[CardPuncher]

I pick up a lot of live .22 rounds at our range off the ground and out of the brass boxes. Obviously discarded whether because of FTF or other reasons.

If it was centerfire, someone would take it home and salvage it, but nobody wants old .22 rounds. More importantly, IMO, nobody cares what happens to them.

I'm fairly new at this range. When I've asked older members what to do with them I get answers like "stick it in the ground", "toss it in the trash", "I dunno".

I was shooting at a major indoor range a while back and had an FTF as one of the employees was walking by. He tossed it in the trash.

All those solutions bother me. Am I just being too fussy or do dud .22's deserve a better disposal method? I don't like putting live ammo, even an old .22 round, in the trash. What do you do?

BTW - I don't put anything in my guns that has been on the ground. That's not the answer, especially for old or mangled cartridges.

 

[CardPuncher]

My local range has small metal cans filled with water to put the duds into.

Then what happens to them?

 

[CardPuncher]

So far it looks like one vote for "don't worry about it" and several suggestions for disposal.

Our county Hazardous Waste collection location is close by and will take it off my hands (I've wondered if the guy takes it home, but not my problem). I'm trying to decide whether I want to be the only person going to any effort to collect and dispose of the stuff.

 

[CardPuncher]

We are talking about 22 rimfires here ....Don't worry about duds too much. The only real time to worry about a dud is when it's inside the gun. Outside a gun all that will happen is it goes bang but the bullet is not going much of anywhere with any speed at all....

I'm sure you're right. It just bothers me. Still trying to decide whether it's worth making an issue about.

 

[CardPuncher]

At each shooting session I lay them aside in a little pile then at the end of the session I put them in a .22 revolver and give'em a second whack. For 30 some odd years that's worked for me, am I doing something wrong?

Rich

Whether you're doing something wrong depends on what you do with them if they don't fire on the second whack, or - as in the case of my original post - with decrepit but live rounds picked up off the ground.

And then it seems to depend greatly on whom you ask.

Since it was I who asked the original question, I will say I greatly appreciate all the input. I'm inclined to continue collecting those live rounds and will dispose of them without leaving them in the trash or the ground. It's not that I'm not a risk-taker - far from it - but I'd paraphrase the old advice about "Never steal anything small" as "Don't take small risks." Make them big enough to be worth it. This seems like a very small risk, but one not worth taking.