Ever shot a "range" round or "smished" round.

[Redlg155]

We have all seen these before.

Range round-A perfect round that somehow fell onto the ground was missed by a previous shooter.

The Smished round- This is the round that experienced bullet setback to some degree. Usually caused by a feeding malfunction.

I've always been afraid of ammo left on the ground by other shooters, with the exception of a .22. However, I have fired a pistol round that was setback. Most recently, a .50ae round while shooting my Desert Eagle. The sad thing is that I know better.

As a reloader I know that setback equals increased and sometimes dangerous pressures, but like an iddot, I chose to try to save.$1.50 in a $1300 handgun. Go figure.

Anyone else have a recent exercise in stupidity?

 

[NavyLCDR]

I shot a piece of history once. A round from WWI, 8mm Lebel. It went, "click", wait...wait....small "bang".

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

I have.

I bought a really crappy 40 round AK magazine. It feeds the rounds low into the flat face in front of the chamber. One of the bullets got set back quite a bit into the case after trying to force the mag to work. I also know that compressing the space inside the case can cause dangerous pressure spikes, but I thought to myself, "well if I'm going to have a blowout in my AK, might as well have it on the range rather than when I REALLY need it to work."

It shot just fine.

 

[jcwit]

I prefer not to publicly admit to stupidity.

 

[armoredman]

I never touch any one else dropped rounds, ever. I don't know if it's somebodys 12 times overpowered reload waiting to blow up my gun.

 

[Twiki357]

I've never fired any, but I have pulled the bullets and reloaded the primed case.

 

[Owen Sparks]

If you have been reloading as long as I have you can almost always tell if a round is new or not. I would NEVER fire a round with a set back bullet. First of all it is probably a reload of questionable quality and even if it is not pressure will be high.

 

[Cal-gun Fan]

If I ever have problems like that with a bullet on the range, I purposefully pick it up so as not to leave it for somebody else to ruin their gun with...I dunno, I would just hate to think that somebody's possession that they spent their hard earned money on was ruined because of my carelessness.

 

[zxcvbob]

I'll shoot found .22LR's (sometimes), but other than those I take 'em home and pull the bullets.

 

[theotherwaldo]

Brass is brass. Pull the bullet, dump the powder in the garden, pop the cap, drop the brass in the bucket for later.

 

[chevyman097]

I once had a click...no bang in my mossy 500 while duck hunting. I pumped the gun and the round popped out, resisting the urge to kill dinner right away we all jumped behind cover in hopes that the round on the ground would not explode and kill us all.......stay tuned for next weeks episode.

 

[Deus Machina]

I've shot rounds I've found, if they are obviously factory and don't have a dent in the primer. It's darn tough to make a reload of anything I use look factory-fresh. 7.62x54r or x39 would be the easiest, and it's not like many people shoot nice brass from many of those. If I don't trust it, I don't fire it.

I've shot a couple set-back rounds. Only if I set them back, only slightly, and it's a basic mild round. I won't shoot anyone else's set-back rounds, and if it's more than a smidge, I toss it in the bag to get the puller at.

 

[HorseSoldier]

Ammunition turn in procedures being what they were in the army, it was preferred to turn in sealed cans/cases or fired brass, and I used to run anything dinged up that would actually chamber through a Bulgarian 5.56mm AK we had in the arms room. It mostly worked as long as the case wasn't too longitudinally crimped/bent. Never saw any issue with bullet set back, but some of those rounds much have been cooking some serious overpressure compared to standard, proper 5.56mm ammo.

On reflection, this was not very smart. It was also not the dumbest thing I ever did while working as a support guy for the secret squirrels.

 

[Flopsweat]

A .22 in good condition, after wiping any grit off it, yes. Squished, setback, funny looking in any way or any centerfire round, no.

 

[FROGO207]

I will grab all found ammo and bring it home to pull and use as components. I would not want to see someone hurt themselves or their firearm and I can always use some extra stuff to reload with.

 

[1911Tuner]

I never touch any one else dropped rounds, ever. I don't know if it's somebodys 12 times overpowered reload waiting to blow up my gun.

There's the thing. If a few of the radical antis will slip live ammunition into guns in shops and on vendors' tables at gun shows...what's to stop them from salting a range with rounds loaded with a compressed charge of Bullseye or even C4?

Pick'em up and toss'em in the can.

 

[mgmorden]

Range rounds - nope, I don't shoot any ammo left behind. For all you know it could be Bubba's "special" ultra-hot reload that could damage your gun. I do use a lot of range BRASS though.

Squished rounds - only if it's minor. If there's heavy setback noticeable then I pull the bullet and reload it later.

 

[dusty14u]

As many have stated I will pick them and pull them but won't shoot in my guns. If my own reloads get setback or don't fire they get pulled after returning home and reloaded.

 

[Tallinar]

I would prolly not hesitate to shoot a .22 LR left at the range. I never shoot a centerfire cartridge unless I know exactly what's in it or where it came from, though.

 

[303tom]

There's the thing. If a few of the radical antis will slip live ammunition into guns in shops and on vendors' tables at gun shows...what's to stop them from salting a range with rounds loaded with a compressed charge of Bullseye or even C4?

Pick'em up and toss'em in the can.

What the heck is a round loaded with C4 going to do ? Nothing !

 

[BCCL]

Don't know that I would fire a round I found on the ground at a range, just don't know who loaded it for sure.

I did once, in my own back yard, find a round of .22lr that I had dropped several months before and it was out there all winter.

Curiosity got the best of me, so I wiped it off and put it in an old single shot .22 and it was kinda weak but fired.

 

[Ranger30-06]

What the heck is a round loaded with C4 going to do ? Nothing !

It's true. C4 needs an electric charge to be set off. Not going to happen with a primer!



But like the rest of the guys, I never shoot whats left over or anyone else's handloads. I like my guns a little too much for that.

 

[Cop Bob]

Years ago, when we reloaded all of our qualification ammo in house, I used to grab all the culls, push-backs, split cases, etc. in 9mm and 45acp and I would run them through our personal sub-guns, the schmisser would feed them like shucking corn.. HOWEVER I must qualify that they were all loaded to mid-range pressures, to where even a double charge was not enough to harm a modern gun, and the sub guns are built to handle +P and higher pressures. so in this instance there was little concern..

HOWEVER, for all the reasons listed, I DO NOT, and WOULD NOT attempt to fire damaged or found obvious reloads for all of the above reasons... you never know the beginning powder charge, will the set back cause enough of a pressure rise to cause you grief... Unless it is known EXACTLY what is contained in the round, and you know that there is not enough pressure possible to damage the gun, the answer is NO..

In recent years, range qualification range uses factory loaded ammo, that is loaded to higher pressures, those push backs (rare) go in the can for disposal. the undamaged rounds, where they were just left because they failed the time limit, or missed a round, go in a bucket for general range use... one with a minor dent, meh... what the heck, use it.. with major damage (anything that will hinder chambering or feeding) goes in the can for disposal...

Rifle ammo... Sorry I am not that brave... it goes to by disposed of or pulled for components, usually a press will straighten out cases with out too severe of a bend without work hardening the brass..

The best rule of thumb.. in all things with risk, great or small..... WHEN IN DOUBT.......... DON'T !!!

 

[Ranger30-06]

The best rule of thumb.. in all things with risk, great or small..... WHEN IN DOUBT.......... DON'T !!!

So I can't walk up steps, drive, eat food without boiling it, work on machinery, or so on?

Seriously though, It isn't worth it.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Depends a lot on the ammo.

I have been known to take found .22s home, clean them with cloth and lighter fluid, sort by no strike, one strike or more, and retry them in an old Rumanian training rifle I bought cheaply. Most once-struck .22 will fire if rotated opposite the misfire strike. Having satidied my curiosity I don't bother to do that much anymore.

I did take home an abandoned box of .357 Maximum discarded by someone who had bought the wrong ammo for a .357 Magnum. Still have not broken them down for the bullets.

Smished--obviously damaged rounds or unknown reloads? Pull the bullets, dump the powder, kill the primers, and recycle the brass: reload, or add the brass to my recycle bag of wornout brass and brass of calibers I don't reload.