and melt the lead....

I will not bother the contact GAD Custom Cartridges in all fairness as I did not deal with them direct .
However being I know the origin of this poor product, I will not place any order with them, and warn others, if this is the sort of quality control
I'd be fearful to shoot GAD Ammo...
I can not comment on the mans GRUFF nature  


Below are photo's of two rounds picked at random ...

[pony express]

That's odd that the bullets are such large diameter. I have a mould from Old West Moulds, I believe it is the same mould Gads uses. Bullets with pure lead from it cast at about .374-.375 or so. Of course, if they have fins, then the mould blocks weren't closed properly, so that would account for a few extra thousanths. Old West also sells a specially modified crimping tool for heel base bullets that works pretty well. By "pretty well", I mean, with my limited experience with it so far, the bullets will be held from coming out of the case, but it is often possible to turn it in the case neck-but I can do the same with some .22 shells to, and it doesn't seem to hurt anything with them. Now I just need to get the old Army DA in time, so it doesn't spit lead out the left side.....

As far as his Quality Control-a look at his website shows he doesn't even pick out the "pretty" ones for the photos. Advertising featuring corroded ammo doesn't inspire confidence....

[Pony Racer]

I have ordered from GAD in the past but have not ordered in a long time.

Bernold was pretty gruff at first but after I spent time discussing some relaoding issues with him - he treated me differently from then on.

I have had good luck with his French 11mm reloads and my 8mm lebel reloads.

That being said, after I have tried to reload 11mm french for about 2 years - got the right tools and brass and bullets I decided to have my 11mm St Etienne revolvers converted to 44 Russian.

So - while the dude was gruff ( he never cussed with me), i have had good results and luck with good ammo that shoots straight..

PR

[Hoof Hearted]

That's odd that the bullets are such large diameter. I have a mould from Old West Moulds, I believe it is the same mould Gads uses. Bullets with pure lead from it cast at about .374-.375 or so. Of course, if they have fins, then the mould blocks weren't closed properly, so that would account for a few extra thousanths. Old West also sells a specially modified crimping tool for heel base bullets that works pretty well. By "pretty well", I mean, with my limited experience with it so far, the bullets will be held from coming out of the case, but it is often possible to turn it in the case neck-but I can do the same with some .22 shells to, and it doesn't seem to hurt anything with them. Now I just need to get the old Army DA in time, so it doesn't spit lead out the left side.....

As far as his Quality Control-a look at his website shows he doesn't even pick out the "pretty" ones for the photos. Advertising featuring corroded ammo doesn't inspire confidence....

Pony

To fix your "loose" 38 bullets, try sizing your cases in a 9mm sizing die (I use an RCBS carbide one). The 9mm usually will size for a .355 bullet and the Cherry that Bernie cuts his mould with cuts the heel about that size. This should fix your looseness! It has nothing to do with the crimping die.

Also, it appears that the GAD mould may either be very worn out (maybe he has damaged the mating surfaces trying to clean off stuck lead) or it may be a Rapine or Lyman (both look like Bernies).

Hope this helps!
HH