McMinnville Police Department is taking a shot at ridding the department of unwanted ammunition. 

“We have approximately 10,000 rounds of 40-caliber ammo that we no longer use,” said McMinnville Police Chief Nichole Mosley. “Rather than having it just sitting there, we thought we should do something with it and try to sell it.”

The department began a switch to Glock 19, which are 9 mm pistols, back in 2017 and 2018. Previously, officers were carrying Glock 23, a 40-caliber. 

“Because we made that switch, we do not have any use for this ammo,” said Mosley. “We propose to declare it surplus and put it on GovDeals and at least try to get back the money we have in it. We may make a little bit more, but we’d at least like to get back what we have in it.”

GovDeals.com is a place to bid on government surplus and unclaimed property.

Mosely made her request before members of the city Safety Committee. She suggested a minimum bid be placed. However, that amount has not been set.

“We have about 8,500 that are full-metal jacket. They are target rounds. Then we have about 2,000 rounds of duty rounds. Duty ammo is a bit better than what you would use for target practice. We want to set a minimum bid, just to make sure we don’t lose money,” she said.

Mayor Ryle Chastain stated, “Some of that stuff is going for like $1 a round right now.”

“Hopefully, we can make some money off these,” said Mosley. “Rounds are scarce. Some are probably having difficulty finding rounds for 9 mm.”

Safety Committee members approved declaring the ammo surplus and placing it on GovDeals. The date for that has not been set.