Old Shotgun Shells: Dispose or Shoot?

B

baddarryl

New member
2 Questions:

Is there any reason not to shoot old (35 year +) shells?

Also, I recovered some buck shot from my dad's that are marked 'Bad Shells". Now that he is gone I have no idea what that meant. How do you properly dispose of them?
 
I guess you could take them apart and dispose of the components separately, but I would try them in my shotgun unless they had obvious bulges or corrosion.

David
 
I'd be cautious since they were labeled "bad shells". Did your dad reload? If so there is a possibility that he knew or suspected they were overcharged (too much powder, & he intended to take them apart) - wouldn't want to fire those!

If they are factory loads, I'd give them a try; more likely they're duds due to getting wet or some other storage issue.
 
Since your dad marked them as "bad"..... I'd cut them up / dump out the components ....and toss them out.

Why risk it ??
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but age on a factory shell, that has been stored in a dry environment - without huge extremes in temperature variation ....should not inherently be bad after 35 yrs.../ I have old bird "hunting" loads in my safe - some that are 40 or 50 yrs old ...and there is nothing wrong with them ( just shells I don't need anymore - or at least not very often )....
 
I would take your Dad's word for it. If he says they are bad, then they are "BAD".

Why try to save a few bucks worth questionable shells by shooting them in your $2000.00 shotgun?
 
Cut them and save the lead !!!

Cut them down, recycle the lead (cast bullets) and throw the powder on the lawn.
Click to expand...
In the long run, this is what I think you will choose to do with them. ..... ;)

Now, you can try to shoot them as some of us have done in the past and my experience turned out to be a waste of time, even though it did put a smile on my face. .... :)

If they are the old paper hulls, I have sold "some" to collectors and that is hit and miss. .... ;)

Be Safe !!!
 
I'd shoot the ones not marked "bad"; I have reloads that old that are still good; the ones marked bad, take a PVC pipe cutter and salvage the components.
 
If they're old enough to be paper hulls, you might want to see if some cartridge collector wants them? Like others have pointed out, ones marked "bad" should certainly be broken down and useful components [lead] recycled, w/ the powder being used as fertilizer on the lawn or flowers.
 
I have shotgun shells I reloaded in the mid-1970's. I shoot a few every once in a while, and have not had a dud yet. That makes them about forty or better years old. There are a few paper shells in them there boxes too. I suspect some of the old boxes are collectibles except I have plastered them with label Id'ing the loads in the boxes.

They have spent their life in a controlled environment meaning a cool dry indoors.
 
just cut them open and toss the components, I am assuming your not reloading since your asking about disposal. keep the powder for campfires. the one that are not marked bad....I would personally shoot them, others would be more cautious
 
35 years ago was 1980. If they are factory shells (not reloads) and not obviously damaged/corroded, they should be fine. That is really only a little time in the life of a properly loaded round.

If there is any possibility they might be handloads, dispose, do NOT shoot.
Even if the componets are marked on the box, trash them, one simply does not, and cannot know if the info is correct, and one moron 35+ years ago can ruin a fine gun today, or maybe even you, if you take the risk of shooting them.
 
He probably trusts that his close family member was not a moron. If my dad loaded me ammo, I would have full faith in it, but listen and look like you would your own
 
we have alot of sink holes here and some are active and i have disposed of bad rifle shells(all parts of the shells are biodegradable) there, you should see the spring rain run off go down them, if you fell in i don,t think they would find your body. eastbank.
 
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Well we shot the factory loads with no problems at all today. I am getting rid of the 'bad shells' that were likely loaded by his kooky buddy years ago! Lol! Thanks everyone.
 
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