Old ammo and BP

[monkeylizard]

My wife's uncle died a few years ago and the family is finally starting to go through his old shop. We've come across some old ammo and black powder. The ammo is in various conditions. Some is in the factory box and looks fine. Some was just tossed loose in a drawer, tackle box, wrapped in a shop rag, coat pocket, etc and have varying levels of corrosion. Some 22LR, some pistol and rifle centerfire, and some 12ga. shells. Plus we found a few containers of black powder. I'd guess somewhere in the 5-10 lbs. range all in all. Unbeknownst to anyone else, he may have done some reloading as we found some RCBS dies, but have not yet found a press (lots more to go through)

Given the storage conditions and the fact that stuff in factory boxes may actually be reloads, I wouldn't want to run any of it through my own guns and think the safest thing to do is to destroy it. We're talking about maybe 200-300 rounds of various calibers and 3 dozen or so 12ga. shells. Not exactly an arsenal.

Any suggestions on the best way to get rid of this stuff, especially the BP? I have zero experience with BP and have only heard horror stories about people messing with it who don't know what they're doing. One or two of the BP containers appears to be factory sealed, but it's all at least 30 years old and stored in less than ideal conditions. Not wet, just a dirty uninsulated workshop.

 

Edited September 5, 2016 by monkeylizard

[leroy]

lizard...

The black powder is, in fact, a low explosive... That means not to drop or jar it... Havin said that, here's some things to consider... If ya dont load nor use black powder, find a buddy who does... I would recommend lookin around for the Black Powder rifle guys and the North South Skirmishers and "giftin" or "sellin" it to them... They can use it...

I keep a pound or two around most all the time to load "real" 45 Colt cowboy loads and to shoot thru our beloved old 1887 remington sideby with fluid steel barrels...

Black powder does not go bad with age, nor is it affected by temperature extremes... It is still probably sellin in the twenty five dollar per pound range, so 5 to 10 lbs is reasonably expensive (...for me, anyway...)... The skirmishers and re-enactors could probably use a gift of that much black powder... Especially, if it is in the FF to F range... Any of your buddies who are Cowboy Action shooters might have some black powder shootin buddies... There used to be a black powder class there two...

Hope this helps a bit...

leroy

 

[DWARREN123]

For the loaded ammo a reloader can take it apart and use the components.