Ammo and Housefires

[hermosabeach]

As gun stuff is being debated by non gun owners... and new gun owners and extremely ignorant politicians...

What happen when a home full of Ammo burns...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SlOXowwC4c

[hermosabeach]

About the Tests

These ammunition tests expended over 400,000 rounds of sporting ammunition in scenarios that include single cartridge ignition, 65-foot drops, attacks with blasting caps, bullet impacts, forklift impact, bulldozer crushing and grinding,packaged and unpackaged bonfires, and fires involving a retail store and truck trailer.

The sporting ammunition tested includes both rifle and pistol cartridges up to 50 caliber, and shotshells up to 8 gauge.

About the Results

The video shows that sporting ammunition outside a firearm:

is unlikely to ignite under extreme conditions of impact,
will not propagate in a chain reaction from one cartridge or shell to another,
does not mass explode, and
may be controlled by fire fighters using water and wearing standard
structural fire fighter protective clothing and self-contained breathing apparatus.

[JackEllis]

The video is worth watching. After seeing it I was a lot less concerned about storing meaningful amounts of ammunition and powder in my home and the potential for injury to firefighters trying to save my home (a matter of when more than a matter of if).

['ol shooter]

FYI, a Firefighter was killed not long ago when a round hit him while fighting a house fire. Freak occurrence, yes, but still happened. When I was a Firefighter, we were more concerned about the gas filled 5 M.P.H. bumpers on vehicle fires going off. Those things are lethal.

[bohoki]

FYI, a Firefighter was killed not long ago when a round hit him while fighting a house fire. Freak occurrence, yes, but still happened. When I was a Firefighter, we were more concerned about the gas filled 5 M.P.H. bumpers on vehicle fires going off. Those things are lethal.

did the bullet have rifling marks?

[bhilliker@comcast.net]

IN my Air Force days we burned a lot of ammo---one pit we put in about 120K rounds as well as an assortment of other items---threw in some pallets cardboard fuel oil and a thermite grenade-----ammo was cooking off left and right and flying everywhere! Damn eod guys were sitting on the hood of the truck drinking beer----we were behind the truck listening to the rounds zing over our heads

[p7m8jg]

There's tons of "FUD" over this issue. Nobody, to my knowledge, has definitively proven the issue either way.

Round pops in the campfire, how does it increase velocity without a barrel to contain the gasses and increase the speed of the projectile.

I think MythBusters did an episode on this, didn't they?

[IrishJoe3]

did the bullet have rifling marks?

This. Plenty of loaded guns in homes, and a gun will fire as designed when the powder ignites regardless of that ignition is via primer or heat.

I have a detonated cartridge case I found after the tubbs fire, it's rose petaled and probably threw small pieces of brass but those wouldn't have the velocity or mass to travel far or cause much if any injury.

I saw ammo cans holding ammunition that cooked off, not a single round penetrated the can, though the cans were bulged out and the gas vented.

Hell I read in a book that during world War II soldiers would prank each other by throwing an En-block clip of 30-06 in the barracks stove for s**** and giggles

[pacmule]

When my house burned, I lost a lot of ammo. Digging through the rubble later, I would find all kinds of cases. 223 cases were usually split as the unsupported case ruptured. I never felt threatened by it and the firemen did not seem to care either.

[Odd_Ball]

I saw ammo cans holding ammunition that cooked off, not a single round penetrated the can, though the cans were bulged out and the gas vented.

I was wondering about rounds "contained" in metal ammo cans ... probably an anticipated scenario in the design.

[JagerDog]

The brass will go further than the bullet.

I've shot 12g shells with a BB gun. The case came back about 15' toward me and the pellets went about 2'.

[Hockeytodd03]

Seeing this makes me fell a whole lot better about my storage of ammo in a stack on safe and cans.