Police disposition of turned in ammo

[duman444]

Have seen on several threads that you can take ammo to police station for disposition.

I know I have seen some of you post about guns that you have purchased from Police sales-do you see ammo in the same sales?

Do they sell it, soak it in oil or otherwise disable, use at academy, turn back in to ammo providers for credit, etc?

Sure it has to do with the gun-anti gun nature of the guy in charge, but inquiring mind wants to know?

 

[ACORN]

My buddy is a retired LEO. He just loved getting calls from widows that wanted their late husband's ammo disposed of.
Coincidentally, he amassed a nice supply, somehow.

 

[banger]

My place refused to accept ammunition.

We were unable to dispose of it safely.

Soooo, don't assume that all police departments will accept your old junk.

It takes a very brave/foolish man to fire someones mystery ammo.

 

[Loyaljeeper]

When I went to work for my current agency we had an evidence room with assorted ammo from over the years. Many of the firearms had been returned or turned over for sale or destruction. They didn't know what to do with the ammo. I was the hero who sat outside with a kinetic bullet pulled disposing of ammo.

We now have a policy of not seizing any ammo unless absolutely necessary. You can seize the firearm but leave the ammo. Obviously this would not be policy for a homicide but we wouldn't investigate that type of case anyway.

 

[mikerjf]

Last time I took some old shotgun shells over to the sheriff they said they no longer accept ammo.

 

[reddog81]

I have a feeling it'll vary greatly depending on state, county and city.

 

[stansdds]

I'm sure it varies greatly from state to state and locality to locality. Around here, seized firearms are destroyed. I have no idea what they do with the ammo, but I expect it is also destroyed.

 

[JackM]

We would accumulate a lot of unwanted ammunition in any given year and our practice was to turn it over to the State Fire Marshal's Office. They would take it, along with what they collected from other departments, to a field somewhere and blow it all up.

 

[diyj98]

I'm not sure the official policy, but I've know several cops that tend to end up with a lot of free personal ammo. A couple years ago one gave me about 10 boxes of 308 ammo. I've know a couple who actually ended up with free guns as well.

 

[Jack Flash]

I would have assumed they just took it out to a safe enough area and put it in a pile, maybe with some wood and accelerant, get back a safe distance, and set it ablaze. When the cartridges are not supported by a firearm chamber, the case will rupture. No need to worry about bullets flying out at a 1,000 fps.

Breaking them down to salvage the components would be impractical if tens of thousands must be disposed of.

 

[67tempest]

My neighbor had the police do a wellness check on him and they ended up seizing his weapons and all his ammo. The police seized and destroyed his Illinois FOID card so he could not possess any weapons. He got the police to agree to release the firearms to me. When I went to pick them up I asked them about the ammo and I was told it was their policy to never return confiscated ammo. I asked the officer what they did with it and he wouldn't say. I imagine one the officers ended up with it.

 

[Muss Muggins]

ATFE pulls bullets and uses the primed cases to determine if a firearm "functions as designed . . . "

 

[ACORN]

My buddy said if he was dispatched to a call to pick up ammo or guns He had to turn it in. But if some random person stopped him he'd get the address and go back in his personal vehicle.

 

[armorer951]

I used the seized and voluntary turn in factory labelled ammunition for ballistics comparisons (tool marks) and test firing.

 

[tndrfttom]

Maybe somewhat related to this topic is an experience I had years ago with 3 kegs of BE powder.

A friend was getting out of reloading and gave me the 3 kegs (the old red steel kegs) of Bullseye pistol powder; one opened and two sealed. I left them in my 1986 Toyota Pick-up and that night the truck was stolen from the driveway; not more than 10 feet from where I was sleeping. The next morning I asked the local policeman that took the report what the chances were of getting the truck back. He said "you'll never see it again. Its likely on its way to Miami where it will go into a container and be shipped to 'The Islands". So I filed a claim with my insurance co., got paid for the loss, bought a different truck and forgot about it.

Months later there was a thing on the local TV news that the Sheriffs Office Bomb Squad had removed several 'drums of explosives' from a warehouse rental space. The following day I got a call from the Detective on the case advising that they had found my name on some paperwork in the warehouse and wanted me to come down, bring a copy of my police report, and identify my stuff. The warehouse had apparently been used to strip stolen vehicles because there were several big engine blocks on the floor along with various wheels and tires. About the only thing that was mine was the bed cover from my truck and the paperwork from the glove compartment (owner's manual, vehicle registration and various receipts). I asked about the Bullseye powder and he said the Bomb Squad had it - you don't want it do you? You bet I did and spent the next day calling various offices trying to track down my property!

After I ran into various dead ends I asked one of the deputies that I shot NRA Bullseye matches with what to do. He hooked me up with someone in Training that could get it. He also advised "you better get ahold of him tomorrow because they are planning on "blowing it up" in the bomb disposal pit at the range". Well, eventually I hooked up with a grumpy deputy who finially, reluctantly, released the powder to me. I've often wondered if the powder would have really been destroyed or had been promised to someone else....

 

[usmc2427765]

Turned in ammo is usually turned over to the bomb squad and destroyed. Primers and powder are likewise destroyed.

 

[Old cop]

Unless I needed the seized/found ammo in court I have no idea what happened to it after I vouchered it into our property/evidence room.

 

[jjfitch]

The large department I retired from took arms and ammunition that was turned in and was stored in the armory. Serial numbers were run and firearms were kept for a period of time as "evidence"! Firearms that were not kept for training or service (Think Glock M17-19-22-21 etc!) were sent to a third party for destruction.

Ammo was sorted, newish ammo was kept for testing or for practice. All the .22 ammo was used in a youth shooting program. The rest was destroyed by the "bomb guys". Opened powder containers were also destroyed by the "bomb guys"! I'll not comment on the sealed powder containers!

Smiles,

 

[jimmyj]

The good ammo I stored in a special box for those officers who had off duty weapons of a different caliber than the issue caliber. The old ammo I buried.

 

[ajgunner]

A friend of a friend recently had someone pass away that was a big bore loader and BR shooter. They took several boxes of powder to the police and were told to try the fire department. They could not take it but gave him a number for haz mat disposal. They wanted $92 to dispose of it. This is where my friend got the story on it and volunteered to have a look. All sorts of powder from 1lb up to 8lb kegs. He told them it has value and was going to throw out a number to take it all off their hands. Nope---they insisted they just wanted it gone. He ended up with close to 50lbs of powder and most of it was unopened and only dating back to the late 90's. In these current time of seeing nothing on the retail shelves for several months now, we call this a SCORE!!!