Disposing of unusable ammo

[Sal1950]

go out and spend $16 on a bullet puller/hammer. You can use it for multiple calibers for future stuff.
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Just out of curiosity, what is the recipe that you are so afraid of? You said it was listed.

Reminds me of a few years back, I was shooting at my local indoor range when one employee came by to empty the garbage, He had a heck of a time lifting the bag out of the can it was soo heavy so I helped him. Looking inside we found a bag of a few hundred reloaded 9mm rounds of unknown origin. He let me have them and over a couple days free time I used my FA puller to pull all the bullets. I ended up with all those RNMJ bullets and primed cases ready to reload. Just pulled the decapper pin out of the resizing die and put my Dillon 450 to work reloading all those cases with my fav powder, nice money saver.

 

[noonster]

I like my collet bullet puller better than the inertia one. Local range : indoor or outdoor oughta be a good dumpoff place.

 

[Fishinfool]

Years ago, I had a case of LEO commercial .9mm reloads. Poor QC, ammo from this lot # had already blown case heads in several pistols belonging to guys who used this stuff. I lived in CT at the time, and decided to just take the case of ammo out deep water salt water fishing next time I went. It didn't float.....

Larry

 

[65-2x2]

If I had them, and didn't want them, I would just throw them in the trash.

 

['79 Magnum GT]

I think we can tell who are the reloaders here and those that aren't. If the reloaders (me) see or are given ammo we can't use or don't want to shoot it for what ever reason we will grab it for the components. If a non reloader has the same opportunity and won't shoot it they will toss it. It won't fire in their particular weapon so it's no use to them. Nothing wrong with that. I once worked with a guy that would fire off hundreds of different rounds on a weekend and he saw no sense in reloading. I wonder what he did with all his brass? I never got around to ask.

Rick

 

[Sal1950]

If I had them, and didn't want them, I would just throw them in the trash.

I worry of that, you never know where they may end up and accidentally injure someone.

 

[Warren Sear]

 

[Dan W. Cady]

If you usr a Kinetic puller & the bullets are seated so tight they do not want to come out, stick the bullet in an ice cube for 15-20 seconds & they will come out much easier, toss the powder.

Another great method is to run the round into a seat die and push the bullet in about .063". This breaks the dissimilar metal reaction and allows easier extraction.

 

[Sal1950]

Another great method is to run the round into a seat die and push the bullet in about .063". This breaks the dissimilar metal reaction and allows easier extraction.

That may also help open up a too tightly done crimp

 

[Green Frog]

Hal H,

If it's a single box (50 or at most 100 rounds) of reloads, the inertia bullet puller method mentioned above is a simple solution. With the current price of components, even saving the brass and primer. Is definitely worthwhile. Chances are, the reloaded bullets are not sealed in like milk surp, and most reloads won't be as aggressively crimped as some factory stuff, so they actually should come apart fairy easily. The last two responses above have good ideas for bullets that are sealed or too tightly crimped… worth the effort for 41 Mag components, especially to salvage jacketed bullets.

About 25-30 years ago a coworker donated a few hundred rounds of 357 Mag ammo her husband had overloaded and my father, who had recently retired, broke them down to salvage the primed brass and the nice jacketed bullets. He had time on his hands and we reused those jacketed bullets which re- reloaded nicely. Lead bullets are another matter. If the ammo is loaded with lead alloy bullets, they may not be reusable when but can be remelted like range scrap and recast.

Froggie

 

[65-2x2]

I worry of that, you never know where they may end up and accidentally injure someone.

Ammo, uncontained, is not hazardous by any stretch of the imagnation. If heated, or compressed enough to set off the primer, the lead will not even penetrate a cardboard box. It ain't like in the movies where a box of ammo in a fire will blow the roof off a house.

 

[arnesen]

I break them down with an inertia hammer and fertilize my lawn with the powder. If the brass is reloadable I soak the primers then carefully press them out. I do not reuse bullets that have been crimped. I toss them with the unreloadable (is that a word?) brass.

 

[biku324]

My wife was gardening in our yard (been here since 2004) and heard 'clink.' She found a 50 BMG round with a broken steel link still attached. No telling how it got there - it was headstamped SL 42. Soaked it a few days in WD 40, put it in a vise, then pulled the bullet with visegrips and dumped the powder. Off to the trash can it then went.

 

[handejector]

A USN boat lost some ammo in the James River (Virginia)
Over 20 or 30 years later, a fisherman snagged some of the 50 cal ammo in a fishing net,,

He gave a friend a couple rounds,,

That guy wanted to make sure the ammo was safe for his son to display in his room
The guy put a round in a shop vise, and hit the primer with a hammer and center punch.

The round exploded,, like it was factory fresh,,
He ended up with a small piece of brass imbedded in his face, 1/4" from his eye.

The other rounds were placed in a burn barrel,, pop-pop,,,

You could always do what Bruce Willis did in the movie "RED",,
except, outdoors, at a distance,,

I know that guy. Since the gas gauge is busted on his boat, he strikes a match and looks into the gas tank.

 

['79 Magnum GT]

I know that guy. Since the gas gauge is busted on his boat, he strikes a match and looks into the gas tank.

Doesn't everyone?

Rick

 

[stansdds]

I know that guy. Since the gas gauge is busted on his boat, he strikes a match and looks into the gas tank.

I expect all of us know at least one person like that!

 

['79 Magnum GT]

I expect all of us know at least one person like that!

well not anymore...

Rick

 

[biku324]

I know that guy. Since the gas gauge is busted on his boat, he strikes a match and looks into the gas tank.

Or refills his Coleman lantern to overfull and lights a match to burn off the excess after a beer or nine.

 

[chanthemann]

I have a box of 41 magnum that came with a handgun purchase. They are loaded way to hot based of the info the reloaded wrote on the box. I don't want to throw them in the trash and the local police are not interested without me signing away my first-born. Any ideas?

Take them to any gun store and they should take them

 

[greenwellg]

I have done the same on thousands of surplus Russian ammo with an inertia bullet puller. You must have mighty strong hands! My surplus Russian ammo had heavy sealer between the bullet and the case. BTW, that powder was indeed a copy of H4895. I reloaded using load data for H4895 and it worked perfectly.

We just reduced the charge by 10% considering the age of the rifles we were shooting. Also the potential lower capacity of the brass cases we were using. At that time PriviPartisan was $9 or $10 a box of 20 so 45-50 cents a round. I did the math once and it was 3 pounds of powder and 440 bullets for $39.95 Primers were about a penny and with charge level dropped 10% the cost to reload was 10 cents a round or a little less for everything. That is once you had the empty brass that cost 45 cents a round loaded. You could reload them 5 times for the cost of the original ammo, which meant 6 loads for 15 cents a round and no corrosive cleaning necessary.

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

I have a box of 41 magnum that came with a handgun purchase. They are loaded way to hot based of the info the reloaded wrote on the box. I don't want to throw them in the trash and the local police are not interested without me signing away my first-born. Any ideas?

Which Shooting Range you go to?

I would give them to the Range Staff.

 

[SS336]

Good luck trying to disassemble a revolver cartridge with a roll crimp using a kinetic bullet puller.
It would take a long time, I know I tried it last week.
Our range, luckily, has a 55 gal barrel on the pistol ranges for brass and non fired rounds. The lid has some holes in it to put the stuff into it.
You will lose the components but can dispose of cartridges of unknown origin.
Some police stations will take them and dispose of them for you.

 

[hike]

I have a box of 41 magnum that came with a handgun purchase. They are loaded way to hot based of the info the reloaded wrote on the box. I don't want to throw them in the trash and the local police are not interested without me signing away my first-born. Any ideas?

A simple and safe bullet-pull "hammer" will do this.
The gunpowder can be saved and sprinkled on your lawn (the same as fertilizer). The primed cartridges can be fired safely since the powder and bullet have been removed. "Safely" since a primer is explosive. Reloaders will appreciate free cases or the cases can be disposed of (recycling, garbage, etc.).