Should I fire this .223 round?

[Dave9999]

Some of this discussion reminds me of that old cereal commercial: "...hey, let's get Mikey. He'll shoot it!..."

I do have a question and maybe those with extensive experience can help: How to properly dispose of dud or questionable rounds? Is it OK to throw the powder on you lawn like fertilizer? What about the primer? Toss in trash?

Still trying to decide if I want to shoot some 7mm Magnum handloads my dad gave me when He gave me his hunting rifle. Notes on the boxes say loaded in '77 and indicate 3000fps MV.

 

[leadcounsel]

Pull it or throw it out, not worth the risk.

I'm not a reloader. I've probably inadvertently or unintentionally or carelessly fired rounds as bad or worse than that. It will *probably* be fine. But the downside (loss of a gun, eye, finger, laceration that gets infected, ruined day at the range) which is a remotely unlikely chance, is not worth the 20 cents on the "upside." So suspect ammo goes into a box, to be pulled or throw out. I have several boxes of .357 reloads I need to do this with, due to their unknown origin... I'd hate to throw out $100 in ammo, but the risks probably warrant it... (I might not even take my own advice here, but instead just shoot it thru an old Taurus .357)... But for the record in the past I've given a few boxes of suspect ammo to local reloaders for components to alleviate myself from the headache of the decision to "shoot or throw out...".

Analogy. Each individual time you drive in a car, and don't buckle up, is probably safe. But on the downside chance today wasn't your day, the risks are very high for the minor inconvenience of buckling up.

 

[sed]

@CLT65 - in my opinion you have nothing to apologize for. Thank you for sharing your insights.

I firmly believe in all of us being respectful of one another (even on the internet - gasp) and I appreciate you sharing your experiences and understandings.
We are all humans and there usually is some thread of emotion or passion we use to convey a point or share our knowledge at times. It's the internet... we are only getting a very one-dimensional form of communication here.
I'm sure if we were sitting around a table listening to CLT65 tell his stories or experiences, none of us would've gotten our feelings hurt about his frame of reference, delivery or perspective. We can't gauge tone, body language, sarcasm, etc, etc on the internet.

Thanks to everyone who willingly shares their thoughts and experiences here - it's a great community and a great place to learn.
CLT65 - thanks for taking the high road and setting a good example of being humble and respectful.

To the OP...
....I'd shoot it.
You know, for science!

 

[CLT65]

Thank you, sed. I appreciate that.

I have several boxes of .357 reloads I need to do this with, due to their unknown origin... I'd hate to throw out $100 in ammo, but the risks probably warrant it..

Unknown old reloads are a whole different story. I won't shoot mystery reloads. They might be fine: maybe uncle Fred was an experienced, careful, precise reloader. Or maybe he liked to "load 'em hot". Or maybe he was drunk one night and accidentally used 24gr of 231 in those .44 mags you inherited, instead of 296.

I find live ammo at the range all the time. I pull the bullets and save them for reuse. I dump the powder, either down the drain or in the flowerbed. I'll normally use the primed brass for plinking loads, but if I deprime it and need to dispose of the primer, I just toss the primer in the garbage. Maybe that's not the right thing to do but I don't know what else to do with them. It takes time to pull apart ammo to redo it. It's probably not worth the time, but I like to tinker.

 

[Tony617]

Tony, if you're down to shooting dented ammo, I'll gladly give you a couple of boxes to help out.

When I chamber a round and put my click the safety into safe mode I do not rechamber the same round again. I pull the magazine out and eject the round. I put the chambered rounds in a bag and when I go to the gun range I load up a magazine and shoot them off. I generally leave the chamber empty and a load magazine only. But sometimes I load one in the chamber set the safety to "safe" mode and put on a hidden rack. Given Washington State's safe storage law I will need to buy a locking rack that bolts to a stud in my closet or something.

 

[DizzyJ]

When I chamber a round and put my click the safety into safe mode I do not rechamber the same round again. I pull the magazine out and eject the round. I put the chambered rounds in a bag and when I go to the gun range I load up a magazine and shoot them off. I generally leave the chamber empty and a load magazine only. But sometimes I load one in the chamber set the safety to "safe" mode and put on a hidden rack. Given Washington State's safe storage law I will need to buy a locking rack that bolts to a stud in my closet or something.

Why do you separate the chambered round?

 

[Lars]

Get your best buddy and a couple of beers. Crack open a cold one and say the magic words, "hold my beer and watch this". Make sure your buddy is videotaping.

 

[oli700]

once a person understands the relationship between the camber, the brass,pressure and bottleneck case characteristics as it pertains to pressure they understand that there is no risk in firing that round based on just the dent alone ......as long as it goes into battery

 

[bbbass]

Do something even if it's wrong. Let us know how it turns out...

 

[conditor22]

Take it out to the woods, put it in an old pot with a lid on a stove and heat it up until it pops. You'll find that the pot isn't even dented.

 

[CLT65]

I hope nobody minds a story that only relevant in a roundabout way:

My grandfather was the hunter in the family. He was a WWII vet who liked to shoot, though he was never really into it like I became. He was very cautious. I once saw him drop a 30-06 round on the ground, then pick it up and toss it into the brush. I asked him why and he said if it had been in the dirt, it wasn't going into his gun.

He also was not happy when I started reloading. He argued with me about the safety of it. Wasn't it dangerous to pop out that primer when I resized the brass? What if someone had pulled apart a live round and that primer was still live? I respected his caution, even if it was a little over the top. I tried to explain why it was safe, but he never got it. Maybe he just liked to argue. There was that...

He got the last laugh I suppose. After he passed away I helped my mother clean out his house. I was in the attic going through piles of junk that had been there for half a century, and found myself holding a box of blasting caps! I quickly but very gently set them back down, and left the attic.

I let someone else deal with that, but I did find out that modern electric blasting caps were really not hazardous to handle, and I was in no danger, but I don't feel bad about having been so cautious. I didn't know, and when you don't know, it's best to not take any chances.

Then there was the 10k in cash my mom found tucked away in an old filing cabinet in his house, that nobody had any idea he had, but that was a much more pleasant surprise.

 

[Enkidu556]

I would, but with your gun

 

[osprey]

Must be winter lol. 3 pages on what to do with a .35 cent dented 223 round.

 

[ConcernedCitizen]

Unknown old reloads are a whole different story. I won't shoot mystery reloads. They might be fine: maybe uncle Fred was an experienced, careful, precise reloader. Or maybe he liked to "load 'em hot". Or maybe he was drunk one night and accidentally used 24gr of 231 in those .44 mags you inherited, instead of 296.

I once made the mistake of shooting some .357 Magnum handloads that someone else had loaded. They shot fine, but when I went to eject them they were stuck in the cylinder. I had to pound on the ejector rod to get them out.

Upon inspection, all the primers were cratered and there were multiple splits in the sides of the casings. These things were loaded HOT, and I consider myself lucky there was no damage to myself or my firearm.

That pretty much cured me of ever wanting to shoot someone else's reloads.

 

[best defense]

View attachment 538580

It is BH 50gr TSX round.

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You could try. but from what I can see, it is probably not going to chamber.

 

[11Charlie]

Must be winter lol. 3 pages on what to do with a .35 cent dented 223 round.

 

[CLT65]

I have an old bent .22lr round I've been hanging onto for a while. We could talk about it.

It has a crooked bullet, leans to the left. Maybe we can get a hearty political discussion going or something.

 

[11Charlie]

I have an old bent .22lr round I've been hanging onto for a while. We could talk about it.

It has a crooked bullet, leans to the left. Maybe we can get a hearty political discussion going or something.

Maybe we can get that thread to go 5 pages!

 

[CLT65]

Actually never mind. I just went ahead and disposed of it, now that .22lr is cheap and plentiful again. A couple years ago I would have totally shot that bad boy, or at least saved it for SHTF.

I did save the bullet, plucked it out with a pair of pliers and tossed it into the melting pot. Got to stockpile lead you know, Doe Run and all...

 

[Vettewine]

Go ahead and fire it...! Then you will have the brass "reformed" to a nice proper shape that can be reloaded again and again...!