question: what to do with fail to fire ammo?

womper

womper

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New glasgow, ns
I've been searching for a while and can't find an answer to this.
what's the most legal and responsible way to dispose of fail to fire ammo?
for centre or rimfire.
So far all I've been able to find is to take the bullet apart and dispose of it.

rimfire- take bullet out and now i'm left with 3 pieces. A hunk of lead, powder and a casing with primer in it.
centrefire- take bullet out, left with hunk of lead, powder and a casing with a primer in it.

I'm not a fan of throwing lead out. it's toxic.
Powder... get it wet and throw it out?
rimfire, get wet soak and throw it out?
centrefire, remove primer and what?

so confused. i've already had a few FTF with the rimfire... i'm certain to have FTFs with the centrefire. I just can't find any info on what to do with it.

sidenote... i live in an apartment and playing with live ammunition on the coffee table doesn't sound like a fun night (especially with a smoke hanging out of my mouth)

thanks in advance.
 
I am assuming these FTF's are out at a range? If so, ask the range officer if they have a bin for that type of thing. If out in the woods, you were shooting anyway so lead is going into the environment either way, 22lr is not water tight, left out it will quickly become non-functional. For center fire use a kinetic bullet puller and separate the components. If however you are shooting in your apartment, well, I can't help you there. :)
 
Ranges should have bins for proper disposal, or if you're feeling adventurous you could pull the bullets out, dump the powder. I hope you're not getting enough FTFs to have a substantial amount on hand, but for centerfire people who reload will likely be willing to use the bullet and brass. Maybe you could even get back a few bucks of the ammo's price.

Whenever I go to the range there's always some hunter/rich guy who's shooting something like .300WinMag and just abandoning the cases. I don't have anything in that caliber, and don't really ever plan to, but I snagged a few because they aren't cheap. Maybe I'll clean them up and pop out the primers over the winter and trade them off to someone.

As mentioned, contaminating the powder and primer with oil can render it inert however it's worth keeping in mind that many powders and primers have various coatings or treatments to make them resistant to it. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.
 
I have been told that you can turn it over to the local police department for proper disposal, I have not tried that as I only shoot at the range and they have disposal tubes. I would call local police and ask.
 
Failure to fire is not uncommon with rimfire ammo, less so with centerfire cartridges, but certainly not unheard of. Don't over think the disposal of the components. Just dump the powder on the grass, it will help it grow. Lead is a naturally occurring element, put if back from whence it came. I doubt that a single lead bullet will make the landfill any worse than it already is. Besides, where would it have ended up once it emerged from the muzzle of your rifle? A drop of oil on the primer, rimfire or centerfire, will quickly render it inert. The brass rimfire case can be saved if you ever intend to try your hand at swagging your own jacketed bullets. Keep the centerfire brass case for future reloading.
 
Lakota said:
I have been told that you can turn it over to the local police department for proper disposal, I have not tried that as I only shoot at the range and they have disposal tubes. I would call local police and ask.
Click to expand...

Don't do that. Just dispose of unwanted components yourself. Its not toxic wast, just use your head and dispose of the components in a safe manner. Dump powder on the lawn, put a drop of oil on the primer to render it inert, and once its inert, it and the remaining components goes in the household garbage.
 
If you're going to pull ammunition apart, or reload, or handle propellant powder, don't smoke while you're doing it - That SHOULD be obvious.
 
Boomer said:
Failure to fire is not uncommon with rimfire ammo, less so with centerfire cartridges, but certainly not unheard of. Don't over think the disposal of the components. Just dump the powder on the grass, it will help it grow. Lead is a naturally occurring element, put if back from whence it came. I doubt that a single lead bullet will make the landfill any worse than it already is. Besides, where would it have ended up once it emerged from the muzzle of your rifle? A drop of oil on the primer, rimfire or centerfire, will quickly render it inert. The brass rimfire case can be saved if you ever intend to try your hand at swagging your own jacketed bullets. Keep the centerfire brass case for future reloading.
Click to expand...

Just learned something new. And its only 830.
 
You can turn it into any police station but the one guy I know who did that once ended up getting grilled for information. Said it felt like an interrogation. No way in hell I'd go that route.

Rimfire, I toss it in the gravel. There are countless thousands of 22lr cases and more than a few live rounds mixed in with the gravel at the range I go to. Rimfire aren't generally sealed/waterproof so once they get damp they're toast. I can only remember having a few 22lr rounds that wouldn't fire even after multiple strikes in the past couple years. Almost all the time I load them again and they go off.
Centrefire I bring home and pull the bullets for reloading. I have a jar of mixed/unknown powder I usually burn on Canada day. Cases I just toss in the garbage since they are always steel cased surplus. Never had a brass cased round not fire (on rare occasions it takes 2-3 strikes before they do). I'm sure I will one day and I'll probably (carefully) deprime the live primer and reuse the brass.

My range has buckets for range brass and any live rounds you don't want. Since I reload I prefer to pull the bullets. 123-125gr .310" bullets from 7.62x39 get loaded as light plinking rounds for one of my .303B rifles. I have a whole bunch of 147gr .310" bullets now as I got a bad can of Chinese 7.62x54R with a lot of duds. Bullets are pulled and reloaded in my 303's as they both have relatively tight bores.
 
22 ammo suffers from "going stale" - take that same round, rotate it so that the firing pin hits in a different position, and i'll bet she'll fire- or try a gun WITH A HAMMER- some of these striker fired don't have enough uumph to fire a round consistently- as for center fire , get yourself a kinetic or collet bullet puller ,pull the bullet, empty the powder, ( save it if you know what it is and it's not wet or deteriorated) and PRESS THE PRIMER OUT- IT WON'T GO BANG unless you hit it with a sharp blow on the cup side anyway- basically, if it's a ftf) you can remanufacture the whole round unless the primer has been struck- too light, then just replace the primer
 
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