Post#42 30 Apr 2008
Post#43 8 Mar 2010
Another undead thread re-animated. BUT, a perrenial subject, maybe deserving a sticky (or at least a spell-check on "Perrenial").
That military ammo has been left booby-trapped on the battlefield to injure or kill the enemy who might use it, is a matter of fact. The odds of deliberately boobytrapped ammo ending up in the military-suplus market (what with the papertrail required on military surplus) is extremely remote. Boobytrapped ammo is usually left behind on withdrawal as "abandoned" property: while likely to be picked up and used on the battlefield, it is unlikely to enter the military supply system and end up in some warehouse.
Ammo abandoned at the firing range:
Oh boy. We have a box for disposal of unwanted ammo at our range and if really bored I will go through the box to see what I can learn (a lot is bulk pack .22 lr with one or more firing pin strikes, a lot of work for little lead if you are pulling bullets for recycle; my son prefers CCI Minimags for a good reason: premium .22 ammo brands are seldomn in the disposal box). One time I found a box of .223 handloads and checking them and pulling some of the the bullets showed me the ammo has been abandoned to be destroyed for good reason: poor brass (1/3 had split necks), inconsistent powder, bad crimps, recycled bullets that had been pulled with pliers, etc. Occassionally someone will abandon, say, a box of .357 Maximum accidentally purchased for a .357 Magnum, or half a carton of .22 Shorts purchased for a .22 Long Rifle-only semi-auto. Usually though, if a user abandons ammo at a range there is a good reason that they--and you--should not want to keep or use the ammo, except as lead or brass for recycling. And if its not in the disposal box, I assume the owner just forgot and may return to retrieve it, so I leave it lie.