What do you do with bad rounds?

mljdeckard

mljdeckard

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In a part of Utah that resembles Tattooine.
Ok, so in my years of moving, divorcing, splitting up collections, and learning to reload, I have accumulated a significant collection of rounds of many shapes and sizes which I do not consider to be safe to use for a variety of reasons. What should I do with them?

Just easing them into the trash seems irresponsible. But I basically have a bin of lead, gunpowder and primers that I don't want around anymore.
 
beeenbag said:
Get your drink of choice, a bullet puller, pull the bullets, toss the powder in the flower bed, keep the primed cases ready to be reloaded again.
Click to expand...

Well that's the thing. Many of them are bad components.

I have the pulling collets for some, I could get a couple more, but I don't want to say, pick apart the dozen or so part boxes of 16 ga of unknown age and origin I found when my dad died. I could pull some of them. I don't want to pull ALL of them.
 
I generally pull down and reuse anything I think I can. Not usually for just a couple of rounds though.

When I got out of 357SIG, I had a couple of cases worth of reloads I was using for practice ammo that I didn't sell with the rest. Pulled them all down and repurposed the bullets, powder, and primers to 9mm and burned that all up in practice.
 
When I get enough bad rounds I tear them all down. The bullets get recycled, if they are undamaged and I am still using them they get reloaded with that next batch of those projectiles. If not I throw them in the melt down bucket and when that gets full enough I melt the lead down and save it and throw all the copper in the recycling. Damage brass goes in the recycling too. I will de-prime the brass and reuse the primers for practice rounds. The powder gets thrown in the yard, its never worth saving in all but a few cases.
 
I use to pull the bad rounds but I no longer reload so I bring them to our local range and leave them on the ground for some stupid person to pick up.

No, they have a box to put them in and safely dispose of them.
 
Make dummy rounds out of them. Pull the rounds, dump the powder, pop out the primer, put bullet back in. I usually fill the primer pocket with something soft for the firing pin to hit against like a dab of epoxy or a pencil eraser.
 
Make a display and start a collection! Or break them down. If they are my loads and I have a record of them I'll recycle the components. I pick up the duds and dropped rounds that one finds at ranges and shooting places. I pull the bullets and put them in with my scrap lead to be remelted sometime in the future. The powder goes into my fruit jar of odd powder that goes to Deer Camp with me that provides a "light show" at the camp fire. I deprime the cases, putting the primer in the trash and the brass either goes in my stash or the recycle bucket depending on the condition or caliber.

If you don't plan to reuse the bullet you can pull them by putting them in your press, running them up through the top, grab the bullet with a pair of Linemans pliers and lowering the ram, pulling the bullet. PS, don't let the pliers touch the threads!
 
Where I live, the trash just goes to the dump. I would just throw them in the trash.

You can pull the bullet with a vice and a pair of pliers.

I know people who discard their old rounds in a jar of WD-40 or a bucket of diesel fuel.

You can throw them in a fire. The cases rupture and pop. Don't stand right next to it.

I know you were talking about being responsible, but you can dispose of shotgun shells by wrapping them up in a piece of paper like a tube, tape a bb over the primer, and toss them into the road. You don't want to do that in a small neighborhood where people will complain about the shot raining down on their cars.
 
I agree with those who recommend pull the bullets, dispose of the powder and reload the rest of the components!
You do not have to pull them all at once. You can do 20 to 50 at a time and before you know it they are all done.
 
I just finished spreading a whole Old can of black powder over my yard. Must have been 20 years old. Thought it was about time to get rid of it.
 
Except for the large number of water damaged rounds from The Incident, I don't let duff ammo accumulate.
I pull them for the components. Most bullets eventually go to a friend who casts, but just today I seated a salvaged bullet to study whether I want to buy more.
I got back a primer from a split case and powder, primer and case after a Dillon hangup.

I have trashed some that looked bad. No reports of garbage volcanoes at the landfill.

But those 16 ga shotshells would be of value to a traditionalist with a gun.
 
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