Unless your friend worked up the load for YOUR rifle, I would pass. Just because they are safe in his doesn't mean they will be in yours. One bad reload can ruin your rifle &/or injure you. Get a good manual, do a bit of reading, ask a bunch of questions, buy some quality gear (under $300 to get you going) & have @ it. If you shoot alot, you'll make up the cost of the gear.

I have never tried reloading or shooting reloads before, but was told I could be more accurate with precission loaded shells.
I asked a buddy if he could relaod some 30-06 for my new Remington 700 ADL. He assured me that he had reloaded for his 30-06 with nice accurate preformance.
The shells I got from him are hard to close my bolt on, and he says that he shot them in his Browning, and they will (fit) my Remington after they are fired from this gun.
My question is; Is it safe to force the bolt shut on these shells and fire them? We ran some marker on the outside of the bullets and that showed the shells hit at the base of the neck part of the shell casing. I can close the bolt but it is very stiff. I just don't want to try this if it would be considered unsafe. PS.I can't bring myself to fire these shells on just the reloaders word, can you give opinions?

Don't use them unless they have full length resized. They are probally tight because after they fire and he neck sizes them it is a custom fit to his chamber. My $.02

Shade,

Welcome to the forum. If you can close the bolt then you can fire them. Keep in mind however that the cartridges were loaded by someone who did not take the time to see if they were sized enough to fit your gun the way they should in the first place.

Return the shells to your friend and let him use them in his rifle.

Then buy ammo at Walmart or ask here on what reloading outfit to get and make it yourself. Today handloaded ammo is not really more accurate than factory ammo in average situations anyway. Precision made handloaded ammo is the best however but not necessary for normal use.

Using his reloading manual or purchase one of your own, to find the bullets and powder choices.
My suggestion is to purchase some new brass, a quanity of the bullets you intend to shoot, a powder that works well with your bullet of choice {Most likely will be IMR 4064, IMR 4895, several hundred Winchester large rifle primers}.
Be there when he loads your ammo. Test the cases in your rifle after they have been full length resized.
Using a loading manual, start with the lightest loads for your bullet with the powder your chose. Making test lots of 10 rounds each, in half grain increments. Lets say you start at 45 grains of powder #234234, load ten rounds, then load ten more at 45.5 grains of the powder, etc. Shoot these ten round lots to find which works best in your rifle until you find the load that works best.
A word of caution, the first powder, bullet may not produce the degree of accuracy you are looking for.
Repeat this proceedure until you have achieved the accuracy goal you want, with any new powders and bullets.
Jim

Thanks folks. I was just trying to get cheap on shooting a lot of shells for practice with a new rifle. Factory loaded Remington 180 grain corelocks are taking out the 10 mark at 100yrds. (I have only shot 3 shots to see, and daughter shot another) I was offered the reloaded ammo with powder weighed to insure repetitive shots for a lil more than half the cost. If it isn't safe to shoot, then I won't shoot it.
I would hate to have anthing happen to my daughter when she was shooting with dad.

Here is another idea. I reload for my hunting loads, but I practice with milsurp. It is relatively accurate in my FN Mauser. I get 1.5" groups and it's cheap. If you hunt around you can get it delivered to your house for less than $.30 per round. Of course you must buy 3-600 rounds. My $.02, capt david