That is failure to fire cartridges...
I have a S&W 22A and occasionally I come across a cartridge that wont fire. (mostly happens with cold weather, the pistol and box of ammo stay outside in the shop). I eject the cartridge and set it aside, until after i am done shooting.

After shooting the 22A, i take care of the unfired shells. I remove the bullet from the casing, empty the powder and smash the shell. I then pitch the flattened shell into the "brass" barrel. (I am in the scrap metal business)

I have been wondering if i might be doing something incorrect and could harm myself with this procedure.

Never had a problem with .40 S&W or .45 ACP or .38 special... would the same procedure be used for the larger calibers?

Seems like a really stupid question... but i have never seen it asked before.

Thanks,
Raymond

Send it back to S&W to get them fixed or replaced with new ones

At both of the ranges I shoot at we have a FTF locked box where you can deposit FTF's and someone, I don't know who takes care of them.

On the larger calibers I will pull the bullet and dump the powder, I heard it is good fertilizer, and pop out the primer and reuse the shell.

I usually give them a second hit in a new spot to make sure they don't go. Probably have 80% go off the second time, for those that don't I either pull them apart or we have FTF can at one of our ranges also.

For rimfire I will sometimes try it a second time.

haha...just realized i read this wrong...for some reason I thought you were referring to mags that have constant jam problems.

Yeah with the actual bullets I pull them out and give em a second try..otherwise they just get dumped into the pile with the rest of the unused brass...my range doesnt have a disposal method specifically for this..

For 22LR (rim fire) I check the firing pin/hammer mark to determine impact force was sufficient enough to fire the round, then I rotate the round and attempt a 2nd or 3rd firing. If it still fails to fire, I pull the bullet, discard the casing and save the lead. If there are light impact marks I save the round, clean the gun and check for wear.

Although I have never had a problem with center fire ammo not firing, they would go into my reload bin where I eventually strip down the round, replace the primer and reload.

Toss them in the trash

I rotate the shell for another hit. Worst case I had took 4 tries but it eventually fired. Have never had a .22 not fire at all. Factory Q.C. seems to be terrible lately.

__________________
Infected by Smith&Wesson

I had a coffee can with bad ammo that I took to the hazardous waste drop off site in my town and they took it. Some of it was ammo that didn't fit the size check after loading. I think they burn it as I've seen ammo burned in burn barrels at ranges and it seems to just pop rather than penetrating the barrel. I didn't go near the barrel. The burners didn't seem concerned . I wouldn't do that myself.

__________________
I like Ike.

I appreciate the replies. I sometimes rotate the shell and try again... but eventually i became tired of that and just eject and take the shell apart.
Thanks again.
Raymond

What kind of ammo??
Remington ammo is famous for duds--here's my history.

Last summer I bought a Rem. 597 semi rifle. I was getting at least 1, sometimes 2 duds per box of 50 with only that ammo--mostly Goldens and Yellowjackets and some green label Target standard vel. Yet CCI, Win, Wolf and Federal ammo's I got maybe 1 or 2 duds per 500 rounds.

Then I joined my clubs pistol league last fall shooting two different classic High Standards. On the FIRST NIGHT of orientation, the head of the league, about 5 minutes in to the orientation, says "DON"T use Remington ammo--you WILL have alibi's (duds)". If dud's with Rem. ammo are so prevalent it's common knowledge at pistol leagues, that's good enough for me, on top of my own experiences with it.

That's all it took for me--I won't be buying Rem. ammo for a long time unless they really change something.

It is Remington bonus pack .22 LR hollow point. It is very inexpensive ammo to shoot... even with a few duds.
If I was shooting some type of comp. then i would step up to the plate and try "better ammo". Right now just shooting about 50-60 rounds a day when i am working in the shop. Just for practicing my grip, sighting, etc...
Thanks,
rtp
rtp

Figured it was Rem. ammo--just glad you can know it's not your gun

For cheap stuff try Blazer by CCI or American Eagle by Federal, then third on my list would be Win. 333 packs

If you want to go a step up then I'd go with CCI Std Vel.--about $25 at Dicks, to $35 per brick at most gun shops

Good luck!

I hit them with a large hammer

I used to belong to a club that burned it's trash in open top 55 gallon drums. If you throw dud cartridges into a burning barrel, it will usually "pop" off.

Once after an afternoon shooting we started burning trash. A couple of loud pops were heard. A couple of members started on their "safety" rant about such stupid irresponsible actions of throwing live ammo in a burn barrel.

A couple of us gathered around the barrel and threw live rounds one at a time into the fire. There were loud pops but we could not get a cartridge case to shoot out of the barrel. We would throw in a cartridge and hold a target backer over the top of the barrel. After a case of beer and a case of "popped" rounds, we could not get a cartridge case to shoot out of the top of the barrel. As a result of our experiment, we posted a rule that it was safe to dispose of dud ammo in a burning metal barrel. The range nazis/safety ninnies were up in arms but could not make a case that this was a dangerous practice.

Here, hold my beer, I aim to show you sumthin else.

I agree that Remington .22s are ****. You can get the same size bulk packs in Federals for about the same money and never have a FTF.

Since I do almost all of my shooting here on my own property, I usually just put FTFs under a rock and let nature do the rest.

-S

-

Rimfire, try it again, centerfire, same thing, if no go, trash barrel at the range where I shoot.

Rotate it a little in the cylinder and "choot" it again! Revolvers do seem more efficient at igniting the miss-fired cartridges

__________________
Sam
S&WHF 333 S&WCA 2198

A lot of guys in Nam would clear their weapon and pitch the loose round out in the wire. When the rainy season came around the weeds grew up taller than the wire, which wasn't good securitywise so the (green) weeds had to be removed.

Not having any herbicide, diesel fuel worked pretty well, but was slow - until some genius figured out that a fuel tank truck made a passable flame thrower when a torch was held a few feet in front of the nozzle (which had been slightly modified to spray up to 100 feet).

Need I continue or can you fill in the blanks? All the 16 and 60 rounds in the weeds started cooking off. Great fun until someone got hit. I personally hauled two guys to the hospital in one day so I know it can happen. I only personally saw two, but there were others from our company on other days.

Both of the wounds I saw were relatively low velocity rounds in the lower leg and didn't do a lot of damage, but did take a doctor to remove. Neither guy spent any time in the hospital, but neither of them wanted to do it again, I guarantee.

Even if you don't get hit by a round, there's always the risk of getting your *** kicked by one of the grown ups. Don't do stupid stuff.

It is not very often that a round will not go the second time. Or use it in another gun. You would think that all (expensive) .22's would go the 1st time. Bob

I toss FTF rounds into a can filled with water then after a while I discard them in the trash.
jim

I'd recover the bullet and the case and reload them.

Edit: I should say that I've had VERY few FTF in 40 years

I take pictures of them so I, and maybe others, can learn something from them.

__________________
Why, I aughta.....

Lordy, Lordy, I just love it when a FOUR YEAR OLD THREAD gets brought back to life and I read the first page before I realize it!!!

Who thought their input was worthy at this late date????