Question by Enigmatic Affliction: Is a live shotgun shell safe to keep?
While I was canoeing I came across a live 12 gauge shotgun shell along with about 5 others that have already been fired. I took the live shotgun shell home as sort of a souvenir, but I have to ask is it safe? If the shotgun shell was to go off what conditions would cause this and what measures can I take to avoid it accidentally going off. If you think it’s too dangerous to keep what’s a safe way to dispose of it?
Best answer:
Answer by Desert Eagle .22
Do not beat it with a hammer, put in in the oven, or light it on fire.
It is safe in normal storage and handling.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
As long as you don’t hit the primer (little circle on the bottom) with a nail and hammer, put it in, or near a fire, put it in the oven or put it in gun and pull the trigger it won’t go off.
People store thousands upon thousands of rounds of ammunition in their basements or houses. Ammo is completely safe. It won’t go off unless you load it into a gun that is chambered for that caliber and you pull the trigger.
Don’t throw it into a fire.
Don’t hit the primer with anything. Not that it is easy to accidentally do so. You would have be trying to hit the primer, it doesn’t go off accidentally. It has to be hit hard, and precisely.
It is safe, just don’t be throwing it around. You can fill a cup with oil and let it soak in there for 72 hours. That will deactivate the round. It is sort of unnecessary though.
I’ve seen the media is still doing its job of making the public scared s**tless of anything gun related. “Whatever you do don’t pick it up, it may misfire in your hand and kill you, your best friend and your neighbors golden retriever!”
The shotgun shell contains gunpowder, shot and a primer. The primer is an explosive device that is designed to, when struck by the firing pin of the gun, create a small explosion which shoots a spark into the gunpowder thereby igniting the gunpowder. One way to neutralize the explosive “power” of a primer is to soak it in oil. So if you want to keep the shell looking like it is “live”, stand it up with the primer in a small puddle of oil. Leave it that way overnight and what will probably happen is the primer will be effectively neutralized. That is, it won’t ignite even if it is put in a gun and the trigger is pulled and the firing pin hits the primer. Unfortunately, this is not a guarantee. The oil may not penetrate fully and the entire affair might, over a period of years, dry out and become once again “live”. If you want to get your hands on a shotgun shell that looks “live”, find someone who handloads shotshells and he/she will make up one for you with flour for powder plus a regular load of shot and a completely inert primer. That will give you something to look at that is safe.
In short – pretty harmless…. Dispose of?…. Just keep it…. Yeah yeah – If theres kids around then put it away….. As others have said, avoid dropping it (that’s 99% harmless too), putting it in a fire or hitting the bottom center little circle……
I have thousands of these, even laying around on my desk, none have gone off in the 35 years I have had this stuff around…..
I store a .22 rifle bullet in my toiletries bag (I was shooting them with my grandpa, and he gave me one to take home, I didn’t have anything to store it in, so i put it in a compartment of my toiletries bag) and I have a friend who has about 5 hanging bullets next to is computer, so i would say it’s pretty same, as long as you don’t do anything stupid.
Other than the above answers (no fire, no hitting primer hard, etc) I’ll add this:
If you did somehow manage to get it to go off, and it wasn’t in a tube (aka barrel) to force the shot through, It would do superficial damage at MOST (powder burns etc).