What to do with "bad" ammo how to dispose of live or defective ammunition

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Half-Cocked

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I have an interesting question. What do you do with bad ammo?

I have 2 rounds of 30.06 that did not go off. I tried several times on different days at the range with no luck. One from Remington one Winchester. Primer was hit hard on both.

Anyway I assume this not something you just throw in the garbage. Does anyone know for sure? State police maybe? I'm fairly certain they take them.
 
I'd take it fishing with me. Or use a pliers to twist the bullet out and discard everything separately. Even if the shell did not go off, one should probably assume that the priming is still viable so perhaps give the empty shell a bath.
 
I like the pliers idea, twist the bullet out, dump powder in lawn.

If you want to do more, some oil inside the case will render the already bad primer inert. I wouldn’t be calling the police or a haz-mat crew.

I’m a reloader, if wanting to take a few minutes, I’d pull the bullet, dump the powder & reuse the case.
 
Bullet in a vise and pliers on the rim end of the brass. Shouldn't come out to hard. Or if you know of a reloader they probably have a bullet puller.
 
Don't destroy defective ammo. Either give it to someone who will use the components themselves or pull them down. You could get an inexpensive kinetic bullet puller to harvest the good components like the brass, bullet and powder. A Lee Loader is cheap and would let you replace the defective primer, if you had new primers.

With today's climate, ammo may never be cheap or in good supply ever again.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I have never reloaded but if the bullet is fairly easy to remove from the case I might go that route.

This is the kind of pita they never tell responsible gun owners about. Not a huge deal but I've had these two rounds for a couple of months and it seems kind of silly.

Honestly my fear was now that the primer's been strike that it would just go off at some point. It's probably a silly fear but I don't know much about cartridges.
 
use a pliers to twist the bullet out
Fellas, I respectfully disagree with removing the bullet with a pliers, or any version there of. Those primers could be 1/1000,000 of an inch from detonating and personally I wouldn't even want to handle the things. Get them out of the house and buried in the back yard.
 
I found this on the web it suggests local law enforcement or
shooting range.
https://www.ammunitiontogo.com/lodge/how-to-dispose-of-ammunition/
After the holidays I may contact MSP or local PD it's only 2 rounds but they are garbage to me and I don't want to babysit.

Burial was suggested by a buddy of mine but the I thought I would not want to find something like that if I dug in my yard. Then the deep dive in a pond idea seemed appealing but again something says improper disposal in my mind.

I know I'm being overly cautious and the average Joe would probably just bury it. I've never had factory ammunition not work and I was a little bit curious as to what the proper channel was for disposal because it doesn't seem to be covered in any of the handgun safety or hunter safety or any other safety classes.
 
A dud round is not dangerous, unless it happens to be something like a military spotting round which the bullet contains a small explosive charge that explodes upon impact. A cartridge needs containment ( barrel & breech ) to build up dangerous pressures, when it is fired. No containment means no dangerous pressures. After a minute or two, the failed primer is not going to self ignite.

A kinetic bullet puller is perfectly safe for everything but the military spotting rounds I mentioned before. Wear hearing protection, gloves and eye protection if worried about it. Cartridges are not miniature bombs...
 
A dud round is not dangerous, unless it happens to be something like a military spotting round which the bullet contains a small explosive charge that explodes upon impact. A cartridge needs containment ( barrel & breech ) to build up dangerous pressures, when it is fired. No containment means no dangerous pressures. After a minute or two, the failed primer is not going to self ignite.

A kinetic bullet puller is perfectly safe for everything but the military spotting rounds I mentioned before. Wear hearing protection, gloves and eye protection if worried about it. Cartridges are not miniature bombs...

Is this with the assumption that the chemical primer has successfully been discharged, heated up and the powder was not ignited?

Do center fire chemical primers go pop like a no 11 cap? If so, I didn't hear a sound from the cartridge when I attempted to fire it. Meaning the primer maybe live?
 
If you have a normal firing pin strike mark on the primer and the round didn't fire, you can assume with almost 100% certainty that the primer failed, ie did not fire.

Primers have enough energy to lodge the bullet into the bore, without using the energy from the propellant powder charge.

A primer is quite loud when they fire. I believe they contain a larger charge then a cap, even a small pistol primer.

It's impossible to know if the primer will fire if struck again. If the firing pin is off center, you can try rechambering the round to see if it will fire. I wouldn't waste my time after a 2nd attempt. I'd pull the components. How old is the ammo?
 
If you have a normal firing pin strike mark on the primer and the round didn't fire, you can assume with almost 100% certainty that the primer failed, ie did not fire.

Primers have enough energy to lodge the bullet into the bore, without using the energy from the propellant powder charge.

A primer is quite loud when they fire. I believe they contain a larger charge then a cap, even a small pistol primer.

It's impossible to know if the primer will fire if struck again. If the firing pin is off center, you can try rechambering the round to see if it will fire. I wouldn't waste my time after a 2nd attempt. I'd pull the components. How old is the ammo?

I just purchased it a few weeks before going to the range with it. I tried re chambering the cartridges several times with no luck. I doubt The primers were activated because there was no sound only the sound of a dry fire. Must be 2 bad primers as they were hit fairly hard. They look similar to the spent shells primers a good hit.
 
You may also want to try and send pictures of the bottom of both cases with the indented primers along with a picture of the box and any printed info on the tabs of the boxes and email them to the manufacturer. Who knows they may send you another box or two of ammo or coupon to buy more?
 
2 fail to fire .30-06 Shells? That’s an odd deal for sure, I have been Shooting Centerfires for over 40 Years (Rifle/Pistol/Revolver) Along with Reloading my own Centerfire ammo for well over 30 Years. I have shot no telling how many Thousands of Centerfire rounds in all of those years? LOTS of em! I have yet to have a Centerfire Shell Not go off. I have had numerous Rimfire shells fail to go off, But never a Centerfire.

I would be looking at your new Rifle, Like a weak firing pin Spring

In the reloading world we use these to take apart ammo, Called a Kinetic Bullet puller, There is a Collet that goes over the Shell, up to the Case head, Then tighten the Ring, Lastly you Smack a Solid Surface like Swinging a Hammer, the Bullet exits the Case, From the Weight of the Bullet (Through kinetic energy)

oJpkmCX.jpg
 
Actually, conservation of momentum is why the bullet exits; why one wants to use a seat belt. Also explains recoil.

I just know they call them KINETIC Bullet Pullers

In physics, the kinetic energy (KE) of an object is the energy that it possesses due to its motion. It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity. Having gained this energy during its acceleration, the body maintains this kinetic energy unless its speed changes.
 
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2 fail to fire .30-06 Shells? That’s an odd deal for sure, I have been Shooting Centerfires for over 40 Years (Rifle/Pistol/Revolver) Along with Reloading my own Centerfire ammo for well over 30 Years. I have shot no telling how many Thousands of Centerfire rounds in all of those years? LOTS of em! I have yet to have a Centerfire Shell Not go off.

These two have been the first cartridges not to go off for me.

you want to hear something funny? One of the misfires is the very first bullet I tried in the rifle.

The second failure to fire came from a box of Federal Weeks later.

Everything since then it's been performing well.

If they ever come back in stock I want to get one of those Lee 30-06 hand loaders and at that time I may purchase a kinetic hammer.
 
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