Old trashed 22s at the range

[bulet shotter]

Well I guess I am a brassaholic,but yesterday I was at the range picking up any and all brass that looked good. I found Quite a few 22LR that were not shot. Now get this,the shells were stomped into the ground,probably been there 2 to 3 years,the brass was stained so bad it was black.This stuff is outside in all the weather. I had quite a few so I took them home to disect ,might as well get the lead slugs . I broke them appart with my fingers. Took the lead and put it in my pot for some further bullet making. Then it gave me a thought,I got out my Ruger Mark II and put the empty 22 case in. They all went off. Amazing,they all had a (pop) I just could not believe that a shell could last that long,in all that weather. I know of a friend that found some and put one in his rifle and stuck the bullet in the barrel. Anyway I was sure supprised to here a pop. Jerry

[mold maker]

I found lots with damp powder, that still had weak primers. I intended to use them for swaging 223 bullets I chambered and fired them to avoid surprises when de-riming.

[higgins]

I too pick up complete .22LR rounds when scavenging brass. If they've obviously been in the weather too long, I just pull the bullets and toss the brass and powder, which is usually damp. The rounds that have just been dropped, or have light firing pin strikes, I accumulate until I have about 100, and I shoot them in a gun that is already rough enough that recycled .22 is not going to hurt it. I've come to the conclusion that Remington Golden Bullet 22s are the most common dud rounds, even with multiple firing pin strikes, and that there are a lot of 22s that need to have the bolt cleaned to remove the crud from around the firing pin.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I just shot up all of the ones I picked up and it was a PITA half didn't go off and wouldn't go off after re chambering.

It was very frustrating but I managed to get rid of all of them. .22's are jsut too cheap to mess with the questionable stuff.

Maybe in a TEOTWAWKI situation. Otherwise lifes too short.

Randy

[Jim]

There was a guy at the range I was mining shooting one of the Ruger MK somethings. Somebody said he noticed all the unfired ammo on the ground and started picking it up and loading it in his magazine. Not too long went by and somebody heard bang, bang, bang, pop,...... He racked it, pulled the trigger and there was a really loud bang.

A few minutes later, he was asking other shooters why his slide was jambed open.

[WILCO]

I get all of my range rescue .22LR from the misfire cans. I sort it out into two groups: clean/not fired and pull downs.

[BruceB]

In the Bullseye competition circles i once inhabited, there was a VERY simple "rule".....

If a round of .22 rimfire ammunition hit the ground (or FLOOR) , it was considered junk, and discarded immediately.

This routine was based on the simple (and true) belief that target-quality barrels are a whole lot more expensive than a ,22 cartridge, and microscopic grit on a cartridge WILL scratch the bore surface of a steel barrel. A lubricated .22 rimfire round can easily pick up abrasive foreign material, and we might not see all of the tiny bits of garbage from the ground, or concrete, or whatever.

I've never seen a reason to discontinue this practice, and any .22 round that I drop is considered trash....even if it's a whole box that gets spilled.

To run UNKNOWN and probably contaminated ammo through my firearms would be the height of foolishness in my book, and I won't do it.

[Hardcast416taylor]

I have to agree with Bruce about using a .22 that hits the ground or floor. There is no "3 second pick up rule" as far as I`m concerned for using rounds that have met the ground.Robert

[higgins]

I think BruceB and Hardcast are correct about dropped .22s picking up microscopic grit. That's why I shoot them in the gun that I shoot them in, and not in a "nice" .22.