I have bought several cases of XM193PD and 855PD ammo in the past.  I just opened another case last night to load on stripper clips.  I always inspect every round carefully.  I do not reload ammo so I was wondering what to do with the rounds that are defective.  I have a bag with about 100rds of mixed 193 and 855.  I didn't know if someone would want them to disasemble and use the good componants.


Thanks

Got a post-hole digger?  

just toss them in to a campfire.  They will just cook off and pop a little.
Or you can throw them in the trash.
What makes them "bad"? Did you try to shoot them?

Quoted: just toss them in to a campfire.  They will just cook off and pop a little. Or you can throw them in the trash. What makes them "bad"? Did you try to shoot them?

Not smart at all!!!!  

Quoted: Quoted: just toss them in to a campfire.  They will just cook off and pop a little. Or you can throw them in the trash. What makes them "bad"? Did you try to shoot them? Not smart at all!!!!

Do you think they would "fire" with any kind of force?
The case would go farther than the bullet because it is often lighter weight.  They may travel all of 6 or 8 inches and have very little energy.

Quoted: just toss them in to a campfire.  They will just cook off and pop a little. Or you can throw them in the trash. What makes them "bad"? Did you try to shoot them?

Campfire... Hah

I was thinking the microwaveWhat makes them bad is some have excessive setback, cracks or bulges in the neck, or just dented up more than I like.  I'm not too picky but these are the ones that I would not trust to shoot.

I used to think that they would not do to much in the fire either til I tossed an old dented .22 cartridge into the burning BBL. It put a nice dent in the can which was heavy gauge steel sheet as it used to be an unused haz. waste BBL. There had only been a few fires in it and it was relatively new. I pull the bullet, dump the powder and toss the case and primer only now.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: just toss them in to a campfire.  They will just cook off and pop a little. Or you can throw them in the trash. What makes them "bad"? Did you try to shoot them? Not smart at all!!!! Do you think they would "fire" with any kind of force? The case would go farther than the bullet because it is often lighter weight.  They may travel all of 6 or 8 inches and have very little energy.

Unfortunately, there was a young girl recently who ended up with a hole right through her thigh due to what was probably a 223 round cooking off in a fire.

Everyone there believed the "won't do any harm" thing - so did the police when the hospital called them to the "gunshot victim" -- they took a lot of convincing...

Dropping live ammo into a fire, based upon this empirical evidence, is not a wise thing to do.

Getting back to the original question - what to do with unshootable ammo -- well, you pack it up and mail it to Sarah Brady asking her to please help you dispose of this cop killer ammo.

I had WII 50cal my father brought home in 1946.  In early 90s, one of the case necks split.  Pulled buller and powder burn like the dickens.  Took remaining rounds plus some some other dented ammo and while crossing the Mississippi River I tossed them.  Figure water would eventually corrode through and "demil" both the powder and primer.  I also have pulled bullets, flushed powder down toilet, and left oil in the primers to prevent ignition.  Tossed the ruined primed brass and bullets in garbage.

Send them to me... I'll bust them apart and salvage misc..  

Quoted: Unfortunately, there was a young girl recently who ended up with a hole right through her thigh due to what was probably a 223 round cooking off in a fire. Everyone there believed the "won't do any harm" thing - so did the police when the hospital called them to the "gunshot victim" -- they took a lot of convincing... Dropping live ammo into a fire, based upon this empirical evidence, is not a wise thing to do. Getting back to the original question - what to do with unshootable ammo -- well, you pack it up and mail it to Sarah Brady asking her to please help you dispose of this cop killer ammo.

What "emperical evidence" do you have?  Some girl gets shot and the story is that it cooked off in a fire and shot her?  No fucking way!  Unless the cartridge is inside a barrel there is not enough pressure/power to send the bullet anywhere.  Get a clue.

I was joking (kinda) when I said toss it in a fire but I still maintain it is not dangerous.  I would not do it and stand right there but I do not believe anything would happen if I did.

send em to me, I'll use the components!

PM me and I'll give my addy!

Quoted: I was joking (kinda) when I said toss it in a fire but I still maintain it is not dangerous.  I would not do it and stand right there but I do not believe anything would happen if I did.

Some dumb asses used to do this when we went camping.  I always took cover, and listened to the frags go zinging everywhere.  I suppose it wouldn't kill somebody, but it's still a irresponsible act.

Quoted: Unfortunately, there was a young girl recently who ended up with a hole right through her thigh due to what was probably a 223 round cooking off in a fire. Everyone there believed the "won't do any harm" thing - so did the police when the hospital called them to the "gunshot victim" -- they took a lot of convincing... Dropping live ammo into a fire, based upon this empirical evidence, is not a wise thing to do. Getting back to the original question - what to do with unshootable ammo -- well, you pack it up and mail it to Sarah Brady asking her to please help you dispose of this cop killer ammo.

Do you have any actual evidence this happened other than the "stories" of the people who were there?  I suppose the hard evidence involved significant "He knew a guy who know the cops who took the report's cousin" or maybe some hard-hitting newspaper articles?

A hole through her thigh?  

Quoted: What "emperical evidence" do you have?  Some girl gets shot and the story is that it cooked off in a fire and shot her?  No fucking way!  Unless the cartridge is inside a barrel there is not enough pressure/power to send the bullet anywhere.  Get a clue. I was joking (kinda) when I said toss it in a fire but I still maintain it is not dangerous.  I would not do it and stand right there but I do not believe anything would happen if I did.

So if you wouldn't stand next to it but it's not dangerous?  If it's not dangerous then why not stand next to it?





To the original poster.....just throw them in the trash.  They'll end up in the landfill and rot away.  DON'T throw them in the fire unless you want to start a bigger fire and/or take shrapnel from the exploding rounds!

Quoted: I was joking (kinda) when I said toss it in a fire but I still maintain it is not dangerous.  I would not do it and stand right there but I do not believe anything would happen if I did.

Heh. You say it's not dangerous and yet you wouldn't stand near the fire. Interesting. Does anyone else sense a contradiction here?

Back on OT, with that many rounds, I would salvage the components if you reload or have a friend who coul d use the components to reload. If not then just toss them in the trash. I had about 30 bad rounds in a box of XM193PD and I just tossed them.

Quoted: Quoted: Unfortunately, there was a young girl recently who ended up with a hole right through her thigh due to what was probably a 223 round cooking off in a fire. Everyone there believed the "won't do any harm" thing - so did the police when the hospital called them to the "gunshot victim" -- they took a lot of convincing... Dropping live ammo into a fire, based upon this empirical evidence, is not a wise thing to do. Getting back to the original question - what to do with unshootable ammo -- well, you pack it up and mail it to Sarah Brady asking her to please help you dispose of this cop killer ammo. Do you have any actual evidence this happened other than the "stories" of the people who were there?  I suppose the hard evidence involved significant "He knew a guy who know the cops who took the report's cousin" or maybe some hard-hitting newspaper articles? A hole through her thigh?  hr

My father got a 22LR lodged 1/3 of the way through his maxilla when he dropped one on a concrete floor.  I would say that it is entirely possibly to get seriously injured from a 5.56 that cooked off.  I think anyone who puts live ammo in a fire is generally an idiot,  and is sooner or later going to have  a bad incident occur.


Also, it would not take take much evergy at all to send a .223 through a young girls thigh, if it didnt hit bone.  I mean, how must does it need to go to get 6 inches of penetration?

until I see some imperical evidence this is a worthless topic.

Back in my teenaged years some guy thought it would be funny to throw a round of ammo into our campfire. When the round cooked off part of the primer blew out and hit me in the hand. The results were nearly fatal… Not for me, the bit of metal just sank in an eighth of an inch or so and burned like crazy. But I was ready to kill the idiot over that little stunt.

When a round cooks off you can have hot coals and bits of metal flying all over the place and that ain’t a good thing. And I don’t think I would want to sit around breathing smoke from a fire that had lead bullets in it either.

I don’t have a link but there was a study done about how dangerous burning ammunition was to firefighters. The study concluded that ammunition didn’t pose any unusually high risks to firefighters. But this study didn’t say that burning ammunition was safe, just that the protective gear firefighters wear make it unlikely that they will be critically injured from the shrapnel.

If you don’t have a bullet puller then I guess the best thing to do would be to get some good goggles and put on a reasonable amount of protective clothing. (Enough that you feel safe but not so much you feel stupid.) Secure the brass case in a vice and use vice grips or pliers to pull the bullet out. If possible, cover the vice grips with some kind of non sparking material, particularly if you are working with steel case ammo. It’s pretty unlikely that you would get a spark that could set something off, but why take chances.

Make very sure that your hands, and any other body parts, stay away from the ammo while you are pulling the bullet. A few inches of space would mean the difference between major and minor injuries in the unlikely event a round does go off.

Powder can be safely disposed of by pouring it into a thin line and simply igniting it. (Don’t try this with black powder as it can burn really fast. Smokeless usually burns nice and slow at normal pressures.)

As far as the primed cases go… I suppose just spraying some WD-40 into the case mouth would probably deactivate the primers just fine, but I’ve never tested it. Primers are pretty strong so you have to treat them with respect. It might be best to just bury them or toss them in a river somewhere.

(All of this is just my opinion, use at your own risk.)

Quoted: until I see some imperical evidence this is a worthless topic.

you are right.  the fact that my father had to have a .22lr bullet removed from his maxilla is not Empirical enough; therefore, it should be ignored and discounted, especially if someone says " I guy that I read about on the internet's father was hurt from a bullet that was not dischared from a firearm."  I mean, if it didnt happen to you, and/or there was not a scientific study on it, it should be dicounted.

Quoted: My father got a 22LR lodged 1/3 of the way through his maxilla when he dropped one on a concrete floor.  I would say that it is entirely possibly to get seriously injured from a 5.56 that cooked off.  I think anyone who puts live ammo in a fire is generally an idiot,  and is sooner or later going to have  a bad incident occur. Also, it would not take take much evergy at all to send a .223 through a young girls thigh, if it didnt hit bone.  I mean, how must does it need to go to get 6 inches of penetration?

Your father shot himself or got shot and said he dropped it on the cement.  OK I believe the story now.

Quoted: Quoted: My father got a 22LR lodged 1/3 of the way through his maxilla when he dropped one on a concrete floor.  I would say that it is entirely possibly to get seriously injured from a 5.56 that cooked off.  I think anyone who puts live ammo in a fire is generally an idiot,  and is sooner or later going to have  a bad incident occur. Also, it would not take take much evergy at all to send a .223 through a young girls thigh, if it didnt hit bone.  I mean, how must does it need to go to get 6 inches of penetration? Your father shot himself or got shot and said he dropped it on the cement.  OK I believe the story now.

Riiiiight.


I have never used this, but:  

I spent an extra two hours in my radio site in Panama because of M60 blanks cooking off in a grass fire.  HELL YES, AMMUNITION CAN AND WILL COOK OFF IN A FIRE WITH DANGEROUS CONSEQUENCES.

If you distrust ammo in your possession, use one of those mallet-type tools to pull it down.  Recycle the brass and load (or pass off to a reloader you know) the bullets.

This would make a great myth busters show.

Please..........don't throw it in the trash !!!!!!   Most trash today goes through an expensive recycle proceedure to remove anything that can be salvaged.  If any rounds cook off, the explosion, though minor, sets off all kinds of fire fighting equipment.  Even if you pull them apart and flush the powder, the primer alone can cause the firefighting equipment to automatically go off when it pops.  

Find another way.

I don’t have a link but there was a study done about how dangerous burning ammunition was to firefighters. The study concluded that ammunition didn’t pose any unusually high risks to firefighters. But this study didn’t say that burning ammunition was safe, just that the protective gear firefighters wear make it unlikely that they will be critically injured from the shrapnel.

The major hazard to firefighters, I would think, would be from bullets cooking off in an overheated (burning) firearm. One bullet in the hot chamber would fire; another would take its place, cook off and fire... till the mag was empty! The scene would look like a Three Stooges comedy, if it wasn't so serious. Good reason to leave a stored firearm in Condition 3.

BTW it is usually the primer that cooks off, not the bullet itself (I know, but the difference accounts for the SPEED of the cook-off) and ignites the powder charge.

I had a box full of ammo that had been stored poorly... moisture had compromised the cartridges... so I carted it down to the Police Department for disposal. (In the PRK it is seriously illegal to throw ammo in the trash!) They had me sign a release form and took it away to a place where they have just TOO MUCH FUN, burning this type of stuff.

Yeah sounds like  pop corn when  they seperate!

I did this once at a camp fire you should of seen everybody run like hell!! IDIOT

And if you drop a bullet it ain going to blow a hole in ya!

A cop said he drop a bullet in the bath Room and it went off and blew a hole in the wall!
All the in the know new what really happen! playing with his gun!!

Another myth Fire Tracers at gas cans will blow up? WRONG goes right on threw.

Don't ever ever ever throw live ammo in the trash!!!!   As an ex garbageman I beg you please do  not do this!!! The truck is basically a rolling trash compactor, the forces exerted by the trucks hydraulics can squeeze a round and  and set it off. I have heard of rimfires being set off but have never seen it myself. I don't know how many times we've had to stop the truck, climb in the packer and pick out the loose live rounds and search carefully and nervously to make sure none have been caught in the pivot points. We've turned in coffee cans full of ammo undamaged and some bent by the packer to the police. We've never heard of a round going off but the potential of it happening and injuring someone is.  Trust me, your garbage man will thank you....


I'm completely serious, this isn't a joke post.

Thanks, C.M