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Old February 19, 2007, 01:35 AM   #1
johnm1
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Destroying Old Ammo

I have been gathering (finding in old boxes) my old reloading gear from 20 years ago and came across 20 or so rounds of old handloads. They are for guns/calbers I no longer own and are low power range loads.

What is the best way to dis-arm them prior to discarding them?

I seem to remember that they should be soaked in some type of oil for 24 hours. I could be dead wrong. I don't own a bullet puller and really never had a use for one even when I reloaded. Much like my eyes, my memory is as old as I am and doesn't work as well as it used to.

John M.
Mesa, AZ
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Old February 19, 2007, 01:59 AM   #2
Bill DeShivs
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Pull the bullets with a pair of pliers. It doesn't matter if you ruin the case. Spray WD 40 into the case on the primer.
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Old February 19, 2007, 02:04 AM   #3
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Thanks Bill.
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Old February 19, 2007, 05:50 AM   #4
Castaway
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Years ago, the NRA did a piece obout destroying primers. Surprisingly, WD 40 was not effective. It stopped firing for a while, but after a period of time, primers could be fired again.
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Old February 19, 2007, 05:55 AM   #5
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Years ago I saw several posts of people testing WD-40 and primers for deactivation. They said the primers still fired. SOOOOOOOO I tried the experiment myself. After a week in WD-40, the primers went bang anyway.

Pull the bullets, sprinkle the power on lawn or garden, toss the bullets and cases, have a great day.
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Old February 19, 2007, 06:10 AM   #6
Dogjaw
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Timing is everything

I was just thinking of how much work I was going to go through after someone "did me a favor" and gave me a bunch of old ammo. Some are 30 carbine, some are reloads, etc. About 200 rounds total. I'm going to take your suggestion, and go a faster route, in using a pair of diagonal wire cutters (dikes) and cut the shell in 2 rather than pullling bullets.
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Old February 19, 2007, 08:36 PM   #7
L_Killkenny
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I've always taken and soaked all my "discards" in water for a day or 2.

LK
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Old February 19, 2007, 08:40 PM   #8
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I'm with Shoney. Pull the bullets, spread out the powder & go on.
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Old February 19, 2007, 10:09 PM   #9
Don H
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Quote:
I've always taken and soaked all my "discards" in water for a day or 2.
Did it work?
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Old February 19, 2007, 11:13 PM   #10
johnm1
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I'm going to pull the bullets. I'll use the pliers for this round, but probably should have a bullet puller anyhow. When I reloaded I always threw out my mistakes. Made for odd numbered sets of brass though.

John M.
Mesa, AZ
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Old February 20, 2007, 09:53 PM   #11
rnovi
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I cheat.

I take my bad loads and toss them in my Indoor Range's "dead ammo" tub. The reloaded ammo supplier disposes of them quite happily for me.
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