A personal irritation.

[briandg]

Maybe I'm the only one, but it makes me seriously angry when I find live rounds scattered around my range found over a dozen today. I pick them up, carry them home, and dump them in a box in a corner of the basement. I took a few pounds to a waste facility a few years ago, and I already have to go again.

It's not safe having rimfire laying around, and if the brush there should burn, there are going to be hundreds of round that were lost or tossed off of the side.

Would a mower or other equipment touch off a rimfire? Of course it would.

 

[g.willikers]

Sounds like an excellent excuse to get some new guns to shoot that stuff up.
Of course, you could just pull the bullets, empty the powder and discharge the primers, but where's the fun in that.

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

If you want to contribute there is no need to be rude. One can post info without such. Posts deleted.

 

[ms6852]

I find it annoying myself. I've never understood how anyone would not account for their ammo. On the rim fire stuff I usually pick it up and wipe them with a rag and shoot it off. Sometimes it is just a question of striking the primer in a different location. On those that will not fire if they are lead rounds I usually collect them and melt them to cast bullets.

 

[DLam]

I agree that leaving live ammo on the ground is irresponsible. That being said, the danger of an open air round discharge, while not insignificant, will not have ricocheting projectiles flying willy nilly all over the place. The movie scenes where the 9mm ammo is put in a pan on the stove allowing them to discharge with bullets flying hither to fro as a distraction is a gross exaggeration. While the cartridge may well discharge, the projectile would just pop loose from the casing, as there is no confining area (barrel) to build significant pressures to hurl the bullet any significant distance.

 

[Mike Irwin]

In a fire or accidental discharge of an uncontained round, the biggest problem isn't the bullet, it is, in centerfire ammunition, the primer cup.

It is light and loses velocity very quickly, but it can develop significant velocity and can cause considerable damage to someone who is near.

Years ago when I was on staff at NRA we had a letter from a guy who was heating a case with a torch (why I can't remember).

He had pulled the bullet and the powder, but didn't think to pull the primer. It went off, the primer cup shot out and got between two ribs and buried itself in his lung.

A primer cup has more than enough velocity and weight to take out an eye.

 

[briandg]

You guys all seem to get it. There isn't a lethal risk, but yes, a mower will detonate rimfire. Brass from any round, when fired outside of a chamber, splits at the bec in my experience. The Lr round that fired on me years ago ripped open my knuckle. Lost ammo in any situation presents a small risk, especially for the more careless individuals.

The thing is, it's pointless. Round fails to fire? Drop it into the pocket, dump it into the trash barrel. Why leave it there, or worse, pick the stupid thing up and toss it into the grass?

Firearms ownership should be all about responsibility, and I find it to be needlessly irresponsible to leave live rounds on the gravel or grass.

I always figured that when the apocalypse came, I could sell that box of salvaged ammo for a case of scotch, but age and wisdom derailed those hopes. Trust me, I'd never pick up a stray round and use it. God knows what would happen. Did the guy seal his bullets with super glue? Maybe those rounds were his +++p rounds that scattered everywhere when his gun vaporized, and the emts didn't clean them up.

 

[SaxonPig]

If a 22 round is detonated outside the chamber not much happens. It goes "FFFFTT!" and the case squirts a few feet (being lighter than the bullet). Not much more effect from a center fire cartridge. When not confined in the chamber, very little force is available from a small charge of smokeless powder.

 

[kilimanjaro]

Our local range has a few old ammo cans with slots cut into them, nailed onto the uprights along the range. Your dud ammo goes in the cans.

Only an idiot would pick up a loose round found at the range and shoot it. That could be the hottest load ever made and left there by some nutjob to maim or kill whoever fires it. You wouldn't let your kids drink the open soda you found on the park bench, why would you do the same thing at the range?

Pull the bullets and salvage the lead. Dump the powder in the garden. Fire the primers, and save the brass.

 

[hartcreek]

I just got an infraction on this post so I will word this one better. Those of you that think a bit of unfired ammunition sitting around on the range is a major problem need to watch the link that I have included for at least the third time.

I have seen ammunition placed in fire pits on National Forest land so check the fire pit before you build your fire.

If someone puts a round in a vise and heats it with a torch then something bad is going to happen. The same if they pinch a rimfire with pliers or bite on one or use a rimfire to replace a fuse in their vehicle.

A friend of mines father died in a fire because the firefighters were so stupid and scared of broaching ammunition that they let him burn to death laying just inside the main door of the house on a couch.

Here is the link.....yet again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SlOXowwC4c

 

[A pause for the COZ]

I remember as a kids. Some kids in the area were hitting 22's with a hammer to make them go off.
They got off quite a few and no one got hurt. Well that is until my mother got over there and grabbed them by the scruff and drug them home for a butt whoopin. In those day mothers could grab other peoples kids and smack their behinds.Then take them home for another round from their own mothers.

 

[K_Mac]

hartcreek I had not seen the video. Thanks for reposting it. It's pretty clear that it is not as easy to set off ammo or as dangerous as most think outside of a firearm.

I also agree that leaving unfired ammo laying around is a bad idea. It may not be particularly dangerous, but it is bad etiquette at best. I can think of no good reason for it unless it is from clearing a failure during competition or training. Even then retrieving it after should be done if possible.

 

[briandg]

I guess that I should stop complaining about people leaving harmless immunity laying around and gripe about people who leave shotgun hulls on the ground, empty boxes on the table, and old targets up.

I am a member of a private range. The guy own s it, built it, maintains and cleans it. It's right next to his home, his kids and dogs are there. This isnt shooting rats at the dump, this guy invited me and I am a guest on his property.

It still will come down to what a person should and shouldn't do.

 

[flashhole]

hartcreek, thanks for posting the link. Lots of ammo destroyed in that video. Would have been nice if they had tested containers of powder too. Maybe that is a different video.

 

[Branko]

I never saw someone just dumping live ammo around here, that's just negligent. Hell, people pick up the brass also. That's just good manners.

 

[shafter]

It's extremely low on my list of things to worry about at the range. I'm far more worried about being shot by mistake. Most of what I see is crushed into the dirt or buried in the sand.

 

[5thShock]

Shooters are, by nature, pigs. Those of you lucky enough to live where one can still find a wild place to shoot know this. At least in a formal range the damage is contained and, despite the OP complaint, harmless.

 

[flashhole]

"Shooters are, by nature, pigs."

Clearly, you did not write the book How to Win Friends and Influence People.

 

[johnwilliamson062]

I've knowingly left live rounds on the range. People really seem to dislike it when I call a cease-fire and spend 15 minutes looking for the round that went in front of the line while I was shooting. It isn't like I don't look for it when there is a cease-fire, but I'm not going to shut down the range for 15 minutes while I comb through the grass with my fingers.

 

[Llama Bob]

Mike Irwin has the correct answer. The BULLET from a round that discharges outside a barrel is pretty much harmless, but for centerfire ammo the PRIMER is slightly dangerous for a very short distance.

In general ammo without guns is not particularly dangerous and the perception that it is can be harmful because it motivates totally unnecessary legislation and fire codes about ammo storage.