Apparatus for heating spent ammunition cases

Abstract

An apparatus for destroying the volatility of propellant and primers associated with small arms ammunition which become inadvertently commingled with a supply of spent casings prior to material deformation and reclamation. The apparatus preferably includes three major sections or components and they are: a material infeed section, a heating section, and a material extraction section. The preferred infeed section includes a hopper placed in conjunction with an incline conveyor and a distally positioned dump chute. The heating section has a material receptacle in the form of a material receiving chute, a heater disposed adjacent to the interior of a longitudinal spirally internally veined rotating drum which communicates with the third section, which is a material extraction or expulsion section also in the form of an incline conveyor and a chute. The heater section includes a heater station which enables a supply of propane or LP gas to be connected thereto and ignited to fire heat the internal chamber of the rotating drum. The heating enables the propellant and primers associated with small arms ammunition casings or live rounds thereof which inadvertently become commingled with spent shell casings prior to the destruction and the material the reclamation process to be rendered inert.