Munitions For Sale To Benefit Charity

Buffalo, New York Goodwill Industries recently posted munitions items for sale on their website - shopgoodwill.com under the title "Vintage Rifle Bullet Casings". The opening bid set at $8.99 included three items including a projectile, a bullet, and a casing.

The description for the items on the on-line bid read as follows:

Vintage Rifle Bullet Casings
2 can be filled
The big bullet measures 4 2/8" in height and 4 5/8" in circumference
On the side bullet it reads: LOT-77-23139-24-1942-EM-37MM-M80
On the bottom it reads: FM 12
The 2 smaller ones measure 3.5" and 4" in height
BEING SOLD AS IS

The nomenclature provided - 37mm M80 - suggests that it is solid armor piercing projectile with no energetics / explosives. The cartridge casing has a primer which may or may not be expended (can't tell from the pictures). Assuming it is expended, there is nothing "illegal" about selling the items. However, it is illegal to ship them through the U.S. Postal Service and UPS also likely has restrictions on shipping inert ammunition.

Although there are ammunition collectors out there who buy and sell inert items, we do not believe it is a wise decision to sell these items to the general public in the way Goodwill has attempted to do. These items could easily end up causing a bomb scare down the road resulting in authorities spending valuable time and resources responding to. Luckily, there were no bids on the munitions and auction ended without a sale.

Upon learning about the auction, UXOInfo.com contacted Goodwill through the contact information provided on the website to express concern. They informed us that others have contacted them as well and that the items were pulled off the auction block and that the proper authorities have been notified to dispose of the items.

Thanks to Clark (UXOInfo.com reader) for bringing this to our attention.