Proper disposal of unfired rounds

[Guest st33ve0]

I have some friends who thought it'd be a great idea to take some channel locks and pull apart a 7.62x39mm round to get at the gunpowder to aid in making a fire...long story short, I now have a round I'm not willing to put through my SKS that needs to be disposed of properly. What would be the best [read as: safest and hopefully most fun to watch] way to disable or destroy it?

[Rightwinger]

No fun way to do this. Safe method is to buy a kinetic bullet puller and get that bullet out, dump the powder in water then soak the empty casing in water overnight to kill the primer. Quicker way to kill the primer is to pour some gun oil in the case. Not good to be monkeying around with live ammo. Do NOT try any "fun" ways to get rid of this one cartridge.

[Daniel]

we burned a lot of uniforms when we were doing the initial pushes in iraq... good idea to get behind cover until that fire has been burning for awhile as hajji likes to put ammo in his pocket and they would cook off and go anywhere.

[Guest st33ve0]

I was thinking something along the lines of thermite, but there's no way to guarantee safety with that as it's a violent reaction that burns at 5400*F...needless to say a $15 investment in a kinetic bullet puller sounds like money well spent.

[et45]

I usually chunk them in the garbage.

Edited April 5, 2008 by et45

[analog_kidd]

If you have a range nearby, you could try calling them and see if they would take it from you. At my local range, any misfired rounds you have, are to be thrown into the range with the rest of the brass.

[Rightwinger]

I usually chunk them in the garbage.

Glad I'm not a sanitation worker in your area. (come to think of it, glad I'm not a sanitation worker anywhere....not that there's anything wrong with that ((quote from Seinfeld))

[Im Neero]

Ammunition really isn't all that dangerous when it's not in the chamber of a gun. Just toss them. If you're really worried about it take them to the local fire department and have them disposed of as hazardous wast.

[Marswolf]

I usually chunk them in the garbage.

Ammunition really isn't all that dangerous when it's not in the chamber of a gun. Just toss them. If you're really worried about it take them to the local fire department and have them disposed of as hazardous wast.

That's my thought. Chunking them, I mean. I guess that is highly irresponsible but the brass has little mass to cause a problem (unlike the bullet) and so the bullet is going to sit there, just in case a sanitation guy decides to set fire to his truck.

[Guest price g]

No fun way to do this. Safe method is to buy a kinetic bullet puller and get that bullet out, dump the powder in water then soak the empty casing in water overnight to kill the primer. Quicker way to kill the primer is to pour some gun oil in the case. Not good to be monkeying around with live ammo. Do NOT try any "fun" ways to get rid of this one cartridge.

This is the correct answer. If you do not have a bullet puller, a couple pairs of pliers works just as well, but you want be able to save the bullet to reload latter.

[Rightwinger]

I see potential for a us vs. them in this thread, BUT..as Tungsten likes to state, we should strive to show the best side of firearms and their owners. It would only take one incident of a dumb error to give the anti's more ammo for their cause. Is the chance of a loose round going off and injuring someone a large one? Obviously no. But when you take into account all the possibile scenarios, it could happen so why take the chance. The sanitation trucks have a compression system in them to compact the garbage. The places garbage is handled use compression systems, incinerators and heavy equipment to move it. All it would take is a highly compressed wad of garbage to hold the round in place and a shove on the glass, metal or polymer behind the round to set it off. Do the right thing, make the round inert, then toss the bad brass and bullet. If you reload, you know you generate a bad one once in a while. I don't want some of my bigger rounds like .340 Wby Mag or .458 Socom going off by accident somewhere other than my rifle!

[Guest Grout]

To answer the original question,just throw the thing down range or in the misfire bucket if your range has one.Those are the rules for the two ranges I belong to.

[Guest st33ve0]

meh, I'll be picking up one of those bullet pullers. I've been wanting to get into reloading anyway so getting some of the equipment might help me along with that.

Honestly guys I wouldn't throw live rounds out in the trash...that just seems terribly irresponsible, we don't want to be giving the anti-gun-nuts any more ammo for their arguments [sorry for the bad pun].

[Mike.357]

I do not believe that a round will do much in a fire other than go pop, or bang. There is no chamber or barrel for the bullet to be forced through. I always thought the bullet would just kind of flop off the end of the casing and not really do too much.

[strickj]

I do not believe that a round will do much in a fire other than go pop, or bang. There is no chamber or barrel for the bullet to be forced through. I always thought the bullet would just kind of flop off the end of the casing and not really do too much.

Yeah Myth Busters busted that one,but you knoem antis wont listen to reason

[Rightwinger]

I do not believe that a round will do much in a fire other than go pop, or bang. There is no chamber or barrel for the bullet to be forced through. I always thought the bullet would just kind of flop off the end of the casing and not really do too much.

That would be the normal action. As I stated, with modern methods of sanitation, lots of garbage is compressed, sifted or moved with heavy machinery that does put lots of pressure on the items in it. Once would be more than enough.

[Im Neero]

That would be the normal action. As I stated, with modern methods of sanitation, lots of garbage is compressed, sifted or moved with heavy machinery that does put lots of pressure on the items in it. Once would be more than enough.

Even if compressed in a garbage truck, there would be no barrel to direct the force of the round. Without a barrel (of the proper caliber, mind you) a bullet won't go very far very fast. If you factor in the strength and thickness of the steel they use in industrial trash compactors, the chance of a loaded round in the garbage causing someone any injury worth mentioning is miniscule beyond the point of consideration.

But if you're going to err, it's best to do it on the side of caution with these things, so err away!

[Rightwinger]

Look, they won't let kids take a American Rifleman magazine to school or draw a picture of a gun in school. What are they going to do with the news item that bullet goes off in garbage truck or landfill ! !

It doesn't have to hurt anyone. It just has to be near a brainless anti to cause a furor. I'll just play it to the ultra conservative safe side.

[Fallguy]

Without saying whether it is or isn't a good idea to throw a bullet in the garbage. I'll just say way back when when I was riding the garbage truck, ammo was really one of the last things I was worried about getting hurt by. You'd really be surprised what some people put in the garbage.

[analog_kidd]

Another idea I had is to just call your local Police Department. I know they take ammo all the time. My grandfather had a bunch of really old ammo when he passed away, and my dad just took it all down to the PD. They were happy to take it off his hands.

[Rightwinger]

Ask them to check out your firearms for you when you do, since they are there and looking around.

[enfield]

The best thing to do with the powder is dump it on your lawn - it's a good fertilizer. Oil will only temporarily disable a primer. Only firing the primer will disable it permanently.

[Guest canynracer]

LMAO.....OMG....the next time you go to the range, bring it with you, and give it to the dude/dudette working there, they will get rid of it...

[Guest db99wj]

You could always pull the bullet, dump the power, and push out the primer. Then throw the bullet away, burn the powder lots of fire, then get a hammer and smack the primer, lots of noise. Marswolf and I have discussed this, it is a lot of fun.

Disclaimer: Do this at your own risk. Doing the above mentioned is extremely dangerous and advisable. The chances are very high, that you or someone you like, will end up in the hospital with either burns or a foreign body being removed from some part of your body. This type behavior can be compared to someone with a beer in hand and shouting out to all to hear "HEY YA'LL WATCH THIS"! If you don't believe me, I will have to take a picture of my foot where a shotgun primer was removed. I was a kid and it was my older brothers fault!:eek:

[Marswolf]

I always used an ax to smack the primers.