Ammunition Disposal!

17 Mar 08

Safe disposal of unserviceable/unwanted small-arms ammunition:

A friend asked recently about safely disposing of several hundred rounds of unwanted ammunition. He had inherited a quantity of 308 reloads from an undependable source, and he regarded them as unsafe to shoot. He thus wanted to simply dispose of them, rather than take the risk of running them through any of his guns.

After consulting with friends in the business, here is the advice I gave him:

When the Army is required to safely dispose of outdated small-arms ammunition, they use what amounts to armored, heated cement mixers. Ammunition is tumbled and heated until it all "pops." What remains is a mass of inert, mangled brass and lead, which is then sold, by the ton, as scrap metal.

When one lives in a rural area, he can do something similar by simply digging a deep hole with a fence post digger and then creating a large, hotfire at the bottom. When ammunition is then thrown in on top of it, individual rounds will likewise burn and eventually "pop" harmlessly. Of course, one needs to keep away from the opening!. What remains after the fire has cooled can be salvaged and disposed of as scrap metal, of simply buried.

When bullets are individually pulled from cases first, and powdered propellant subsequently recovered and collected, it can be safely disposed of by simply scattering it on your lawn. It is readily bio-degradeable and actually good fertilizer! Subsequent burning of the remaining empty cases will be far less spectacular, as only primers will remain to be popped. The pulled bullets can be readily sold or given away.

In urban areas, the County/City Bomb Squad will usually accept, and safely dispose of, small quantities of unwanted pistol or rifle ammunition at no charge, as a public service.

On many occasions, I've fired pistol and rifle ammunition that was over fifty years old, and (so long as it had been stored in a cool, dry place) it all functioned normally. So, there is usually no reason to be concerned about the safety or utility of "old" ammunition, unless it is corroded, of dubious manufacture or re-manufacture, improperly stored, exposed to solvents, or physically damaged.

New ammunition in factory boxes, that is simply unwanted, can nearly always be sold or given away. Particularly today, there will be plenty of takers!

/John