Does loose ammo in a can ever get fired by another bullet tip?

[eaglemike]

I've never seen stuff just laying in a can go off, but:
I did see a guy throw a 9mm pretty hard into one of the old 30 cal ammo cans, filled with 9mm. (he was upset at the time) Evidently it did hit a primer just right, as one did go off. No further rounds went off. Scared everyone around, but no one hurt.
I was at a revolver competition years ago in Az, the ICORE Southwest Regional. My friend ejected a moon clip with an unfired round in it, and it hit the end of some rebar used as shooting box just right. Scared everyone around, but no one hurt. It was reloaded .40, being shot in a 610, if anyone is interested in that stuff.

[nitroxdiver]

I m sure it can and has happened if the circumstances are just right.

You never here of a round getting touched off though with centerfire cartridges getting dropped onto one another on a classic tube feed front loader though, and those cartridges are getting perfectly dropped onto one another nut to butt. Just not enough force or psi to set them off.


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[RickD427]

It looks like it happened to one or two people here, or they saw it happen. Both times it was .38 rounds. Starting at post 30 https://forums.gunboards.com/showthr...topics/1062149

It looks like the thread you posted is discussing out-of-battery detonation in AR15/M16 platforms.

The issue here is loose ammo in a can. The simple motion of loose ammo in can will not generate enough energy to detonate a primer.

For the record, I agree that an AR15/M16 can fire out-of-battery. I had to order up a JAGMAN Investigation when a unit member blew the magazine out of his M16 at Camp Pendleton. The autopsy performed on the weapon revealed that the bolt cam retaining pin had not been re-installed after the last cleaning. That allowed the bolt to go fully forward, but not rotate into engagement with the lugs and fully go into battery. The net effect was that it became a straight blowback weapon with full power 5.56 ammo.

[SanDiego619]

It looks like the thread you posted is discussing out-of-battery detonation in AR15/M16 platforms.

The issue here is loose ammo in a can. The simple motion of loose ammo in can will not generate enough energy to detonate a primer.

You are right, but if you go to post #30 the topic temporarily diverges to the discussion of rounds popping off when they are in a bag and dropped on the ground.

[RTE]

If you dropped it from the hotel rooftop, it hit the ground right....maybe.
Under normal conditions, probably not worth loosing sleep over.
You could point them head to head and error on the side of caution.

[TKM]

I've read about a round being touched off when in the plastic holder on the bench.

Apparently an ejected piece of brass scored a direct hit on a primer with the edge of the rim. 40 IIRC.

Not the kind of thing to lose any sleep over.

[SanDiego619]

Oh, I am not losing sleep over it, I was just curious. I assumed it was extremely rare or never happened or they wouldn't ship 1000 rds in a plastic bag inside a box that gets bashed to bits in shipment.

[subscriber]

Ammo is surprisingly robust against abuse. Including fire, dropping and crushing.
Even when you manage to set it off outside a firearm chamber,
the actual risk of real harm is low and localized.

See SAAMI explore this question from a variety of angles:

[tabascoz28]

1, don't put a nail or FMJ 223 in a can of shells and drop it 5 feet. 2, looks like demo ranch can do another experiment with 223 and maybe even 9mm?

[subscriber]

The question of bullet tip indenting a primer in loose ammo storage, handling or transportation is a good one. Imagining that possibility leads to something that is even more likely:

Consider a pushfeed bolt action rifle, where the user fails to close and lock the bolt all the way, before opening the bolt all the way and closing it again. If this is done with a loaded magazine in place, the top round from the mag will be fed into the chamber; then left there on bolt opening (because the extractor does not snap over the case rim until the bolt is locked). Then the second round will be fed, such that its bullet tip runs into the case head of the still chambered round.

If that bullet tip runs into the primer of the round in the chamber, chances are "good" that it would be set off. Things could get very interesting from there, with the potential for a new convert to controlled feed style bolt action rifles...

[ACfixer]

" Does loose ammo in a can ever get fired by another bullet tip?"

No.

/end

[subscriber]

/end

"Fired", no. Set off, sometimes. A rather anti-climactic event, unless your eyes are right close.

[ACfixer]

"Fired", no. Set off, sometimes. A rather anti-climactic event, unless your eyes are right close.

I have purchased many ammo cans full of loose 5.56, if there was even a 0.00003% chance of that happening and cooking off they wouldn't ship it that way.

[wpod]

Just don't do it in a lever gun.

https://youtu.be/NeJmOxIklDc

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[subscriber]

I have purchased many ammo cans full of loose 5.56, if there was even a 0.00003% chance of that happening and cooking off they wouldn't ship it that way.

No chance of any rounds "cooking off", unless you raise their temperature significantly: