(Gun Recycling) What to do with a firearm at the very end of it's lifecycle

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R.W.Dale

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Here's the background. Dunken monyey modified CIA .308 MAS36

shot it for a while, bubbatized it even more. Eventually robbed it for a few parts and recently sold all the other parts leaving me a with a stripped barreled reciever hogging up closet space.

Now I can just toss it in the scrap metal bin at work but somehow that alone doesn't seem prudent.

I can cut the thing up into tiny pieces with a torch. But I'm not sure that doesn't run afoul with laws reguarding defacing SN#'s

The last option is to do a classic demil cut leaving the sn# intact

either way I'm absolutely certian this hasn't been discussed here yet.
 
Cut it up. Cut the receiver in half and you won't have to worry about the serial # deal b/c it will no longer be a gun.
 
Sell or give it to an FFL

First off not looking to buy your gun. But how about taking it to a local ffl and selling or giving it to him. You could ask for ten bucks gas money. Get a receipt and one less gun destroyed. No reason to cut it up and the receipt from the ffl should cover you in case it comes back to you.
 
^^^What they said^^^

And I believe it HAS been discussed on here, though maybe not in such direct terms. Can always use a direct clear short thread for future searching though :D

Both of those are good ideas. However, if it is unsafe and you KNOW it's unsafe, it is somewhat irresponsible to pass it off to someone else.
Many people will tell you to hang on to it until the next gun "buy back"
 
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use it as a bat if you run out of ammo?
Trade it for ammo?
It's yours, do what you want with it.
 
As if my local dealer will just give me $10 for a nickles worth of scrap that HE HAS to keep track of in his books and on his premises in perpituity.

Come on get a little realistic here. My dealers (whom i'm very close to) would laugh at such a outlandish suggestion.
 
Cut the receiver in half and you won't have to worry about the serial # deal b/c it will no longer be a gun.
Click to expand...

It's not that simple. In order for a gun to officially be "destroyed" in this manner according to the ATF, the receiver must be cut in such a way that a certain percentage of the receiver is destroyed by the cut, so that it can't ever be reconstructed.
 
  • Ask around local art colleges, in case an artist would like to use it for a project.
  • Bury it, and let nature take it's course.
  • Ask your local dealers if they'd dispose of it for you, or know what to do with it.
 
It would be worth a call to your county sheriff or city PD and ask them what to do with it, or if they will take it to be destroyed.
 
Our PD accepts turn-in firearms from citizens no questions asked. Computer checks are run on serial numbers, but if they come up clean they reviewed by the firearms unit for possible crime lab reference or training use, and if not, they are scrapped by smashing in a hammer mill then burning in our 5000 TPD (80Mw) waste-to-energy facility. Scrap metal is separated from the incinerator ash and sold for scrap.
 
1. Donate it to someone who will use it
2. Take it to a gun buy back and get $100 for it
3. Use it as a wall mount
4. Take it to an FFL - you might get a couple boxes of ammo for it.
 
Use it to hone your gunsmithing skills, practice your draw filing technique, the put it on your buffer and see if you can polish it to a smooth finish, practice your blueing, cold or hot. Drill and tap it for a scope mount, etc.Then cut it into little chunks.
 
You can probably still sell the barrel for a couple bucks, even if you have to destroy the receiver getting it out.
 
post it here in the forsale rifle section give it to somebody from your state or take it to a gun show somebody will offer you something for it.
 
There are NO parts left. Nobody will give you a nickel for the stripped reciever. If they would i'd have sold it long ago.

The bbl is worthless. It's been cut down and is badly pitted.

There simply isn't anything left for someone to trade for. Not even for a box of .22 ammo
 
I dump it in the scrap metal bin and take a photograph of it in the bin. I have a gun that I need to get rid of as well, but it is essentially a new gun. Not going to sell it. Planning on doing the same after I take a sledge hammer to it. Figure it's worth maybe a buck for scap.

The only gun or type of gun I would cut up is a full auto.
 
I would donate it to a gunsmith or an FFL who knows one. That way at someone might be able to get some kind of use out of it.
 
In my case, the gun is worth about $400. It is headed to the scrap yard. No, it is not hot but I want nothing to do with it. I have my reasons.
 
As Chief Seattle said, "Death? There is no death. Only a change of barrels." To prove it I have a 19th century Mosin receiver with a 1970 barrel on it. Shoots great.

If you're not going to sell it, I'd say just grease it and pack it away somewhere, for the future.
 
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