A close friend’s house burned recently. FTR: All people and pets escaped unharmed, but it was almost a total loss. When firemen arrived, the homeowner informed them of the location of a small supply of pistol and shotgun rounds, and as I understand it they kept extra water on that location to avoid anything cooking off.
When it was safe to enter they brought the ammo boxes to the homeowner and advised they were unsafe to use, as they believed it was exposed to very hi temps, just not enough to ignite. Homeowner has asked me to take it, as I am a regular shooter but this is new ground for me.
So my question. How does one dispose of this? I’m not going to fire it for obvious reasons, and I don’t want to wrench out each bullet from its casing (300 - 400 rounds total).
If no dice, call your nearest household hazardous waste/household toxics disposal facility and ask.
Absolute last resort: call the police (not 911) and ask. They may automatically involve a bomb disposal team (and I would guess they might send you a bill for it), which is why you wouldn’t want to call them unless you can’t find another solution.
A couple of years ago, I had a couple of shoeboxes worth of old, partially corroded ammo to get rid of. I called the police station to find out about disposal and made it clear that I thought it was likely unsafe, because of its condition. They were totally cool with, it and let me just hand it over to them. No bomb squad.
Find someone you hate. Plant it in their house. Call bomb squad anonymously. Problem solved.
Seriously, though. The police non-emergency number is your best bet. I was working on a parking lot project once, and we found what looked like an unexploded blasting cap in the crushed quarry-stone. Those are much more dangerous than what you have. They came out within about an hour, and took care of it. All it cost us was about an hour and a half where we had to work on a different end of the project while we waited for them to deal with it. Just make sure you let them know that it is a NON-emergency situation. The stuff is just unsafe to use, it’s not “ABOUT TO BLOW!”
With the right, cheap tool, it’s a trivial task. And ammo cases are big bucks, as well as bullets. The only thing that could potentially be bad is the powder and primer. Some reloader will at least take them and do the work.
Why would you need to contact the police if they’re not dangerous? And why would a bomb squad care, even in a facetious scenario?
As many of us know, Mythbusters has shown that ammo in high heat being dangerous is a myth.
Because the OP doesn’t want to deal with it, maybe? As the OP said;
Maybe he doesn’t want to take a risk he doesn’t understand?
Calling the cops is the easiest way I know to get ‘somebody else’ to deal with it. Personally, I’d take the stuff and salvage all that lead, brass, and powder, as you said in your first paragraph. But he’s not offering to pay for shipping so I can. He’s looking for a way to get rid of it. I ain’t willing to pay for shipping, just so I can salvage it. If you are, make an offer. I’m sure you’ll get a response.
The OP just wants to get rid of it. Make an offer. I’m sure he’d rather be paid to send it to you so you can salvage it, if you like.
Or maybe you meant the unexploded blasting cap in the quarry-stone I was dealing with. OK, If you want to examine that, be my guest. I value my hands and feet. So did everyone I was working with. We called the cops to deal with it. They dealt with it in an hour and a half. No one lost any limbs. Everyone was happy to keep their limbs, that day.
You are free to do as you please when you encounter one.
So find a person you know, or someone on Craigslist. Do you think the police would do something productive with it? It doesn’t have to go across the country; not sure why you assume it needs to be more complicated?
Thanks everybody. I never thought of finding a reloader and giving it to him/her. That sounds like the best deal, since they can make use of the cases.
I didn’t want to give it to a range or ammo shop because I want to make doubly sure it doesn’t end up (even accidentally) mistaken as usable ammo. I will however use my local range to put me in touch with a reloader. I will check at my hunting club as well (although I think the reloaders there concentrate mainly on rifle calibers, they could find someone who wants the brass).
The old trick was to
a) Put it in a jar with a good airtight lid
b) Before sealing, spray liberally or dose heavily with a good penetrating oil
c) Fill the balance with any thinner oil
d) Seal and send landfillward ho via regular household garbage for the week.
Calling the cops isn’t a bad idea for something like this. But if you are one of those nervous types with several warrants pending and some interesting greenery around your yard, consider calling a local gun shop or shooting club. They can make it gone just as easily.
The powder is not salvigable for anything besides fertilizer. better yet wash it down the drain if you don’t have a lawn or garden to dispose of it on.
The primers are sometimes useable when ammo is dis-assembled even when deprimed but in your situation that may be a bad idea. good eye safety and the right equipment will make recycling those components valuable, IMO
The book hasn’t been finalized on how to dispose of unwanted, old etc ammo. One of this countrys leading athority’s on firearms and such Mas Ayoob is even ellusive on what to do with it. Its a, this is what I might do, YMMV
