What Can I do with old reloaded ammo?

[doubleh]

15 years isn't really old for ammo. If I had friends that shoot I would first offer it to them as a gift if I didn't want to break it down for components which apparently you don't.

 

[Howland937]

Heck, even if not local you could offer it as "free, just pay shipping". UPS or FedEx only for shipping.
That is if you don't feel right actually offering it for sale.

 

[lightman]

Following my rule of not shooting unknown ammo, I break it down. The powder goes into my jar of mixed powder for the "Annual Deer Camp Campfire Light Show", the bullets mostly go into my next 400# Wheelweight smelt, the primers may or may not be used for sighting or fouling shots and the brass may or may not be salvaged. The may and may nots depend on the condition of said components.

I'll admit, it bothers me a little to break down ammo that looks good. But mostly what I have been given was old, tarnished, corroded, ect.

 

[Jim Watson]

No sense in surrendering it to the police: there’s no need, and it costs the taxpayers money to dispose of it.

After The Incident, I offered damaged ammo to the PD and the FD for disposal. Surely the bomb squad could deal with it. Nope, they wanted nothing to do with it.
So I pulled some down for the brass and bullets, some I trashed, some is still laying around.

 

[Bill M.]

Just work out a way to shoot most of it. Shoot guns you normally don't until the ammo is gone. Rent a gun. But the easiest way of disposing of ammo is out the barrel of a gun.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Advertise it on Craig's list for free or otherwise. A lot of reloaders watch it for components and reloading equipment for sale.
Just meat them somewhere, don't have them come to your house.

 

[someguy2800]

It is perfectly legal to sell ammo including handloads. The key word is whether you made it with the intent to sell it. It would be illegal to load 1000 rounds of ammo with the sole intent of reselling it, but it is perfectly legal to sell ammo that you made for personal use.

Same as how you need an FFL to be in the business of buying and selling firearms, but it is legal for you to sell any firearm that you bought for your own personal use without a license.

 

[jmorris]

If you are just going to give it away, give it away here to someone who doesn’t mind putting a little work into breaking them down.

Call it a pay it forward or just a gift.

 

[Rodfac]

If it was my reloaded ammunition, I'd have no problem with shooting it in one of MY guns. But the house rule here is: I don't shoot any ammunition that others have loaded. Too, 15 years is not excessive if the rounds were properly stored: moderate temperatures and zero water and/or high humidity. Best regards, Rod

 

[dickydalton]

Last summer I was shooting some 22-250s that I reloaded in 1999 and it was doing 1 1/2" at 300 yards out of my Savage.

 

[W.E.G.]

Where you at in Virginia?

 

[deadeye dick]

I thought about that as an option, but most ranges won't let you shoot reloads in their guns...

Who's to know?

 

[deadeye dick]

I have about 300 12 GA paper hulls that i loaded in 1966. Have no qualms in shooting them.

 

[fallout mike]

I used to pull the bullets and primers on unknown ammo to repurpose if they were someone else's handloads I had accumulated somehow. If the bullets were lead and in a caliber I did not load I would throw it in my melting pot.

 

[entropy]

Put a sign up at your local gun club giving it away, and make some new friends at the club. They'll probably let you shoot some of it in their guns. Win-win.

 

[TXTad]

I have a large ammo can full of .38, .40, .327 Fed Mag, and .45 ammo -- all handloads -- all in calibers I no longer shoot or have any guns for. By its nature, some of this ammo is hard to take apart (crimped cases).

Some of this stuff is 15 years old, most about 10 years old. It's been a long time since I had that Ruger SP-101 in .327 Fed Mag, that's for sure.

What can be done with ammo like this that is no longer needed?

It is impossible to sell it (illegal, actually, since it takes a Type 06 FFL to sell ammo).

Internet searches turn up the idea of taking it to the local police station. That doesn't seem like a good idea for this amount of ammo. Is there a commercial re-processing facility somewhere that I could send it to?

Thanks, its a dumb problem, and I shouldn't have let it happen, but I am looking for a good (legal) way to solve it.

I'm with the give it away crowd. Despite the caveats about shooting other people's handloads, I would absolutely shoot such from a known source that I knew to be trustworthy and meticulous. I'd love someone to give me some .327 loads. I've had a .327 Single Seven Bisley for over a year that I still haven't fired because I cannot (reasonably) get components for it, and I'm not going to shoot .32 H&R in it.

 

[JJFitch]

Rent guns and shoot it. Enjoy!.

Most rental gun places will not let you shoot "your" reloads!