Disposing of unusable ammo

[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.