✅ SOLVED LIVE ROUNDS ?

[EasternShoreMetal]

Just curious, what do you all do with the old live rounds you find. ?
Misfires with a pin strike in it?
Anything to worry about?

 

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[DCMatt]

I'm no expert on the subject but there are several in the forum who are. Hopefully one will chime in and let you know what is most prudent.

I will suggest that you NOT call the authorities. Years ago I had a SCUBA diving buddy who found a pratice bomb from WWII and brought it home. It was a little smaller than a bowling pin.

One of the roommates suggested it might be dangerous and he should get rid of it, so he called the fire department to ask what to do.

About 15 minutes later cops and the bomb squad showed up at the house and began evacuating the neighborhood.

The bomb squad took it away for safe detonation and we all got a lecture on "don't bring that stuff home"...

 

[BosnMate]

Do Not throw them in a fire. Otherwise, no problem. I have hundreds of rounds of ammunition, old and new, purchased and found. Long as they are sitting on the shelf and the house doesn't burn down, they will do nothing but sit there. They can be handled, dropped, shaken, even pounded on if you stay away from the primer, and nothing will explode. The primer detonates, the powder burns, so keep from hitting the primer causing detonation, and keep away from heat, and you are good to go.

 

[EasternShoreMetal]

Thanks guys.. I do shoot. So I have quite a bit of ammo. Just as ammo laying around dormant is no problem, I know. But quite a few I get have dented shells, some, like I said are misfires, so they have been struck, all have been underground for a long time, so who knows what that does to the round? I would have thought that they'd be wet, but I removed a bullet from one, and the powder was perfectly dry and it was from WW II era! So, just checking for safety's sake. Thanks again, I appreciate all the info I can get.

DCMatt, that's funny.. and very true. Periodically they find an unexploded round from the Navy washed up or out on the Chesapeake Bay side, and they bring out the troops! Can't imagine that happening in my home!! lol

 

[SkaBa]

If you want to be really safe, remove the bullets from the cartridges then dump the powder. Either give the cartridges/bullets to a reloading friend or simply throw them away at this point.

 

[flyadive]

Old powder becomes unstable.. Don't mess with it!

http://m.bayviewnow.com/topstories?cid=150597175

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Some of the rounds from the WWI era used fulminate of mercury as a priming charge. This can get a little unstable if it has been dry for a long time. The powders themselves like black-powder, cellulose and nitro-base aren't necessarily unstable but can still ignite with heat or if the primer goes. And ANY exploding shells should be treated with respect. I don't know all what was used to detonate them and the H.E. charges they could contain.

If you can pull the bullet pour out the powder and drip in a few drops of motor oil or 3:1 oil. That will disable the primer.

 

[coinman123]

I put my live bullets in a little container in my basement, I found a pocket spill of HUGE bullets, after the second bullet I got paranoid that I would hit one with the shovel and was very cautious, I ended up find around 4 or 5. I have never had any problems and I'm not sure you need to worry, bullets are designed to be stable, why else would hunters have hundreds of them in there bag? Then again the old powder may be more unstable, but it could be dead because of being exposed to the elements and corrosion plus some water going through the small crack between the bullet in casing. If you put those rounds in a gun I would doubt the thing would even go off. Then again it is better to be safe than sorry, keep them set aside and put in a shed, away from other items that could bump into them.

Coinman123,

 

[gunsil]

Old powder becomes unstable.. Don't mess with it!

The dangers of gun powder

This guy who wrote that article is way off base and incorrect. Gunpowder is not like dynamite which does contain and sweat nitroglycerin which is dangerous stuff. Neither gunpowder in bullets nor the powder in fireworks (which often is NOT gunpowder) will sweat nitroglycerine. Many collectors of early ammo have cartridges dating back to the civil war and they have no problem with anything catastrophic happening to them. There are many civil war artillery shells still extant with the black powder still inside and they are not unstable or particularly dangerous to own or display. All rimfire cartridges use mercury fulminate as primer yet the civil war Spencer cartridges are very collectable and are not known for stability problems.

 

[EasternShoreMetal]

Thanks again everyone. The only reason I asked was because over the past year or so, I have found quite a few, and some are pretty large caliber. Most are at least 50 years old, many older.
I didn't worry about it until I got so many. Pulling the bullet out and dumping the powder is easy, but messes up the round.. although, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these things yet.
Anyway , thanks again for all the help!

 

[cudamark]

I just give them to a law enforcement officer friend and let him deal with it. He says he just adds it to the next ordinance disposal batch. If you go to a shooting range, you can also just add it to their dud bucket.

 

[NHBandit]

I had some old rounds that were sitting in a garage, for who knows how long. A few of them were delayed when we tried to shoot them. Some didn't go off at all. So, if one doesn't go off leave it lay for a while.(everyone probably knows this.)lol

From what I was told, Some powders will cake, they get moister inside from temp changes. After a while of this it will cake the powder(not sure about all). When you go to shoot them the powder may just fizzle inside for a while then, bang! could be minutes later. This is what was explained to me, I don't know if it is fact!

I have pulled bullets from the brass and dumped the powder out. On old unwanted ammo. I never had a problem, no one I know has ever had a problem. I couldn't tell you if it's a safe thing to do. We used pliers.

They sell a bullet puller, It looks like a plastic hammer, You put the round in and hit the hammer on the floor or bench. It removes the bullet. So, they can't be too sensitive!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This is the correct answer.

 

[coinman123]

If you want to be really safe, remove the bullets from the cartridges then dump the powder. Either give the cartridges/bullets to a reloading friend or simply throw them away at this point.

I do not recommend doing that on old shells. The shell's metal is so brittle that if you try to put the bullet back in the whole shell will shatter.

Just my Thoughts,
Coinman123,

 

[Ant]

If you have to ask put it back in the hole and cover it up.

 

[SkaBa]

I do not recommend doing that on old shells. The shell's metal is so brittle that if you try to put the bullet back in the whole shell will shatter.

Obviously not into reloading...

First step after removing the bullet, either by bullet removing die or hammer, the cartridge is put through the de-capper and sizer die. If no cracks, good to reuse.

 

[SkaBa]

Just curious, what do you all do with the old live rounds you find. ?
Misfires with a pin strike in it?
Anything to worry about?

Nitric is correct about the general safeness of powder and old/duds rounds.

The time you DO need to be concerned is when you pull the trigger and the round does not fire. At that point, you should continue pointing at target and wait a FULL minute, at minimum, in case it is a 'late fire'. I have both in primer and rim fire happen to me.

And Thank You for being on the safe side of what to do with old/dud rounds.

 

[goldenoldie]

Hear in the UK unless you hold a firearms licence,((((( it is an offence )))))) to own any sort of live ammunition, found or otherwise .
As far as I know it Carys up to 5 or 10 years in jail ,if it is found in your possession .
So hear in the UK, if you find any live ammo , hand it in to your local police station or re bury it out of the way.
If you hand it in, don't worry you will not get in to trouble.just state you are doing your duty as a detectorist .
If you find larger ordnance like a grenade or bomb STAY AWAY AND CALL THE POLICE.

 

[BosnMate]

People come up with some really weird ideas on gun powder, especially smokeless powder. Unless you are a pure idiot and are going to do something stupid, it's not dangerous, it won't detonate, but it will deteriorate, which makes it not suitable to shoot, not because of danger of blowing up, the cartridges won't be accurate, and like others have said, there could be hang fires or duds. But that all takes place inside a gun, not sitting on a shelf. Old powder can be disposed of by burning. Once outside of a container, it won't blow up, it just burns. Of course it burns fast and will start fires, so one must be careful, but there will be no explosion. Many will probably be surprised to find out that ping pong balls are basically gun powder. Ping Pong balls are made of celluloid, which is like gun cotton or nitrocellulose, which is extremely flammable and is the basis of modern smokeless gun powder. Don't believe me, find a safe place and light a ping pong ball on fire. What I'm trying to point out is that ping pong balls get whacked back and forth and don't explode any more than a loaded cartridge would if dropped or bumped into something. And the brass doesn't get brittle just sitting around. It gets brittle from use, when fired it expands, then is resized, loaded, fired, and then expands again and is resized, and this is done a number of times, causing the brass to become brittle and crack, but all you have to do it anneal the brass, and you are good to go again. The deterioration of old brass in the ground is caused by water and salts in the black powder residue, and on load cartridges there is sometimes electrolysis between the lead and brass. After smokeless powder was introduced I think the salts from corrosive primers also caused some brass to deteriorate. But on empties I've found that are from after the Korean War when the military started using non corrosive primers, the cases seem to last in the ground just like other brass. Sitting on a dry shelf in the house that won't happen. I have a collection of old cartridges, found, dug, purchased etc., some loaded during the civil war, some in the 1870's to 1900, a few from WWI, and all the way up to now, and they just sit there on the shelf and smile back at me.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

I find a lot of live ammo here, and if it's in good shape I either clean it up and keep it or give it to someone with a matching gun. any damaged stuff or misfires I pull the bullet, dump the powder, oil the primer and toss it in the scrap bucket. The only one I ever dug up that worried me at all was a live WW2 vintage 37mm anti tank round...but, it was still basically just a big bullet and the same handling rules apply. That one I carefully cleaned and sold to a local collector just because I was unsure about the legality of owning it.

My advice has always been if you're worried about having them around get rid of them, No sense keeping something around if it's going to be a headache. I used to just save the damaged ones and toss them into a nice deep channel up by Lake Borgne where the salt water would make quick work of them, but then I found a scrapyard that would take them as long as they were flattened. As for calling the law, well.... the only things I would do that for would be a new gun that could be stolen or used in a crime, or drugs (I found a little tin box full of crack once and I had no desire to even pick it up) or a body.... For one. it's a waste of their time to come out for a couple bullets, and for two I don't want anyone paying any more attention to me while I'm swinging in the park than is absolutely necessary....

 

[coinman123]

Obviously not into reloading...

First step after removing the bullet, either by bullet removing die or hammer, the cartridge is put through the de-capper and sizer die. If no cracks, good to reuse.

Lol, I have never shot a gun in my life, though I have all the ammo I need, I just need to wash off the dirt. I have tried to reload old crusty corroded through cartridges I have found, they are very brittle that with just the slightest touch they will practically crumble to dust, if you are looking to fire them than your procedure works, otherwise if you have a rare civil war cartridge leave it be, to not risk destroying it.

Coinman123,