Would you fire dropped ammo?

[fallout mike]

Killertom, its very dangerous to shoot and even to dispose of dropped ammo. Send me all your dropped ammo and mags and i will ensure that they are disposed of properly. i won't even charge you for this service.

 

[shuvelrider]

I get the impression some people think ammo is super delicate, by some of the comments here. Dropped rounds, wet rounds, muddy rounds, wipe/dry them off and keep shooting. Seems like the sport/hobby of shooting is being over complicated these days, just use some common sense. I've seen people fret over old boxes of sporting ammo cause grandpa had them stashed away, clean and dry is the key.

 

[gspn]

I pick it up, rotate three times counter-clockwise, hold it over my head, blow on it twice then load.

Kidding of course...I shoot it all. If it had mud or something on it I wouldn't fire it but short of that...it gets used.

 

[Warp]

I pick it up, rotate three times counter-clockwise, hold it over my head, blow on it twice then load.

Kidding of course...I shoot it all. If it had mud or something on it I wouldn't fire it but short of that...it gets used.

Mud wipes off

 

[Sam1911]

Hard to get through a match or training class without dropping a magazine and/or ammo. At least not if you're really working hard and excelling at it.

Besides just manipulations during a "practical/tactical" course-of-fire, at the end of any such string the S.O. will ask you to "unload and show clear." The proper procedure is to rack the slide or charging handle of whatever firearm and eject the last live round from the chamber. LET THE ROUND FALL. There's a non-zero chance of having it hit the ejector right on the primer and have an inadvertent discharge if you try to flip-and-catch or cover the ejection port with your hand to try to keep that round from hitting the ground.

I've shot competitions in blistering sun, torrents of rain, shin-deep mud, and much snow. Dropped mags and ammo into all of that stuff. Guns need to work in all those conditions and more.

 

[FROGO207]

If you are REALLY worried about it clean at a later date and then shoot them. Usually a quick wipe to get the big chunks off and in it goes to be fired. IMHO this problem is so low in the noise when shooting I would barely pause unless something glaring obvious is observed while stuffing it in the MAG or firearm.
YMMV

 

[Trent]

The proper procedure is to rack the slide or charging handle of whatever firearm and eject the last live round from the chamber. LET THE ROUND FALL. There's a non-zero chance of having it hit the ejector right on the primer and have an inadvertent discharge if you try to flip-and-catch or cover the ejection port with your hand to try to keep that round from hitting the ground.

Sam,

I'm going to quote this just so there's double the chance of a lurker reading it.

That's one of the most common mistakes I see shooters make on the line when doing RSO duties (besides having bugger picker on the bang switch when they aren't supposed to)

 

[Sam1911]

Yeah. Super bad. And some day I will break myself of the flip-and-catch habit! I promise!

(Some habits are REALLY hard to break!)

 

[DeepSouth]

Me personally, blow, wipe, shoot.

 

[hso]

I roll it on a pant leg to clean it off and use it.

 

[Potatohead]

Uhhh, yea. Are you not supposed to?

 

[gspn]

Mud wipes off

My mud doesn't.

 

[mboylan]

I don't play games with guns so I shoot every round whether I drop it or not. Do not drop magazines on ground. That sounds insane to me.

You have no choice in competition. Loads make or break your time.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I've dropped plenty of ammo on the ground in my many range trips.
Never tossed one out. Never had a problem either.

 

[Okcafe86]

10 second rule

 

[mosteve]

shoot it!

 

[Arizona_Mike]

I don't play games with guns so I shoot every round whether I drop it or not. Do not drop magazines on ground. That sounds insane to me.

When the mind is busy the hands will do what they've always done. Case in point: the archtypical story about the dead gunslinger found clutching his fired brass in his hand.

Of course you drop mags when training. If you don't your hand are going to end up trying to stow an empty mag on a two-way range is you are ever in that situation.

Mike

 

[Justin]

Dropped plenty of rounds on the ground during the unload and show clear.

Pick it up, wipe it on my pants, stuff it back in a magazine, and shoot it.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

 

[shooter1niner]

clean & shoot

 

[Lucky Derby]

Do you really think these things are that fragile? If guns were, crossbows would still be the primary weapon of the infantry.
Soldiers in combat subject their weapons & ammo to much worse than being dropped on the ground.

 

[22-rimfire]

Would you pick up a 50 cent piece?

 

[sarge83]

What Lucky said, jungles, desert conditions, brutal cold etc... Lots of dropped rounds that have been fired in combat in conditions no where near to that of a civilian gun range.

 

[j1]

Soitanly I would and have for years. What do you do throw it away?

Gross as it might seem I dropped a Hornet round in the toilet yesterday. Not joking. I was going to shoot out of the bathroom window. I managed to get it out without pushing it deeper in. Wiped it dry and put it in my jeans pocket. I would think that it should shoot now.

 

[ATLDave]

Of course I fire rounds that have hit the ground.

 

[jcwit]

If it's .22 rimfire or cast lead, NO, if it's jacketed Yup.

Being as I cast all my own handloads, a dropped round gets broken down and recast and reloaded.