Last weekend a buddy of mine gave me 4 large boxes of miscellaneous gun stuff left behind in one of his parents rental properties. I got a lot of good stuff including 12 30 round P Mags, 8 Bulgarian waffle mags, 22 Chinese AK mags, 2 Glock mags, the list goes on and on and includes some ammo. Some of the Wolf 762X39 and Winchester bulk .22 had a bit of corrosion from getting wet so I decided to get rid of it.

I’ve noticed that they use buckets of water for disposal of live rounds at the ranges, so I put the damaged rounds in a container of water for 7 days. To my surprise 99% of both the Wolf and Winchester rounds had dry powder when I pulled the bullets out today. Here I was worried about humidity and this cheep ammo held up well under water for a week. While I would not fire it in my guns I have no reason to think it would not fire.

Question: Other than sending it to Blast, what is the best way to dispose of suspect ammo?

I've been through this myself... take it to whatever range you frequent and put them in the dud bin. Here in a Ohio, the sheriff will send a deputy to pick up any ammo you want to get rid of, no questions asked. Beyond that you can pull the bullets, dump the powder down the drain and soak the primers in WD40 which will render them useless - then throw the remains away in the trash. The EPA considers household waste to be non hazardous waste. Then again your state or city may have different rules but it is not illegal to dispose of lead bullets in your trash according to the EPA.

Interesting water test. Thanks for sharing the results.

smokeless powder makes excellent fertilizer for roses and lawn.

Many years ago when my siblings and I went through my parents' belongings we stumbled upon several LARGE caliber machine gun bullets from WW2. We (carefully) brought them to the local police department for disposal.

There's a reason why you can buy 60 year old surplus ammo and it still works ...



If you don't want it, take it to your local PD and let them handle it. Probably best to call ahead first!

Just the other day a woman pulled up to a local fire station, put kind of a weird box or container on the ground, waved at some firemen and drove away. They thought it was suspicious, called the Bomb Squad, and of course it was just some memento's a fire station might enjoy and a thank you card for their service.

If she'd just freaking said, "Hello, hope you enjoy these gifts..." it could have been avoided.

So, yeah I +1 MDinana on giving 1st Responders a heads up or face to face before dropping anything off.

Leave them at a local range. A handloader will grab them, pull the bullet and reload them. Or trade them to someone that will.

Ammo is less hazardous than strike anywhere matches, but the "Oh the Noes!" fear some folks have over ammo is quite silly.

I'd pull the bullets. Collect the powder in a container. I'd first try selling the bullets and brass on a local online want ads (we have a very good one here) or take them to a metal recycler. The powder, I'd dump on my driveway and touch a match to (it does not explode, it burns, and is kind of fun to watch) and if you are not comfortable with that, sprinkle it around the yard as fertilizer.

"If she'd just freaking said, "Hello, hope you enjoy these gifts..." it could have been avoided."

But that's exactly what a terrorist would do!