Dear group,
I have 4 old unused shotgun cartridges (left by the previous owner of the house). I want to get rid of them, but know nothing on this subject.
Is it safe to put them into a sturdy box and just throw them out with the rubbish?
Many thanks
Alex
In news:zvGPe.4029$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe4-win.ntli.net, Alex (YMG) struck the keyboard in a random fashion and came up with:
Certainly not! They'll go off when the rubbish is incinerated (assuming it
*IS* incinerated). I'd find a local shooting club and take them there - failing that, give 'em to the local police.
No. Put them in a sturdy box and drop them in at your local copshop.
Sounds a bit dodgy to me! (would be a shame to shoot a dustman as he sticks the rubbish in the compactor on the back of the wagon!)
You could phone the local nick and ask them what the procedure is, they often run an amnesty on guns and ammo and hence must acquire loads of it in various stages of decomposition.
Wait till you neighbour is burning some garden rubbish, then toss them in the incinerator and run like hell!!!!!
;-)
I think most stations, if not all, would be quite happy to send someone round and pick them up.
Henry
When a son bought and moved into his house he found an almost full box of cartridges on a window sill. The owner was in a home, her husband (ex army) had died some years before. He rang the police and they said he mustn't take the box to the station, it was an offence to handle them.
They came to him and accepted his explanation of why they were in his possession.
It was quite a nerve-wracking time for him, knowing what the penalties could be. He was relieved to be rid of them.
Mary
Don't see why he should have been concerned ..If there was anything untoward he was hardly likely to be calling the cops to get rid of them ......... Stuart
He's a responsible man. He was responsible for them. If they'd been found in his possession or if his house had been broken into and they'd been stolen or if he hadn't been able to account for possessing them to the satisfaction of the law he'd have been in trouble. Calling the police might have been a ploy. As it happens they believed him and didn't search the house for more.
He was glad to be rid of the ammunition.
How you'd feel is a different matter. There are more implications than are immediately obvious. I applaud the OP for his attitude.
Mary
We've just been through something similar, with what was left in the house after a pal who just died. :(
Local copshop, firearms officer, instant response.
And if, whilst pondering what to do with them, his house had been burgled and the cartridges stolen (perhaps by children who decided to hit them with a hammer as their curiosity exceeded any instincts of self-preservation, or by an adult who subsequently used the cartridges in the commission of a crime) he would have had greater worries than a technical contravention of the Firearms Act.
Owain
Unless you hold a shotgun certificate, you should not, in theory, even be handling them.
Definitely not. Contact the local Police firearms officer for advice. The Police will probably want to collect them. In rural areas though they can be quite relaxed about shotguns and may ask you to drop them into the station.
Colin Bignell
Many thanks to all who responded so quickly.
I was worried about putting them out with the rubbish for the reasons you mention - I'll give the police a call and try to follow the course of action suggested.
Thanks again!
Alex
Rather than involve the Police I would take them to your local gun sho (if you have one)
I was suprised when I purchased an alarm mine from my local shop an they had run out of the black cartridges that are blank firing, the gu went in the back and emptied the shot from some real 12 bore cartridges I was shocked to say the leas
-- weekendwarrior
Take them to the local police station and be prepared to make a statement as to where you found them.
Easiest way I know it to cut them off just above the brass with a stanley knife, pour powder into a little heap and deflagrate it with a long match or better a little white spirit trail to put some distance between you and the powder, the shot is probably lead, useful for weighting things like model trains, the primers are the most dangerous part, cooking them off in a bonfire works ok. The MOD range staff regularly burn-off old *found* ammo in roaring fires in old 45 gallon drums, as long as the cartridges are free to split open its actually quite safe to do.
Throwing them out in the rubbish isn't a good idea, though possession of shotgun ammo doesn't require a certificate IIRC, unlike rifle ammo.
You have had to produce a shotgun certificate to buy ammo for several years now.
Colin Bignell
I would expect the propellant simply to burn, if rather fiercely. However, I would be concerned that the primer might be set off when the rubbish was being compacted within the refuse lorry.
Colin Bignell
Just take them to the police.
I bought an ex-army Land Rover, and when poking around, I found two rounds of ammunition inside. I just took them to the local police station and handed them in. No problems whatever.
Rick..
nightjar
Ah, that takes me back to my misspent youth. I used to saw the ends off to get rid of the shot, and then pour our the powder to make my own fireworks. Then I'd use a ring of blutack to stick the primer ring to the end of my BB pistol and fire them off. It's a wonder we ever make it out of childhood really.
Regards
Mark
You don't RC. The law changed several years ago.
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