Rendering a round inert

[HGM22]

If you must drill the case (not suggesting you do), it might be a goo idea to do so under water to reduce friction heat, and also deactivate powder ASAP.

 

[rcmodel]

I was wondering if anyone knew a method of making a cartridge safe without reloading equipment.

Mmmmmm?

Mount them live in a block of clear casting resin?

http://www.overstock.com/Crafts-Sew...-Polyester-Casting-Resin/3665396/product.html

They might go off in a house fire.
But I can GayRon-TeeYa nobody is gonna stick them in the gun and shoot you with them!

rc

 

[jcwit]

Excellent idea as usual rcmodel!

 

[hammerklavier]

If they have unsealed primers then I'd soak them in wd-40 for a week. Then I'd take them to the range and attempt to shoot them. Any that didn't fire would be reasonably safe display rounds (would not use them as dummy/practice rounds, however).

 

[BeerSleeper]

I did not notice the bizarre overcrimp in that picture until now.

I still think you could fire it, shooting the bullet into a sufficiently large body of water (probably 18"-24" from which you can recover the bullet, and put the bullet back into the case. If you clean the firing soot off the case, it will look like new except for the firing pin mark in the primer (a small price to pay for safety).

Last winter, I shot several boxes of 9mm FMJ into snow piles. I recovered the bullets when the snow melted. They were in tact, but with rifling marks from firing them. If I had chose to put them back in brass, the rifling marks would have been covered up by the case mouth, and they would be indistinguishable from ordinary ammo.

 

[jcwit]

Bear, How would one replace that crimp on the factory ammo? It is applied by pressure from the sides of the case, sealing the bullet itself below the case mouth. Upon firing the case mouth is blown open allowing the bullet to exit the case. To make a fired case look as an unfired round for display purposes would be next to impossible if not impossible without special machinery.

 

[BeerSleeper]

I guess I didn't see it correctly. I thought it looked like a roll crimp on a bullet seated fully within the case. I googled for some other, higher resolution pictures, but didn't find a good hi-res pic of the end of the cartridge.

it looks like very extreme roll crimp, with a hint of an outward taper at the mouth. That would indeed be tough to replicate without the right die.

 

[blarby]

http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&...bnw=101&start=15&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:15

http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&...1&tbnw=212&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

 

[leadchucker]

Yep. I wasn't paying attention to the photos of those rounds. Even if an inertial puller could get that bullet out, no way to ever put the crimp back in the case easily.

So, we're back to soaking in oil (or WD40) and hoping for the best, or drilling.

There are safe ways to drill. Drill a hole through a 4x4 chunk of wood, stick the round in the hole, and drill through the wood into the case from the side, staying clear of the ends of the round. Dump the powder, and cook the primer off with a propane torch.

 

[rcmodel]

Cooking off a primer with a torch will shoot your eye out if it hits you!

See the photo's in post #20 of what they do to steel furnace duct.

rc

 

[leadchucker]

The photo's in post #20 show the results of cooking off a live round full of powder. That's a far cry from just cooking a primer off. I've done this numerous times holding a shell with pliers inside a metal ammo can.

The usual common sense cautions apply. Put it inside something metal, wear eye and ear protection.

 

[nyrifleman]

http://theboxotruth.com/docs/bot39.htm

Don't be so sure soaking in solvent/oil will deactivate the primer.

This. HGM beat me to it.

 

[Jim Watson]

Much ado over nothing.
I don't have children around, either; and I have never had a cartridge sneak off the shelf and crawl into a gun and fire itself.
If you want to display a round, display a round.

 

[Derry 1946]

You could super-glue the rounds to the dislay surface, whether sideways or upright. If drilling, you can use a hand drill; they still make them. Wrap the round in rubber, like an inner tube, clamp it carefully in a vice, drill by hand (non-electric). There are two types of hand drills I am familar with. One is a push drill (a cylindrical object that revolves around a central axis as you push downward). I don't recommend this one, as the pushing will tend to dislodge the round from the vice. The other is a rotary-handled gear-driven crank drill. It looks sort of like an egg beater with a drill bit. That should do the job with a bit of care. Make sure both ends of the round are aimed in safe directions, and wear eye protection. Hearing protection would be useful, in the event the round goes off. Good luck.

 

[Cluster Bomb]

Paint Snap Caps. or just use empty reloaded rounds from a different gun. not many people would know....

 

[Alec]

With that particular round, would most people even be able to tell they were fired?

I say display the empty cases and be done with it.

 

[Shadow 7D]

Put a Would Like to Buy add here or in the reloading for sale forum for some dummy rounds, and maybe someone who reloads will be willing to sell you a few.

 

[Soapy5]

I would 2nd the "soak in wd 40 for a week and test them out in the range to make sure they do not work" suggestion. Just be careful of hangfires and squibs.

 

[HGM22]

One problem I have with the soaking in penetrating oil is that even if it does render the round inert, can one be sure that its permanent? It could be just a temporary fix if the oil ends up penetrating right back out (it is volatile, after all).