How to dispose of loaded cartridges

[nwellons]

Normally, I would pull the boolit but these are Nagant revolver cartridges that use a unique gas-check feature. The bullet is seated below the rim. Another obstacle is they are packed with black powder. So I don't want to drill, squish with pliers, etc. to remove the boolit. The boolits are too light to remove with an impact puller.

I have loaded a few hundred of these with only four bad/cartridges but I want to dispose of them safely. Alternately, would they be safe to shoot with the folds/dents?

[LUCKYDAWG13]

Soak in oil 24 hrs dig a hole gone

[Beagler]

Diesel/Kero. works and like previous mention dig hole

[RP]

Or you can do what my son did toss them in the trash so I would burn them. Well what really happened was some how a box of 762*39s got into the trash which I burn 20 pops later they were safe. I found a few cases in the yard but the rest stayed in the barrel.

[dverna]

You might try a tubing cutter.

Save the powder. Drive the bullet down past the neck and save the bullet. Pop the primers in the pistol and throw the pieces in the trash.

Don

[JIMinPHX]

I would think that you could use a tubing cutter on the area of the case where the boolit is, then remove the crimped-down front part of the brass, then use a kinetic boolit puller like you would on a normal cartridge.

I'm no expert on handling black powder, so please take that recommendation with a grain of salt.

[montana_charlie]

Cut 'em in half with a hacksaw. Keep what you want and burn the rest.
CM

[Bret4207]

If the cartridges in question are those pictured, I'd see if they'd chamber and shoot them. I had a wicked time with 30-30 cartridges, had a bad shell holder and didn't know it. Ended up with son "accordian necks", not real bad, but not real pretty either. I literally took a pair of slip joint pliers and "scrunched" the worst of it down. They were fired with no real loss in plinking accuracy and many of the cases were usable afterwords, some were lost. Mine were far worse than yours. Shoot them.

[troyboy]

Screw a self tapping screw into the boolit and pull. Save powder and soak primers in wd.

[peerlesscowboy]

When I was in Viet Nam one day we loaded up in the helicopter prob'ly at least 10,000 rounds of dirty ammo (mostly 5.56mm & 7.62 NATO) flew out over the south China sea and kicked it out the door, nobody wanted to bet their lives on dirty ammo & nobody had time to clean it.........besides, Uncle Sam was paying for it :Fire:

[jameslovesjammie]

I'm with the burn barrel idea.

I don't think the amount of powder is worth the time you would spend dinking around trying to retrieve it.

[cavalrymedic]

Hmm. Bret's advice is shoot them. That would be my instinct too. I really don't think a hack saw is a very good idea with black powder, then again, I have seen a demonstration of black powder that didn't ignite with a shower of electric sparks. Still, I like me too much to chance it.

[nwellons]

They chamber just fine. I thought about shooting them - with my arm around a tree so the only exposure would be my hand. The lead is soft and I wondered if it would just shoot out the bend in the case.

On the other hand, soaking and burying would be completely safe and I've got plenty of cases.

[nouseforaname1246]

I wouldn't risk blowing up a gun, I've seen the damage a bad reload can do and I want no part of that. but that's just me.

[Three44s]

I'd be careful about horsing around with black powder. A tubing cutter and stopping short and tweaking the case back and forth would make some sense. Pour the black out and the rest is elementary.

But if the bullet is no deeper seated into the casing ........ and they chamber .......... I would sure consider shooting them. The dented mouth will offer little resistance. If the slugs are deeper than they were intended to be loaded that would raise pressures and I would not shoot them then.

An impact puller would be a bad idea with black.

The fire pit would not be as exciting with smokeless powder but not so bright with black.

Black explodes without containment.

Black does not like rough handling.

Best regards

Three 44s

[Bulltipper]

I would put some protection on and shoot them. A lotta guys would soak 'em and bury 'em. A lotta guys might be smarter than I am...=)

[CLAYPOOL]

Throw into sewage lagoon in back yard

[bumpo628]

I think the idea about a tubing cutter going through the bullet section is a good one. If you just barely cut through, you should be able to pull the bullet out. Maybe you can mount your shell holder in a vise or use the press somehow to help pull the bullet.

[StrawHat]

As long as the casing is brass, cutting it with anything will not create any sparks. Sparks from iron or steel is what helps blackpowder go boom. As for the bruning barrel, TV and movies would have us believe the bullets come flying out and can cause damage. Testing proves that, once again, Hollywood is mistaken.

[Bret4207]

When I was in Viet Nam one day we loaded up in the helicopter prob'ly at least 10,000 rounds of dirty ammo (mostly 5.56mm & 7.62 NATO) flew out over the south China sea and kicked it out the door, nobody wanted to bet their lives on dirty ammo & nobody had time to clean it.........besides, Uncle Sam was paying for it :Fire:

Actually, the hard working tax payers back home were paying for it. I understand what you mean and it was a pittance, but we need to stop thinking like that.

[XWrench3]

Either take them to a metro police station, or find a swamp, and throw them as far as you can into it. The chances of any one ever finding them in a swamp are miniscule at best. And if someone does, by then they should be totally inert.

[peerlesscowboy]

Actually, the hard working tax payers back home were paying for it. I understand what you mean and it was a pittance, but we need to stop thinking like that.
When they load up your helicopter with dirty ammo and order you to go dump it in the south China sea.........you fly out over the south China sea and kick it out the door. "theirs not to ask the reason why". You want to see waste? The dump ground outside any large US military post overseas in these third world combat zones will have a local civilian population camped there living in makeshift shelters and living on what the US military throws away.

John C. Saubak

[montana_charlie]

As long as the casing is brass, cutting it with anything will not create any sparks. Sparks from iron or steel is what helps blackpowder go boom.
I see that you have a better understanding of black powder than most who have posted here.
CM

[garym1a2]

If you shoot them only put one round in the gun at a time and wear a glove. If you value your gun don't take the chance. I like the ideal of turning in them to your local police department.

[JIMinPHX]

I like the ideal of turning in them to your local police department.

I tried that once in Boston about 25 years ago. I had a box of wadcutters that would not feed in my gun & I just wanted to give them away to someone who could use them. I figured that if I gave them to the cops, then I wouldn't need to worry about them getting used for any evil purposes. When I offered them up to the guy at the desk, he wanted me to fill out all kinds of crazy paperwork. I just turned around & walked away. I chambered them individually & got rid of them that way. This was back in the days before I reloaded that caliber, back when I didn't need the brass for anything.

[bumpo628]

Years ago, before I reloaded I tried turning in some old ammo at the police dept. They wouldn't take it. They told me I had to turn it in at the nearest hazmat station (which was about 20-30 miles away). Needless to say I didn't bother. I just ended up keeping it in a drawer for years. Eventually, I used it one way or another.

[StrawHat]

I see that you have a better understanding of black powder than most who have posted here.
CM


Thank you.

Black powder is neither "holy" nor "evil". Merely powder, and if you take the time to understand it, it is actually a very useful powder.

[MikeS]

If you shoot them only put one round in the gun at a time and wear a glove. If you value your gun don't take the chance. I like the ideal of turning in them to your local police department.

The police dept. is the last place I would take anything! Down here in so FL if you took them to the PD they'd probably try and find some charge they could arrest you for! Unfortunately I trust the police down here as far as I can throw them, and that ain't far! Now when I lived in east TN I had a totally different outlook on the local police, most of them were really nice people, something I can't say about the police down here.

[adrians]

drill a hole in the telephone pole across the street ,put them in one at a time ,open your living room window, pull up your easy chair and shoot them with a 17hmr,when the neibours across the street are at church.(not really but it's a nice concept):evil::bigsmyl2::twisted:

[waksupi]

Throw them in a lake.

[Pepe Ray]

Parden my ignorance but,
Isn't that ammo for the revolver that moves the cylinder into a forward position to seal off the gasses? I'm inclined to believe that putting them into the cylinder successfully would not proove a good seal or fit would happen when the hammer fell.
I dunno.
I lean toward the pipe cutter as a solution.
Pepe Ray

[megafatcat]

I am sure that Atlanta has a hazardous waste disposal site. You can drop them off there.

[evan price]

Bury them. Just drop them nose down in the dirt somewhere and use your foot to push them in. Maybe kick a little loose turf around. Presto, gone forever.

Most shooting ranges have a squib bucket. Drop them in there.

[Tom W.]

Take them to a deep part of Lake Lanier.....let them find the bottom all by themselves....

[dakotashooter2]

Shoot them...................set on top of a post primer toward you... stand back appropriate distance ...shoot with .22.............

[DrNick]

Campfire?

[WARD O]

If you just can't bring yourself to contaminate good old mother earth by burying or throwing them into some deep water, then the range idea sounds the best to me. Use them as targets, if they don't pop when hit (unlikely) then at least you will have opened them up and can disassemble them if needed.

Or better yet, take them to a gun show and sell them...... (snicker, snicker, snicker)

Ward

[bumpo628]

Doesn't your range have a live ammo bucket?
If you don't want to cut them open, then I would put them in there.