Thread: Illegal to legal ammo conversion.

Hi All,
To avoid handing in what is now classed illegal ammo I'm going to convert steel cased 7.62x39 tracer to standard fmj.
To do this I'll need to pull the projectiles & either drill out the phosphorus or neutralise it. Does anyone know what chemical I can use to do this? I've heard of using shells dropped into turps to neutralise primers but what can be used for the tracer compound?
Alternatively I'll just drill out the compound & replace the lost lead with new lead then reweigh.
I know some will say it's not worth it but I hate having to give up the ammo to Jacinda when with a little bit of Kiwi enga,enga,enga....cunning I can convert the ammo & use them on the goats to add to the freezer meat.
I've been reloading steel shells for years.
I'm also in the process of making up a spring loaded gadget to fire of the corrosive primers on any pulled down corrosive primed ammo without using my rifle & at the same time & using the inertia from that to deprime the case so I can reprime with non corrosive primers of which I have a lot....anyone out there that would be willing to sell a stuffed x39 barrel so I can cut off the barrel & use the chamber to hold the shell as a starter?
Any help would be appreciated.
Phil

Phosphorus compounds ignite on exposure to air, coupled with fact that they will not be at all accurate or hard hitting with the compound removed. Your best bet is to buy some sporting projectiles and use those. Tracers are god-awful things for starting fires, not something we need in NZ in the summer!

Once you’ve got rid of the phosphorus sell the old projectiles to the scrappy to off set the costs of buying sporting projectiles.


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best way iv found to unload bullets is thru a rifle

Originally Posted by Tararua Phil

Hi All,
To avoid handing in what is now classed illegal ammo I'm going to convert steel cased 7.62x39 tracer to standard fmj.
To do this I'll need to pull the projectiles & either drill out the phosphorus or neutralise it. Does anyone know what chemical I can use to do this? I've heard of using shells dropped into turps to neutralise primers but what can be used for the tracer compound?
Alternatively I'll just drill out the compound & replace the lost lead with new lead then reweigh.
I know some will say it's not worth it but I hate having to give up the ammo to Jacinda when with a little bit of Kiwi enga,enga,enga....cunning I can convert the ammo & use them on the goats to add to the freezer meat.
I've been reloading steel shells for years.
I'm also in the process of making up a spring loaded gadget to fire of the corrosive primers on any pulled down corrosive primed ammo without using my rifle & at the same time & using the inertia from that to deprime the case so I can reprime with non corrosive primers of which I have a lot....anyone out there that would be willing to sell a stuffed x39 barrel so I can cut off the barrel & use the chamber to hold the shell as a starter?
Any help would be appreciated.
Phil

Mate she's a hazardous road to go that way

Read This https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracer_ammunition

If its UN ammo Strontium nitrate is used to give oxygen to the metal powder as it burns

You really don't want to touch/breath or eat it

READ THIS http://chemoventory.ps.isu.edu/msds/...1-14-201_7.pdf

If it Russian or Chinese they use Barium salts most likely Barium nitrate
READ THIS https://fscimage.fishersci.com/msds/02440.htm

Personally I'd swallow my pride and give it back. Hard as that is to say

You would have to be above man to tackle this. As mentioned, the chems are hazardous and reactive. That said, so is gunpowder, which is in close proximity. The risk of a fire or worse just isn't worth the risk, unless you are prepared to invest a ton in doing it safely.

If you go ahead, please video your efforts, so we can all watch the big bang when it happens!

It would be a waste of time and effort not to mention dangerous. You must have way too much time on your hands or an unfeasably large amount of tracer to even consider it.
Drilling out the compound will ignite it. Strontium nitrate for red barium nitrate for green. Pull the projectiles if you must and make fireworks out of them by throwing them into a hot fire one by one.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

It would be a waste of time and effort not to mention dangerous. You must have way too much time on your hands or an unfeasably large amount of tracer to even consider it.
Drilling out the compound will ignite it. Strontium nitrate for red barium nitrate for green. Pull the projectiles if you must and make fireworks out of them by throwing them into a hot fire one by one.

This man has it right - your time is worth something - pull the heads - but as for anything else???????

My take is just USE it - I mean seriously how much can a man have.

I had the best fun using 300rnd of 7.62 before having my gun stolen.........was it a waste? - Yes, but hey sometimes shit happens.

yup, get a p endorsement. Use prohibited ammo disposal as your reason for needing the p endorsement.

Shit, I bet it is way easier to get P than it is to get a P.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

It would be a waste of time and effort not to mention dangerous. You must have way too much time on your hands or an unfeasably large amount of tracer to even consider it.
Drilling out the compound will ignite it. Strontium nitrate for red barium nitrate for green. Pull the projectiles if you must and make fireworks out of them by throwing them into a hot fire one by one.

what do you do with someone who plays round with nasty chemicals like this??
after they die you barium................

Originally Posted by gonetropo

what do you do with someone who plays round with nasty chemicals like this??
after they die you barium................

Cue Applause.

Seriously, I disposed of 4 rounds of Romanian 7.62x39 tracer about a week ago by baking them off.

Google "Dakota Firehole" and you'll get the idea.

I dropped the rounds projectile first one at a time into embers in a small pit below ground level.

The amount of fireworks they made convinced me that messing with them ie pulling them from their cases, was a bad idea.

Originally Posted by gonetropo

what do you do with someone who plays round with nasty chemicals like this??
after they die you barium................

After they die you barium... Or rather whatsleftofthem.

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

That's what I reckon Bill. I was planning on letting mine go at night (baddies like working under the cover of darkness) so no one knew what I was up to.

need any help?

Also shooting animals with fmj is very unethical and inhumane. Use the right projectile for the job.

One other point in the original post. I just for shits n giggles once reprimed some wolf steel cases (boxer primed) worked ok but i had hundreds of brass ones anyhow and they dont go rusty.
Most ammo you find nowadays except for ww11 vintage is non corrosive primed anyway. The only exceptions are eastern bloc tracer and lake city 3006 match ammo from the late 60s.
The russian tracers berdan primed anyhow so requires special gear to deprime and a supply of odd sized primers.
The boy really likes a challenge.