.....And that's why you don't shoot ammo you find at the range

[Demi-human]

but if I think it some one has had to done it at some point in the history of man.

I don’t trust full fledged humans or half fledged ones at this and then pass the temptation by.

 

[Palladan44]

Yes, recall a 5.56 cartridge. Was slightly bent.
It got jammed, had to fool with it. Doooohhh.
This was years and years ago. Im wiser now.

Bought a few speed loaders from a table at a gun show. One contained 6 - .357mag shells loaded in er. I decided to fire them. They were very sticky extractions and flattened primers, one blown out primer. These were probably some reloads above published data. Another dooohhhh.

I had to learn everything the hard way from age 10 to about 30.

 

[Jim Watson]

These days, pickup ammo is a free primer when pulled down.

I have often thought when seeing ammo laying around on ranges, would it not be something for some one to load say a 44 mag case full of bullseye pistol powder and abondon it in a box with like 12 good ones just just to make it look like a happy accident for someone.

Wicked thinking, but if I think it some one has had to done it at some point in the history of man.

A friend did that, except .38 S&W in a cheap topbreak left for a burglar to find.

 

[Catpop]

These days, pickup ammo is a free primer when pulled down.

I like that

 

[mdi]

We had guys who would put Mortar rounds in the supply for them that were made to blow up in the launcher rather than launch. Pretty slick little idea they came up with there. Of course the guys we paid to do it when caught paid a very high price for it.

A friend told me when he was in Vietnam he would pull the bullets of some rifle rounds (5.56/7.62x39 etc), dump out the powder and fill the case with 45 ACP powder and reseat the bullet. Then they would "lose" it where the VC could find it. He mentioned he did see some rifles that had blown up...

 

[DanK3Pos]

I often find the occasional loaded round laying on the ground at the local shooting spots. Many of them have a very light firing pin strike, probably from a dirty firearm. I have never even been tempted to shoot any of these. They get pulled down, the bullet goes into my lead stash, the brass into my brass stash, the powder goes into a jar of mixed powder that I take to deer camp and the primer goes into the trash can.

I remember reading years ago about the CIA of some other agency injecting overloaded ammo into the enemy supply chain in Vietnam and that has just stuck in my head.

I thought they dumped the powder and replaced it with high explosive. Something like that. I remember the story, don't remember which war.

 

[WestKentucky]

We had guys who would put Mortar rounds in the supply for them that were made to blow up in the launcher rather than launch. Pretty slick little idea they came up with there. Of course the guys we paid to do it when caught paid a very high price for it.

I have also heard a story in which Vietnamese soldiers were using US made frag grenades that they had either stolen or bought on black market. The fuses on a few crates got replaced with almost instant fuses so rather than having the jungle start raining grenades, the treetops just started blowing up as the GIs walked through.

This story has stuck with me and with all the craziness in the world today, it seems far too logical for a loose round found at a range to have been left behind for a specific reason, and likely to do damage or cause injury. A rifle case loaded with fast pistol powder and compressed would make for a very very bad day.

 

[Thomasss]

Unfortunately I have seen too many shotguns ruined from ammo the shooter thought was safe. If I don't know the loader or what he loaded our club has a live ammo box people can dump their duds. And for .22 long rifle, I used to pick them up and shoot them. I would have 1 in 8 pick ups miss fire of fail to load. I gave up trying to shoot those. It just wasn't convenient to keep ejecting the darn things.

 

[kcofohio]

Though I had thought of doing it, I've never shot rounds picked off the ground. I just pull the bullets. If I reload that cartridge, I save it as primed for later reloads to plink with.
I have been saving the 22lr primed brass to one day try and plug with wax for some revolver fun. That's my plan anyway.

 

[DanK3Pos]

Unfortunately I have seen too many shotguns ruined from ammo the shooter thought was safe. If I don't know the loader or what he loaded our club has a live ammo box people can dump their duds. And for .22 long rifle, I used to pick them up and shoot them. I would have 1 in 8 pick ups miss fire of fail to load. I gave up trying to shoot those. It just wasn't convenient to keep ejecting the darn things.

I have a lot of 22lr I inherited from my dad. Some has a very high failure rate. Can't decide what to do with it and I'm not certain yet what is okay and what has the high failure rate. When I discovered this I was at the range with a new Ruger Wrangler, so I didn't know whether it was the revolver or the ammo. Ended up setting it aside and borrowing some known good 22lr from a friend to test the gun with. All of that went 'bang,' so I know it was not the gun. Yet another project for one of these days, going through all of that ammo. It is thousands of rounds, unfortunately.

 

[Highland Lofts]

I was shooting a few years ago with a older friend and he had a Marlin model 60. He only brought one 50 round box of Federal 22lr ammo. His gun would not shoot it at all, you could see where the fireing pin hit the case but no ignition. I gave him a box or Remington and 100% fired. I gave him a box of Federal Premium and only two maybe three would fire out of ten. I have another variety of Federal and that was a no go too.
I gave him a box or CCI and they all shot.
That rifle just didn't like Federal ammo.
So it might not be the ammo you have, it could just be the gun.

 

[Jim Watson]

A friend told me when he was in Vietnam he would pull the bullets of some rifle rounds (5.56/7.62x39 etc), dump out the powder and fill the case with 45 ACP powder and reseat the bullet. Then they would "lose" it where the VC could find it. He mentioned he did see some rifles that had blown up...

There was supposedly a spook shop operation to do that on an organized basis. A case of ammo with one or a few rounds reloaded with fast powder and sealed back up.

I thought they dumped the powder and replaced it with high explosive. Something like that. I remember the story, don't remember which war.

The legend is C4 but a cartridge primer won't fire C4; the real bait ammo was loaded with something else. Probably some fancy laboratory curiosity, but 30 grains of Bullseye would have done about as well.

The fuses on a few crates got replaced with almost instant fuses so rather than having the jungle start raining grenades, the treetops just started blowing up as the GIs walked through.

I don't know about the US, but the Soviets were known for boxing up grenades with a few zero fuzes. According to the article in Soldier of Fortune, they could be identified if you knew which digits of the serial number to check. If you did, you could use those for booby traps. If you didn't, you would get a brief surprise.

 

[Jack B.]

I don't have alot of money but I'm not that cheap . I never use anyone else's ammo weather I know them or not. Never ever found ammo. It's on the ground for some reason.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

Centerfire ammo?

Nope, I wouldn't shoot it.

Rimfire?

I believe I've put a few rounds of wayward rimfire through my guns. But then, those aren't going to be reloads.

 

[Tempus Tom]

I shoot out in the desert. Well, I basically pick up brass in the desert and then plink a little every now and again.

I find all kinds of loaded ammunition out there. Everything from 9mm, 40, .223, .308, 300 blackout....and a ton of 22. Some of them have light primer strikes, while others appear to be perfect cartridges.

Anyways, I save them so that I can use the components. Plus, they look cool in these glass peanut butter jars my wife saves for me.

 

[Goneshoot'n]

I have been saving the 22lr primed brass to one day try and plug with wax for some revolver fun. That's my plan anyway.

I’ve done that, it actually works really well. Stuff a little piece of cotton in first, fill the rest with wax. Fired from a rifle it will go through a piece of cardboard. Makes for some great quiet backyard practice if you don’t have enough land to shoot live rounds. Toss the Remington brass though, for whatever reason they do not work very well.

 

[Highland Lofts]

I have a bunch of picked up range ammo that I have been collecting. I am back in New York deer hunting. When I get back to Washington State I will post a picture of what I have picked up.
I would NEVER USE ANY OF IT.

 

[Alex Clayton]

I have also heard a story in which Vietnamese soldiers were using US made frag grenades that they had either stolen or bought on black market. The fuses on a few crates got replaced with almost instant fuses so rather than having the jungle start raining grenades, the treetops just started blowing up as the GIs walked through.

This story has stuck with me and with all the craziness in the world today, it seems far too logical for a loose round found at a range to have been left behind for a specific reason, and likely to do damage or cause injury. A rifle case loaded with fast pistol powder and compressed would make for a very very bad day.

Yep I would not be worried about someone leaving a round behind that was made with the idea of blowing. I just would not want to shoot one someone else loaded. Could pretty much inspect close enough to see if it was factory or not but I just am not willing to even do that. Unless it was the only ammo I had the idea of putting it in one of my guns is just a no way. When I find some laying about it's either trash or taken apart. I watched a buddy badly damage a nice 1911 using crap loads. He bought a large load of reloads off an ad in the Shotgun News. Price was too cheap. When it got here it was crap. I tried to tell him to eat the loss but he wanted to try to use it up. One of the last rounds blew the case sending the guts of the mag out the bottom, took out a nice set up grips, and left him with metal in one hand he had to go to the Doc to have dug out. I think he learned a lesson, I tried real hard to not stand there and say " I tried to warn you" but the look on my face I am sure said it all. I did say "you got lucky this time". Could have been far worse.

 

[entropy]

I used to have an interesting collection of brass I found at the range. like the 4 or 5 9mm's shot out of a .40, and 3 .308's shot out of a .30-06, or possibly a .35 Whelen.

 

[Highland Lofts]

I have a 9mm case with a bulge in it like it was shot out of battery.
It is sitting on the shelf were my balence scale is along with some of my reloading mishaps.
Also have a picture of this SP101 to remind myself to be very observant and cautious while reloading.

 

[BigBlue 94]

I aquired 300 rounds of reload 22-250 that wont fit in the chamber of my savage stryker. They are too long and the bolt locks up if you try to fully close it.

I see a lot of bullet pulling in my future...

 

[Highland Lofts]

I would rather pull them and be safe then sorry.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

A friend of mine was the gunsmith at his family's gun store and for years he would give me trade-in ammo. Sometimes it was whole boxes and sometimes miscellaneous odds-n-ends - reloads, factory, stored right, stored wrong, hot, dud, squib... who knows? He gave it to me because they couldn't sell it, weren't dumb enough to shoot it, and I was the only reloader he knew. Sealed factory boxes - when I was 100% sure they were - I'd shoot and got lucky doing so; but anything that wasn't fer-shur sealed factory got pulled for components or stored for later pulling. He gave me a few thousand 16ga. mixed paper shells one time - some dated back to the 1910's according to the head stamps - and I still have them in boxes labeled "mixed 16ga." waiting for the day I start casting my own boolits. The shot should melt nicely and make good soft plinking boolits for .32's and .38's. I wouldn't put one in the chamber of a shotgun for any amount of money.

I pulled a bunch of "factory-looking" .357's he gave me once - about 100 of them +/- a dozen - and was glad I didn't trust the boxes. About 1 in 5 was a double-load of what looked like Blue Dot (real easy to spot - there are blue flakes in the mix. Any one of those would have been a kaboom. NEVER trust a sealed box that isn't full or smells funny - like Alox, for example.

ATB.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

There was supposedly a spook shop operation to do that on an organized basis. A case of ammo with one or a few rounds reloaded with fast powder and sealed back up.



The legend is C4 but a cartridge primer won't fire C4; the real bait ammo was loaded with something else. Probably some fancy laboratory curiosity, but 30 grains of Bullseye would have done about as well.



I don't know about the US, but the Soviets were known for boxing up grenades with a few zero fuzes. According to the article in Soldier of Fortune, they could be identified if you knew which digits of the serial number to check. If you did, you could use those for booby traps. If you didn't, you would get a brief surprise.

---
Which also explains why the Nicaraguan revolutionaries came to hate their Russian "advisers" back in the 80's.

 

[Random 8]

I found a live round of "30-06" at my local range, also a considerable amount of brass. All was marked LC with a 1960's date...good stuff! After I got home, and sized the first one, I realized it was 8mm-06. I had thought it looked a little off, but never compared next to a fired '06 case. Unfortunately I had already added the balance to my 30-06 LC brass bucket which now required case by case analysis to cull the bad ones. Upon such comparison, the difference was noticeable, the range brass also having a slightly blown out shoulder. Could have been disasterous if somebody had managed to chamber that 8mm-06 round in a 30-06 rifle with sloppy headspace and/or worn chamber. It was loaded with a 196gr FMJ, and likely rather hot judging by the 59gr of a long stick extruded powder it contained.