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Neutralizing Live Shotgun Shells

1,377 Views | 23 Replies | Last: 26 min ago by E-1_97_Guy
ValleyRatAg
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8:58p, 10/28/25
AG
I bet this is a first for the OB

I am building a house for a customer. She handed me 6 live shotgun shells which are loaded with her husbands ashes.

She wants me to disable them and cast them into the slab primer side up. So I was going to drill holes in the side of the shells and shake out the gunpowder. I am stumped as to how to safely remove the primers. I've done some stupid stuff with shotgun shells as a youth and I have some ideas but can someone with real knowledge help me out?
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Charismatic Megafauna
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9:04p, 10/28/25
AG
Maybe cut them in half just above the brass, dump charge, shoot primed heads to discharge primer, toss ash parts in slab during pour and arrange the now safe heads however she wants them. Or figure out where he wanted his ashes shot and fulfill his final wishes since she won't
I would not drill through the brass to try and dump the powder
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agsalaska
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9:05p, 10/28/25
AG
I have no answers, but this is high quality OB material.
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giddings_ag_06
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9:14p, 10/28/25
AG
I absolutely hate the joke but have to say it….







Please don't shoot his nuts off.
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Jason_Roofer
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9:17p, 10/28/25
Her entire husband fit In 6 shells?


This is the weirdest story I've heard in a while. Having grown up in a rural area with friends that were bored, we regularly cut open our folks shotgun shells to harvest powder for….extra curricular activity/pasture IED entertainment….


I'd just cut the end off, dump Hank into a bag and then shoot the primers as .22 targets, out of a shotgun, or something.
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giddings_ag_06
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In reply to Jason_Roofer • 9:20p, 10/28/25
AG
Jason_Roofer said:
Her entire husband fit In 6 shells?


They are 3.5"!!!
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Jason_Roofer
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In reply to giddings_ag_06 • 9:24p, 10/28/25
ValleyRatAg
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9:39p, 10/28/25
AG
About what I expected, lol. She has a whole case of them. There is a group of them that are about to get together and travel through the south shooting them while on his favorite bird hunts or clay shoots. Pretty interesting way.
I'm thinking about cutting into the shell just above the brass and dumping the powder then use a dental hook to unseat the primers.
I used to harvest powder out of shells for extra curricular use all the time so I'm good with that. I also used to cut them in a full circle so the wad was the only thing holding them together and shoot them like a slug. I know it was stupid at the time it was so I could kill a deer if I came across one quail hunting. Never got a deer but I sure gave some *****ly pears hell.

So who's set off a primer with no powder? Just how powerful a blast is it when not under pressure with gun powder? Are we talking wear safety glasses, a face shield or a welding helmet? Don't worry about my hands I'll use the left one. Besides "the stranger" I don't get much use out of it anyway.
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fullback44
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9:45p, 10/28/25
AG
You could always just fire the shells into the cement mixer prior to pouring the slab ? Then mount the shells as she asked …. Probably about like adding a little extra fly ash to the mix
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GottaRide
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10:03p, 10/28/25
S
Remove powder and soak the underside of the primer in a heavy saltwater solution for a day. Set the shells in the slab like she wants but a little deeper and cover with a hardening epoxy.
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chickencoupe16
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In reply to ValleyRatAg • 11:08p, 10/28/25
AG
ValleyRatAg said:
Just how powerful a blast is it when not under pressure with gun powder? Are we talking wear safety glasses, a face shield or a welding helmet? Don't worry about my hands I'll use the left one. Besides "the stranger" I don't get much use out of it anyway.


As a dumb kid, I harvested the powder out of a shell. Not thinking about the primer, I threw the remains into a burn barrel. A few minutes later, I was leaning over the barrel poking the fire with a stick and had my world rocked. I'd be careful no matter what you ultimately decide on.
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Gunny456
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In reply to ValleyRatAg • 11:25p, 10/28/25
AG
Do not try to use the dental pick or anything else to try and get the primers out. That is dangerous as heck. I would open the crimped end of the shell….which is relatively safe and easy……pour Hank into a closeable container that you can keep his ashes in. Pull the wad out with a pair of needle nose pliers…. pour the powder out and shoot the primer in a single shot or O/U or SS.
Then you can pour his ashes back in the shells and push the crimp back and ole Hank will be in shells set in the concrete.
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CactusThomas
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12:07a, 10/29/25
AG
Open them up through the crimped end. Dump shot, wad, ashes, powder, anything else these crazy people put in there. Neutralize the primers with oil. Just soak it for a day or two with a penetrating oil.

Shot shell primers are not serious concerns. They will look better with no firing pin dimples. When you set them in concrete, leave the shell body intact and leave some air in there just in case the oil doesn't fully disable the primer (it will). But that amount of volume will be fine for the primer should it go off.
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OnlyForNow
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6:10a
AG
Does she want to be able to see the brass and primer?

Seems like she does.
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ValleyRatAg
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In reply to OnlyForNow • 6:59a
AG
That's correct
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ValleyRatAg
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7:01a
AG
I think it's going to be some combination of Gottaride, Cactus, and Gunny.

Thanks for the epoxy idea great way to preserve them.
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35chililights
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7:52a
AG
Having played with shotgun shells a ton, the easiest and fastest way is to cut just behind the crimp all the way around, dump the shot (in this case, ashes), then load and shoot the shell.
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35chililights
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7:53a
AG
Another way is to set the shells the friends shoot into the slab.

Those would have double meaning.
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BlueSmoke
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8:22a
This thread.....
Nobody cares. Work Harder
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Noname124398
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In reply to ValleyRatAg • 9:08a
ValleyRatAg said:
So who's set off a primer with no powder? Just how powerful a blast is it when not under pressure with gun powder? Are we talking wear safety glasses, a face shield or a welding helmet? Don't worry about my hands I'll use the left one. Besides "the stranger" I don't get much use out of it anyway.

As teenagers, a buddy and I thought it was a good idea to empty a shell and set off the primer with a pen and hammer. And to make it even worse, we did it on the carpet.
Anyway, it took a couple whacks with one of us holding the pen and the other swinging the hammer, but when that sucker went off it blew us both back on our butts. Neither of us got hurt and it may have just been the shock of it that sent us backwards, but it was certainly more than either of us had bargained for.
Burned a perfect shotgun shell sized hole in the carpet. I added a little dab of black spray paint to blend it in and told my parents I was giving my paintball gun a new paintjob and accidentally got it on the carpet (and they believed me )
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35chililights
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In reply to Noname124398 • 12:01p
AG
It was the noise that sent you back. Not the concussive force of the minute amount of propellant in the primer.
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schmellba99
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1:36p
AG
Drill a small hole through the plastic just above the brass, but into the powder charge. Take a can of 3 in 1 oil, WD-40 or some other similar oil and saturate the ever living hell out of the powder charge. The oil will render the primer inert as well.
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Chetos
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2:34p
AG
hello...just load aim fire...make sure concrete is wet first
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E-1_97_Guy
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In reply to ValleyRatAg • 3:35p
AG
ValleyRatAg said:
I think it's going to be some combination of Gottaride, Cactus, and Gunny.

Thanks for the epoxy idea great way to preserve them.

Please come back here and post pics when you are done. And let us know how you did it.
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