What would you do with this ammo?

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - What would you do with this ammo?

Posted: 11/10/2018 1:57:40 PM EDT

I bought this stuff from a bumblefudd store probably about 10 years ago. Saw it sitting in a corner and made the guy an offer for $50 for roughly 1,000 rounds. I've had it sitting loose and doing some housecleaning and not sure what to do with it.

He said it was damaged during shipment.

This is a decent sample of what's around. Almost all of it has some little dents and dings. I'm guessing they would be fine. Just not sure at what point they become unsafe. Obviously the ones with the bullets seated a little too far back need to be culled.

So what would you do? Pull them all down and toss the powder and keep the bullets and brass? Or just have them sink in a boating accident?

Posted: 11/10/2018 2:02:41 PM EDT

[#1]

5.55? A lot of those look like they were damaged from double feeds / malfunctions in an ar

Posted: 11/10/2018 2:11:44 PM EDT

[#2]

Sorry, forgot to mention, yes 5.56

Posted: 11/10/2018 2:21:40 PM EDT

[#3]

Pull the bullets, torch the powder and trash the brass.

Edit to say. Pick some of the nicer ones to shoot.

Posted: 11/10/2018 2:44:32 PM EDT

[#4]

What did they ship it in, a burlap sack?

Posted: 11/10/2018 4:23:46 PM EDT

[#5]

Thrown down the driveway look.

Posted: 11/10/2018 11:04:17 PM EDT

[#6]

I’d shoot a few of those breakdown the rest

Posted: 11/10/2018 11:31:14 PM EDT

[#7]

If that is a realistic representation of the lot then you paid $50 too much. Pull the bullets, torch the powder and trash the brass.

Posted: 11/11/2018 7:36:59 AM EDT

[#8]

Quote History

Quoted:
If that is a realistic representation of the lot then you paid $50 too much. Pull the bullets, torch the powder and trash the brass.

View Quote

That's going to end up being an awful lot of work, although watching all of the powder burn (roughly 3.5lbs) will be mildly rewarding.

Posted: 11/11/2018 8:04:49 AM EDT

[#9]

That's what the forward assist is for! Get on down to the range and get you some.

-- Bring a hammer.

Posted: 11/11/2018 8:08:15 AM EDT

[#10]

I would soak them, ass end, in wd40 for a while to make sure they won't go off. Then I would dump them all into a coffee table or bar top, and coat in epoxy. not worth the risk to shoot or really the time to pull them apart, but would probably make a bad-ass decoration for the gun room.

or when you're bored, link them all up, wrap them around your neck and shoulders, and run around like an 80s movie action star.

Posted: 11/11/2018 9:10:55 AM EDT

[#11]

WD40 will not inactive the primers in loaded rounds. it has been tested here https://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box-o-truth-39-oil-vs-primers/ Pull the damaged ones down for the bullets and shoot the better ones.

Posted: 11/11/2018 9:55:02 AM EDT

[#12]

Despite what most are saying, that ammo will shoot just fine. Except for the two with set back, but that can be fixed with plyers or a light whack with a kinetic puller.

If it fits, it ships. The bullets are not set back (on most), the primers are not dimpled from being cycled, the casings are not deeply gouge or compromised, and they aren't reloads. I've shot uglier.

Biggest hangup is some of those just aren't going to chamber.

Brass isn't a pressure vessle, it's a gasket. casing actual dimension will take the shape of your chamber real fast as soon as you fire it. The dents don't affect pressure at all. I'm s little attentive to the base corrosion on the 2nd from left one. Body and neck corrosion doesn't actually matter, so long as the bottom half inch holds, but that is in the bottom half inch.

I would (and have) shoot every one of those - if I can make it fit. You'll be fine

Posted: 11/11/2018 10:40:52 AM EDT

[#13]

Pull the very bad. Shoot the rest in a bolt gun. Ground squirrels would love them. Most of the ones in the pics I would shoot, but not all in an AR.

Posted: 11/11/2018 1:07:11 PM EDT

[#14]

The 2 with the bullet almost in the case, I would pull em apart and measure the powder load in em.

The one with a huge dent 2nd in from the left probably won't chamber.

This is where I would be a lot more likely to shoot em if I had a 223/5.56 bolt action just cause I could see how hard something is to chamber.

Posted: 11/12/2018 9:16:24 AM EDT

[#15]

Get a case gauge. If it gauges shoot it.

Posted: 11/12/2018 10:05:17 AM EDT

[#16]

Quote History

Quoted:
WD40 will not inactive the primers in loaded rounds. it has been tested here https://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box-o-truth-39-oil-vs-primers/ Pull the damaged ones down for the bullets and shoot the better ones.

View Quote

@Wildweasel hmm thanks, I always thought it would. heard it when I got into reloading as what to do when you messed up. I wonder if enough epoxy would make them OK?

Posted: 11/12/2018 10:56:50 AM EDT

[#17]

Quote History

Quoted:

@Wildweasel hmm thanks, I always thought it would. heard it when I got into reloading as what to do when you messed up. I wonder if enough epoxy would make them OK?

View Quote

Well, how exactly would you envision a round firing if it's encased in an epoxy tabletop?

Posted: 11/12/2018 11:23:05 PM EDT

[#18]

I went through them tonight and they got better. I'd guesstimate 85% should be fine. Good excuse to get a bolt-action 5.56. Did some more digging on line and folks have shot a lot worse.

I like the table idea. I'll pull apart the ones that are too far gone and reassemble. Oriented right you wouldn't be able to see the defects from above when using it as a table.

Posted: 11/20/2018 2:17:29 AM EDT

[#19]

Even my cheap guns aren’t worth possible damage from unknown rounds. Hammering out a squib is something I prefer not to do.

I have a collet & have pulled mangled rounds for the projectiles.

No need to torch the powder—makes great fertilizer. Feed your lawn or garden.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - What would you do with this ammo?

AR-15 » Ammunition

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