Thread: Getting rid of improperly loaded / damaged amunition

Ok
How do you get rid of defective loaded / loose ammunition that you dont want to shoot but there isnt enough of one type to spend pulling apart. There are odds and ends, corroded and defects from loading. Any thoughts - this must be something others have had to deal with before?

James Ruby

I usually pull down what I can just so it is safer. The stuff I cant I have a small box I keep it in. When it is full I go out and burry it deep but I have my own property to do that on.

Pull ‘em apart, torch the powder, melt the lead, reload or recycle the brass.

My local Sherrif's office accepted it. You may want to give them a call.

Anything I have that isn't "shooting quality" gets pulled down. Even if I don't reuse the brass or lead it has recycle value. Better to put the couple of bucks in my pocket than to give it to the local PD.

I have a big steel can I use for destroying "questionable" ammo. I take it with me when i go out to the desert throw the ammo inside (no more than about 1/4 full) and throw it in the coals of the campfire and just let it cook off when I'm doing something like cooking dinner. it doesn't have to get too hot, just hot enough to burn off the powder. this can has a few large holes in it to relieve any pressure and is made from 1/4" wall pipe with 1/4" steel welded on either end. The main goal here is to keep fragments from flying out. I usually recover lead/brass/copper this way.

I just go ahead and pull mine down. My rose bushes and raspberry plants love the pulled down powder.

We accept ammo for disposal at The English Pit Shooting Range - there is no fee to bring it by and drop it off. As mentioned elsewhere, we pull it apart and recycle the metals. The powder is used as fertilizer (its rich in nitrogen).

I suspect it could be turned in at a hazardous waste recycler. I once saw several boxes on shotgun shells that were water damaged accepted at the Metro transfer station hazardous waste site.

In my case, if the rounds are really in doubt, I pull the bullets and soak the case with primer and powder in oil. This renders the fulminate in the primer and the unknown powder inert

Originally Posted by Ampster

In my case, if the rounds are really in doubt, I pull the bullets and soak the case with primer and powder in oil. This renders the fulminate in the primer and the unknown powder inert

Even Unknown powder makes good fertilizer. Just dump it out on the flower bed or lawn. As for soaking in oil to deactivate the primers, I don't bother. They go in the recycle bucket and the recycler takes them as is. Never has been a problem.

I have a couple types of bullet pullers. My favorite is the Hornady Cam-Lock puller that you use in your reloading press. It doesn't damage the case. Depending on why you rejected the ammo... a lot of times you can start over without depriming.

Originally Posted by vonnieglen

a lot of times you can start over without depriming.

I even start over by depriming when I feel like it. I just use a universal de-priming die so even if the primer "pops" the case isn't sealed in a regular sizing die. Over the last 3+ decades I have never had a primer go off when doing this. It takes a "blow" to set of a primer, not just a simple "push" from a de-priming pin. Of course there are those who are "slammers and bangers" when they operate their presses. That style of operation could be problematic when removing live primers.

I have never had a live primer pop when I was removing them either. I am way too much of a cheapskate to throw away or even "recycle" any usable brass. Most rifle brass is worth at least 30 or 40 cents each. I do use a extra caution however... my mother always told me I could put my eye out messing with live primers.

I may get into trouble here but as far as the powder goes a lot of times you can figure out what it is with a little research. Even if you can't make a 100% certain ID... I had a friend who emptied the powder out of a hundreds of surplus 30-06 cartridges, reassembled them and clipped them together for a M1919 display. He gave me several pounds of powder along with a few unmolested cartridges. I never made a 100% certain ID on the powder, but the cartridges fired fine and the speeds were what one would expect, so I experimented with the powder and it worked very predictably in my .308 reloads with reduced charges for cast bullets.

If I've put together some rounds I dont like, I just pull the bullets with one of those impact pullers. I usually torch the powder, much to the delight of my resident pyromanics children. Everything else gets reused or recycled.

If its some unknown weird stuff, I'll just tear it down and recycle it.