I found this SAAMI video very interesting. I was considering disposing of some overloaded ammo in an 18 foot deep fire pit.

You decide.

Video

I've seen the video before, wish Fire departments would watch that and the general public, it ain't Hollywood where bullets are flying everywhere. Projectile usually stays put and the brass ruptures and may fly a very short way.
I hated to see all that ammo destroyed!

Austin Hunter if you have overloaded ammo just pull the bullets and salvage the components. However if you must dispose of it I see little danger in burning it, just seems wasteful to me.

This is pretty common knowledge. In some tests on Myth Busters, they found that with ammo just dumped on a bonfire, the case was often the projectile rather than the bullet. none of it was lethal.
I wouldn't do it and I'm not exactly sure why. In a once in a million chance, a shard of brass from a case could take out an eye. But, I'll admit that may be a bit of chcken little.
Why not just break it down and salvage the components?

it's the primer that gets launched from the round.
pressure builds as the powder inside ignites and the primer being the lightest part it gets moving first.

In my irresponsible youth I experimented with tossing ammo into bonfires just to see what happens, not in great quantity mind you but a shotgun shell or two, a 30/06 cartridge a handful of 22 rimfires and all with the same results, lackluster. Sometimes a ruptured brass case would spin out of the fire.
It is no big deal really from my experience.
Before you wonder out loud yeah I was an idiot as a kid and took a lot of chances. When looking back at a lot of the things I did I am lucky to be alive, throwing ammo in a fire is not one of them that even makes the list.

quote:

Originally posted by Snellstrom:
In my irresponsible youth I experimented with tossing ammo into bonfires just to see what happens, not in great quantity mind you but a shotgun shell or two, a 30/06 cartridge a handful of 22 rimfires and all with the same results, lackluster. Sometimes a ruptured brass case would spin out of the fire.
It is no big deal really from my experience.
Before you wonder out loud yeah I was an idiot as a kid and took a lot of chances. When looking back at a lot of the things I did I am lucky to be alive, throwing ammo in a fire is not one of them that even makes the list.

I plead dumbass kid too. Loaded ammo not as cool as I thought it would be. Full CO2 cartridge on the other hand.....DONT try that at home or anywhere else for that matter. YIKES! Luckily no body was hurt but it took exactly one time for me to not try that again.

SO wistrapper, what exactly happened with the co2 cartridge, not that I would try it though...

While we're off the subject of ammo, arasole cans turn into unguided missiles.

Years ago I remember an article on ammo in a fire. The author took a cardboard shoe box and put a couple wire loops through the lid so the loops would hold a cartridge horizontally in the box when the lid was set on the box . He then had two candles that were directly below the suspended cartridge. The candles were lit and a number of cartridges were suspended and heated until the powder got hot enough to ignite. If I remember they started with 22 LR and worked up to 458 Win. In no case was the shoe box ever perforated by any part of the cartridge.

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
While we're off the subject of ammo, arasole cans turn into unguided missiles.

After extensive haphazard testing as a youth I agree, however depending on what is contained in the can and how full it is has a lot to do with what it does. Some are missiles and some are "the bomb!".
I found out that a certain type of aerosol adhesive by 3M was a fantastic fiery explosion if thrown in a campfire or burn barrel, best reults were with a can that was between 1/3 and 2/3 full.
Do not attempt this at home it is extremely risky. Your chances of being hit with shards of the metal are very real and a sticky substance which is on fire and sticks to everything while flaming.

I think it was Richard Prior that said "stop, drop and roll is great advice unless you are on fire, all you want to do is run".

quote:

Originally posted by lee440:
SO wistrapper, what exactly happened with the co2 cartridge, not that I would try it though...

BIG ASS BOOM!! It actually extinguished the large campfire and sent crap flying in every direction. As dumb as it was we did have enough sense to get behind the biggest tree we could find. Probably saved us from digging stuff out of our hides. I still giggle about it from time to time when us same group of juveniles disguised as grown adults sit around a fire.