Old ammo

D

DoomMonky

Inactive
I inherited my S&W model 38 from my grandfather. It was his service revolver when he was a LEO. It's in great condition and fires very well.

For some reason, he kept an old milk carton full of ammo for his assortment of firearms. There is no telling how old these rounds are. (He died in Oct of 1999, and they were probably oldish then.) In it is about a box worth of ammo for my .38. None of the .38 rounds are corroded and they all seem to have a good seal. Some of the other rounds in the box have corrosion and are obviously unsafe. I'm a relatively inexperienced shooter so I've come to ask advice. In your estimation, do you think these .38 rounds would be safe to fire?
 
shoot'em

+1 Should be fine. Might want to keep some as a token of your grandfather but the rest - shoot them :)
 
While it might be safe to fire, you may want to post some pictures of the head stamps on them to figure out how old they are.

At some point around WWII a lot of ammo was corrosive, so a more detailed cleaning would be required if any of that is in your batch.
 
Old ammo dosen't bother me...as long as it is in good condition! I am currently working my way through a tin of 56 year old bulgarian 7.62x25.
 
If the brass is green and rough, dump 'em. If the brass is in good shape FIRE AWAY. I had the good fortune of finding around 800 rounds of .45 that I had reloaded. They were dated 1990. Had a lot of fun shooting those off a few weekends ago. :)
Enjoy!
Sarge
 
Old ammo can be quite collectable. Especially for the 38 special. I recently spent a lot of money to pick up nice pre-WWII 38/44 ammo for my 38 special to photograph.

Any of it have large primers? (pre-WWII then)
Any of it have 38-44 or 38/44 on them? Worth some bucks

List out what you have or email me. I know some ammo collectors.
 
All of you: Never keep any ammo over 2 years. I'll give you my address and you can ship it to me for proper disposal. ;)
Click to expand...
Okay, I completely agree. But I need to keep the brass... and I don't want to send live primers or powder either. So here's what I'll do: I'll send you the bullets. We can start with 10mm since you just got your new G29. I'll send you my Nosler 150 grain JHP's. I don't have a chrono, but I'm pretty sure they'll be arriving in the neighborhood of 1,350 feet per second.

Let me know when it's convenient! :eek: :D
(VERY MUCH kidding, of course, from one 10 guy to another! ;) )
 
Here's a question... exactly WHAT do you do with old "bad" ammo? Do you just put it in the trash? Wouldn't the compactor in a standard trash truck potentially set off dozens of rounds if you did this?
 
Reloaders (LIKE ME!) love to tear down old ammo. We take the bullet out of the brass, re-use the brass, maybe even re-use the bullets depending on the type/caliber of bullet that it is. The powder gets spread over grass or a garden where the nitrates are good for growth.

There is no other truly effective way to disable ammo other than to shoot it. Most attempts at soaking in oil or other liquids has proven erratic and/or futile.

Another avenue would be to visit a gun show and offer to GIVE it to the guy who sells old and collectible ammo. He might take it off your hands and do something with it. Some folks have suggested you take it to a local fire department, but I'm apprehensive about that one. Seems to me that the next thing you know, maybe they want to know how much ammo you have stockpiled...

It's classified as a true hazardous material for shipping, but must be noted ORM-D as small arms ammo, but it's possible (if expensive) to ship it to another shooter.

Put it this way... if anyone is reading this and is in Ohio, or anywhere near Ohio, I'd be happy to take it off your hands if I can find it in my schedule to pick it up. It's a lot of work to break down old ammo, but if it's something you enjoy doing, you simply spread out the work over time.
 
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