Anybody Here Throw Ammo To the Gods? Sacrilege at the Range

[.308 Norma]

I wouldn't shoot found ammo any more than I would eat a sandwich somebody left on a park bench.

Fixed it for you - I think.
Regardless, I agree with you.

 

[Remington1911]

Doesn’t happen at my house, aka the range.

I recently crawled my sons butt for tossing 22lr “duds” on the ground. Okay, it’s not a dud until it has 2 strikes on the rim and has not fired and then it doesn’t go on the ground, I do cut the grass.

Should be no biggie. If your "yard" is large enough for a home range you likely are using something besides a push mower.

Mine has a small "creek" running right down the middle, the bum 22 rounds get tossed in the water, I am sure mud and mother nature kill them in no time.

 

[Remington1911]

At my old range I would see complete cartridges on the floor beyond the firing line. Probably from people dropping or ejecting them. Any complete rounds that I found within the safe areas I turned into the range staff.
I would never fire “found” ammo even if it looks like factory ammo.
Years ago I had 2 acquaintances (not friends) that would actually load hot ammo and leave a couple of rounds at the range because they thought it was funny. I didn’t We had words. I wouldn’t shoot with them after learning this.

They must have read one too many SOG Vietnam books.

 

[gobsauce]

The first time I took my friend to the Rod and Gun Club in Fort Bliss, we found a bunch of random ammo. Some green top 5.56, hollow point 7.62x39, a weird blue .40 S&W.

It's now standard practice for us to look for loose ammo, mostly because I have a jar I toss them in. When it gets full, I use and empty CCI .22 box, throw enough ammo to fill it up, then fill it with clear resin. It's a cool gift for gun people.

 

[citizenconn]

I find a few on the range most every trip. Most seem to have light primer strikes.

 

[CDW4ME]

They are dropping 9mm / 40 / 45 so that people shooting 25 & 32 acp can see what they could have.

 

[.308 Norma]

deleted

 

[Southern Rebel]

I wouldn't shoot found ammo any more than I would a sandwich somebody left on a park bench.

John Russell:
You even been hungry, lady? Not just ready for supper. Hungry enough so that your belly swells?

Audra Favor:
I wouldn't care how hungry I got. I know I wouldn't eat one of those camp dogs.

John Russell:
You'd eat it. You'd fight for the bones, too.

 

[aarondhgraham]

I would never shoot any ammo I find on the ground at a range.

Too many whack jobs out there,,,
Who knows if it is a round loaded Ultra-Hot,,,
And left there on purpose so you will blow up a gun and injure yourself.

Call me overly paranoid if you so desire,,,
But I've heard stories about just this thing all my shooting life.

But even if the stories I've heard are just urban legends,,,
I'm still not going to take a chance just for one free trigger pull.

My range has an oil filled bucket,,,
Any ammo I (we) find on the ground or a bench goes in it.

Even .22 LR.

Aarond

.

 

[buck460XVR]

I wouldn't shoot found ammo any more than I would eat a sandwich somebody left on a park bench.

....same here.

John Russell:
You even been hungry, lady? Not just ready for supper. Hungry enough so that your belly swells?

Audra Favor:
I wouldn't care how hungry I got. I know I wouldn't eat one of those camp dogs.

John Russell:
You'd eat it. You'd fight for the bones, too.

....and I ain't never been that hungry either. Yet. Just as I haven't been that desperate yet either to shoot random ammo found on the ground at a public range. Now I do pick it up, break it down and save the brass.

 

[DeepSouth]

Should be no biggie. If your "yard" is large enough for a home range you likely are using something besides a push mower.

Mine has a small "creek" running right down the middle, the bum 22 rounds get tossed in the water, I am sure mud and mother nature kill them in no time.

I’m more worried about the windows, stupid mower has cost me more than one over the years.

 

[DustyGmt]

If others haven't already said so, I would bet that it's people who aren't very experienced with firearms. Maybe they've chambered a round, fired it, then racked the slide again having one fall out and "derp, oh that's what semi auto means"......

Of course it could just be general carelessness, people dumping their ammo out onto the beach when loading mags, etc... but I bet I've heard at least a couple dozen times at ranges and personally showing somebody about firearms and they say, "so once I pull the trigger all I have to do is pull the slide back and it will shoot again" like "nope, you don't even have to do that, it's a semi auto, all you have to do is rack a round and it will fire til the mag is empty".

It wouldn't surprise me at all if people completely inexperienced with firearms go to the range to figure it all out, laod a mag, shoot a round and rack the slide leaving a smorgasbord of different cartridge types littered on the grounds....

imagine the average person who familiarizes themselves with their firearm for the first time knows about as much about firearms as the average politician making policy on them. That's where you're littered cartridges are probably coming from

 

[KY DAN]

Well you may not want to hear this......

I always have envisioned some unempatical person taking 223 cases and filling them with bullseye and leaving the ammo in a box of 20 rounds of factory ammo on a table for someone to take and use.

pop,pop,pop,pop,pop,BOOM

 

[JR24]

I’ll admit to having on rare occasion cleared a malfunction and not been able to find the live round afterward.

It’s odd that I’ll find all my brass, a bunch of extra brass and yet still not be able to find the single live round.

 

[AzShooter1]

I see it ever match I go to. Especially with .22s. One guy on my squad picks them all up and then takes them apart and uses them for molding black powder balls.

I've seen him pick up as many as 200 rounds during a match. People are too lazy to bend over to get them is all I can come up with.

 

[Mogas]

I used to pick up brass and live rounds. I would take the live rounds apart dump the powder, save the brass and round. If reloading the brass, I would also get rid of the primer. As far as the bullet was concerned, I would put my calipers on it and scales. Sometimes I would reuse the bullet to get me on paper when sighting in. Never had a problem doing this.

 

[westernrover]

Dropping live rounds is a routine part of non-diagnostic linear malfunction drills.

Picking up refuse off the floor or ground of a range exposes the picker to a lot of lead contamination. This is why ranges use squeegees and brass collectors to pick up the refuse and often prohibit people from scrounging around on the ground. Scroungers are apt to think the range is greedy for the refuse they themselves covet, but whether this is true or not doesn't change the ill-advisability of scrounging around on the ground for a live round dropped in a drill. Please, especially don't do it without holstering the pistol first. If you really want to scrounge in the refuse, wait for a cold range, wear nitrile gloves and a mask, and scrounge away. If you get yours pants down on the ground, you'll probably want to put them in a plastic bag before you get in the car and wash them when you get home. Some people just don't want to scrounge. At most, they'll pick up their magazines, but they might not even drop those.

The most dangerous lead contamination is not the elemental lead in the berm or backstop. It's the lead styphnate residue from fired primers that is blown into the air in front of the firing line. The airborne residue presents the greatest risk of entering our bloodstream through the lungs. We depend on air currents and wind to clear it away outdoors, and ventilation systems to clear it indoors. A significant portion of it settles on the ground. This is why a range will not use a broom to sweep brass. The bristles flick the lead residue up into the air to be breathed in. A squeegee minimizes this by pushing the brass without flicking the residue. Besides the squeegee, brass collectors with rubber fingers or wire loops are used to pinch or capture brass off the ground and hold it in a cage or bag. Some places and people use brass catchers that bag the brass as it's ejected. The least desirable thing would be to pick through the refuse with your hands.

 

[Hartkopf]

Dropping live rounds is a routine part of non-diagnostic linear malfunction drills.

Picking up refuse off the floor or ground of a range exposes the picker to a lot of lead contamination. This is why ranges use squeegees and brass collectors to pick up the refuse and often prohibit people from scrounging around on the ground. Scroungers are apt to think the range is greedy for the refuse they themselves covet, but whether this is true or not doesn't change the ill-advisability of scrounging around on the ground for a live round dropped in a drill. Please, especially don't do it without holstering the pistol first. If you really want to scrounge in the refuse, wait for a cold range, wear nitrile gloves and a mask, and scrounge away. If you get yours pants down on the ground, you'll probably want to put them in a plastic bag before you get in the car and wash them when you get home. Some people just don't want to scrounge. At most, they'll pick up their magazines, but they might not even drop those.

The most dangerous lead contamination is not the elemental lead in the berm or backstop. It's the lead styphnate residue from fired primers that is blown into the air in front of the firing line. The airborne residue presents the greatest risk of entering our bloodstream through the lungs. We depend on air currents and wind to clear it away outdoors, and ventilation systems to clear it indoors. A significant portion of it settles on the ground. This is why a range will not use a broom to sweep brass. The bristles flick the lead residue up into the air to be breathed in. A squeegee minimizes this by pushing the brass without flicking the residue. Besides the squeegee, brass collectors with rubber fingers or wire loops are used to pinch or capture brass off the ground and hold it in a cage or bag. Some places and people use brass catchers that bag the brass as it's ejected. The least desirable thing would be to pick through the refuse with your hands.

Always good to take precautions. Lead will not absorb through the skin so if dirty brass is handled, proper washing afterwards and before eating (or nose picking) will eliminate contamination from the hands but disposable gloves are better. There's lots of areas to watch for, especially shoes. My local indoor range has several lanes with inadequate ventilation, which is terrible! Outdoor only shooting for me and my family. But reloaders are always on the hunt for brass, and if done correctly, there will be no ill effects.

 

[Waveski]

The POP!! when a round gets sucked into the mower is disconcerting to say the least.

A mower would have to be set at golf course short level to impact a round of ammo.
I can't imagine how that would happen at a normal turfgrass mower setting of 2" or so.

 

[Riomouse911]

A mower would have to be set at golf course short level to impact a round of ammo.
I can't imagine how that would happen at a normal turfgrass mower setting of 2" or so.

Does your push mower suck up rocks from a gopher hole or palm tree nuts out of the grass and smack them around with blades? Mine sure does. The strips of grass at their range alternate between concrete strips, so the trustees from the jail aren’t using reel mowers, they are commercial Honda push mowers the County supplies. Sucking up a live 9mm or .5.56 into the blades is pretty much an every-mowing occurrence when they’re out there, especially after SWAT or SED teams put in a training session where they’re famous for dropping live rounds all over.

I’ve seen it happen, the range staff there everyday sees it a lot more than I have. The veterano trustees who have been around for a while will howl with laughter when a new guy gets his first POP, it scares the crap out of them.

Stay safe.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

Maybe they're breeding?



Seriously, I think they're just rounds either ejected or dropped. I know I've fumbled a box or two of ammo in my day. Had a round flip out of hand while loading magazines or a revolver. And certainly had to cycle the action to clear a dud once in a while.

 

[Waveski]

I guess those mowers are set quite low. Adjusting height upward would be beneficial , less brass suckage and better for turf in harsh environment.

Of course , there would be less fun ...

 

[doubleh]

Does your push mower suck up rocks from a gopher hole or palm tree nuts out of the grass and smack them around with blades? Mine sure does.Stay safe.

I got to buy a new hose because I though my mower would just pass over it. That shows what "thought" will do for you. I turned the pieces into short hoses.

I do not shoot found ammo. I break it down, dump the powder. If I can use the bullet or brass I do, otherwise I meld down the bullets for my lead supply and deprime the brass for the salvage yard.

 

[Artg56]

I shoot mostly on National Forest Service ranges, for the most part folks using these ranges clean up after themselves and don’t leave spent brass on the concrete pads. I have found some .22 misfired rounds but no other conventional pistol or rifle ammo.

On one occasion I found that someone had left a brick of kptr m/39 with 2 rounds missing from one of the boxes. Honestly I was pretty ticked off that someone would endanger those unfamiliar who might be tempted to try them.

 

[mcb]

Ranges that host USPSA and IDPA matches are going to have a modest amount of unfired ammo on the ground. Remember at the end of each stage the shooter has to unload and show clear. It's not unheard of for the ejected round in the chamber to get drop and lost depending on the ground cover. So if you have a club level match with 40 shooter and five stages there is 200 opportunities to drop a live round and not recover it. Not to mention any malfunction clearing on the stages is even more likely to end up with live rounds on the ground. Now if you have an active club with both a monthly USPSA and monthly IDPA match that can result in a fair number of live rounds on the ground.

As an aside I would never shoot any of that recovered ammo, especially 9mm. With the prevalence of guys running 9mm Major in USPSA a round the is running way over normal 9mm pressure that could do bad things to some 9mm gun not built to take this over pressure.