Since its commercialization in the 1980s, the high pressure abrasive waterjet (AWJ) has become a tool widely used in many industries. To take advantage of the machining features offered by AWJ, this technology was quickly adopted in demilitarization. Separation of the munitions components is required for recycling of materials and can be quickly and safely achieved by cutting through the munitions casing. In this paper, approaches for optimizing abrasive cutting through 40 mm munitions are presented. A prototype of a dedicated cutting system is described and the parameters for its use are discussed.