How to dispose of bad ammo?

[CMOS]

My F-I-L just emailed me and said he has a brick of Federal .22 ammo that is junk. He's tried them in 3 rifles with the same results - about 50% of them are duds. He would like to just dispose of them and asked for my opinion on how to do so.

Is there an easy way to do so? I think he'd just like to bury them somewhere as he is on a 275 acre ranch.

Any suggestions? (He does not want to hassle with returning them to the store or Federal)

Thanks,
CMOS

[don't shoot it's me]

i wouldn't contaminate the ground with lead.....bring em to a disposal sight.....

[CMOS]

Their property is in the middle of nowhere. I don't think there is a "disposal site" anywhere near them...

CMOS

[AR-10]

Lead comes from.......the ground.

I would think you could soak them in water for a few days and then bury them, deep.

Do a search for "disposal". I know there's a thread around here somewhere from about four days ago.

[adept]

as was recommended to me by a NRA firearms safety instructor, buy a quart of oil, put half in your car, and the rest into a gallon milk container, out the ammo in there, it will ooze in and make the render the ammo useless.

this is from my understanding the best way to deal with ammo of this sort.


Adept

[CMOS]

Okay, then what to do with that half gallon with the shells inside? Just dispose of it as you would any used oil?

Thanks,
CMOS

[adept]

never got to that part...let me know when you find out *Grin*

[4thHorseman]

Simple enough. Take it in the police department. They will be happy to take care of it for you

[Mal H]

If they live in the middle of nowhere, chances are they have a well for water so burying isn't a good idea. All you need is a couple of years of some good old acid rain and the elemental lead will leach into the water table.

If they are reasonably new (5 years or less), I'd send them to Federal and get some better ones in exchange. If they're old or your FIL doesn't want to hassle with sending them, he can take them to almost any shooting club, whether he's a member or not. The clubs usually have a dud bucket he could put them in. Or better yet, ask the club people how they dispose of their duds. I've never asked before, but I might the next time I'm there - good question.

[don't shoot it's me]

AR....lead may come from the ground but it will still contaminate a welll in that form......

[Steel]

4th Horseman

CMOS might encounter gomer cops who would simply throw the ammo in the trash can.

[M1911]

Lead may well come from the ground, but it sure didn't come from the ground in that concentrated, purified form.

M1911

[CMOS]

Steel, that is precisely what the local "Barneys" would suggest!

CMOS

[Phil]

Since we're worried about a half brick contaminating ground water, can anybody point to a specific, documented instance where an outdoor range has caused groundwater contamination?

[MadScientist]

About lead poisoning. I did some research (admittedly on the web) that told how adult bodies can handle small amounts of lead without trouble. Your body is capable of flushing it out. Even if there are kids drinking out of that well, I doubt the quantity per time could ever reach anywhere near a dangerous level. (are all the above posts written in sarcasm?)

Other options:
Get two pair of pliers and pull all the bullets. Give the bullets to a black powder guy and make a small, fun incendiary device with the powder.

Combine the soaking idea with pulling and give the bullets to a black powder guy.

Put all the rounds in a soda can and throw it in a fire, then run behind a tree.

[C.R.Sam]

pull the bullets and give em to a caster. Pour the powder in your rose bed. Soak the empty cases to kill the priming and toss em in the trash.

Sam

[therealkaos]

on the subject of contamination, what would be the difference between shooting the rounds at the ground as in target shooting, and burying them?

how do we explain the fact that water is safe to drink in places like okinawa? that is a small island with a limited supply of fresh water and there must have been millions of rounds fired there in world war 2.

i honestly don't know the answers to these questions. i am hoping someone who does can explain it to me.

thank you
therealkaos

Set 'em on the train tracks.

[CMOS]

Or - make a nice big necklace out of them!

CMOS

[Wally]

In many places the local Police Depts are more than willing to take ammo off your hands that you don't want.

[Rottweiler]

There is no difference between buryubg them and shooting them into the ground,except one is more fin and the other involves a shovel. I posed the same question to a geology prof. who was veryvocal about being VERY anti range/shooting while I was in college he just mumbled something and changed the subject of the lecture.

[M1911]

therealkaos:

Whether or not lead goes into solution and becomes mobile depends upon a lot over site-specific things: hydrology, soil-chemistry, groundwater chemistry.

The NSSF has several monographs on the subject http://www.nssf.org

M1911

[VAdoublegunner]

The correct answer is to contact your state environmental agency for guidance. There are often local household hazardous waste collection programs that will take the ammo and have it properly disposed of by a RCRA hazardous waste disposal facility for free. RCRA is the federal law that regulates disposal of hazardous waste; however, in most states household waste is exempted. It is possible and may be legal, barring prohibition by state regulation (like Calif.), to dispose of it on your own land by burial. To stabilize lead migration, add a large amount of lime and trisodium polyphosphate (this is a detergent - TSP). That's the method EPA uses to stabilize lead at military firing range cleanups. In large scale, small arms ammo is often 'cooked off' or detonated prior to disposal to minimize any chance of mass detonation, but this usually is regulated material managed under the Military Munitions Rule, not household. Oil will deactivate the lead styphnate priming, but will cause more water problems than the lead. The lead bullets will form an insoluble lead oxide coating and complex with the phosphate if the lime/TSP is used and it will be stable for many decades.

[rugercollector]

lead as in 50/50 solder was used in soldering pipe joints until 20 years ago or so. Lead is also used in soldering connections on faucets until about 5 years ago. Lead forms an oxidized coating which limits lead entering the water supply. If you dropped a 5 pound lead weight down your well your lead readings would probably not even go up since the surface would not leach and large amount into the water. Drop a bullet into your next water test and leave it there for a few days then take it to your Culligan man or extension agent for a free test and check the results. Lead toxicity in water is negligible really. Powdered lead from flaking old paint etc. is way worse. I would fire all the bullets then soak the duds maybe in vinegar as that will eat the brass and start breaking it down. If you buried them I would think they would completely break down within 20 years or so especially in a wet environment.

[Ben]

Send them back to Federal with an explanation that 50% are duds... maybe they'll swap it out for some good stuff. If they won't swap, at least they'll know how to dispose of it.

Ben