User Panel
User Panel
User Panel
|
Posted: 10/19/2010 12:09:05 PM EDT
[#1]
Not to worry. In a fire the cartridges will just cook off and pop. Without the confines of a chamber and barrel to contain things, they pretty much just sit there and split. We found this out in the Gulf War when "disposing" of AK47 rounds in the shit burners.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/19/2010 1:47:28 PM EDT
[#2]
I'm kind of wondering the same thing. Say you have an ammo can packed to the brim. The can then becomes the "chamber" containing the pressure if the rounds were to all go off at once. Chances of it going off all at once would seem slim, but if it were to all go off in rapid sequence, would the ammo can be able to contain the pressures? Wouldn't be surprised if they did, as they are pretty well built, but would hate to think those ammo cans have the potential to become dangerous. And no, I'm not sending anybody any ammo to test this.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/19/2010 2:51:13 PM EDT
[#3]
Didn't the Mythbusters dump various rounds into a fire? Forgot the results though...
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/19/2010 4:02:30 PM EDT
[#4]
Quoted:
Didn't the Mythbusters dump various rounds into a fire? Forgot the results though... "pop" and thats about it |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/19/2010 4:11:20 PM EDT
[#5]
Quoted:
I'm kind of wondering the same thing. Say you have an ammo can packed to the brim. The can then becomes the "chamber" containing the pressure if the rounds were to all go off at once. Chances of it going off all at once would seem slim, but if it were to all go off in rapid sequence, would the ammo can be able to contain the pressures? Wouldn't be surprised if they did, as they are pretty well built, but would hate to think those ammo cans have the potential to become dangerous. And no, I'm not sending anybody any ammo to test this. How will you get the can warm enough to pop all of the ammo, but NOT warm enough to melt the rubber seal? I think the Military thought ammo cans out pretty well. 
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/19/2010 4:43:53 PM EDT
[#6]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Didn't the Mythbusters dump various rounds into a fire? Forgot the results though... "pop" and thats about it I didn't need the Mythbusters to tell me that.
OP - If you're concerned, just put your ammo cans into another container. Or, you could bring a box of ammo out to your next campfire, toss 'em in, and hide behind a tree. Once the fire burns down, you'll find the majority of the casings and bullets in the ashes. The rest may leave the immediate vicinity but not with enough velocity to be concerned about a fire in your home. The fire will destroy far more than the burning ammo will. |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/19/2010 5:40:56 PM EDT
[#7]
Not to worry. In a fire the cartridges will just cook off and pop. Without the confines of a chamber and barrel to contain things, they pretty much just sit there and split. We found this out in the Gulf War when "disposing" of AK47 rounds in the shit burners.
Roger that. Red-Leg speaks true. A long while back there was a huge thread here put up by local smoke-eaters, aka: Firemen, and that was their actual experiences. |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/19/2010 5:53:51 PM EDT
[#8]
Quoted:
Not to worry. In a fire the cartridges will just cook off and pop. Without the confines of a chamber and barrel to contain things, they pretty much just sit there and split. We found this out in the Gulf War when "disposing" of AK47 rounds in the shit burners. Roger that. Red-Leg speaks true. A long while back there was a huge thread here put up by local smoke-eaters, aka: Firemen, and that was their actual experiences. Yes. But I still wouldn't sit around - it'll still launch plenty of shell casings. My ill-advised experiences of playing "bullits" (throwing 22lr into a bon fire) indicated that shell casings will launch a considerable distance and travel with impressive force. In summary - don't store your ammo in fire. |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/20/2010 2:03:43 PM EDT
[#9]
Julian Hatcher covered this in his book Hatchers Notebook. They placed live ammo on a hot plate and placed a cardboard box over the hot plate. None of the exploding ammo was able to penetrate the cardboard.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/21/2010 6:43:51 AM EDT
[#10]
Quoted:
In summary - don't store your ammo in fire. Sound advice  .
I'm not so worried about the stored ammo in my house, but the handguns that all have rounds chambered  and the several lbs of powder that won't slow a fire down any either.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/21/2010 7:01:49 AM EDT
[#11]
Not chambered is fine. Ammo cans in gang box even better.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/21/2010 9:22:23 PM EDT
[#12]
I suffered a catastrophic garage fire 3 years ago. I had 6000-7000 rds of 5.56 and 308 in the garage. The fire and heat were intense. So hot in fact that the swingarm on my quad melted. Everthing in the garage that was plastic melted. All my ammo was in various 50cal storage cans. Nothing happened to the ammo. It still shoots just fine. I worried that the fiemen would not want to go into the garage if they knew about the ammo, but I told them first thing and they said 'no worries" and went straight in. I got lucky and none of it cooked off; but it wasn't directly in the middle of the most intense area of the fire.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/22/2010 6:02:51 AM EDT
[#13]
Quoted:
I suffered a catastrophic garage fire 3 years ago. I had 6000-7000 rds of 5.56 and 308 in the garage. The fire and heat were intense. So hot in fact that the swingarm on my quad melted. Everthing in the garage that was plastic melted. All my ammo was in various 50cal storage cans. Nothing happened to the ammo. It still shoots just fine. I worried that the fiemen would not want to go into the garage if they knew about the ammo, but I told them first thing and they said 'no worries" and went straight in. I got lucky and none of it cooked off; but it wasn't directly in the middle of the most intense area of the fire. That is impressive. I have had a few military vehicles burn out under me. The most recent was an MRAP loaded with a 50cal. When it was burning down every round popped off and the rounds that were in the open can on top of the truck gave the tell tail sound of cracking off and flying overhead. We stayed down after we had everyone out as each of the rounds went off. The cans inside the truck sounded more like pop corn some going off in quick bursts or groups others going off slowly. I know the seal on those cans are stronger than most would think. Especially if you get something bigger than 50 cal. If you get the mk19 or mortar cans the seals are very strong and may continue to seal even while melting. I have burned alot of dunnage in my day and know that it doesn't just burn clean off. I don't know if in a hot enough fire the rounds would build up pressure then blow. |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/23/2010 5:15:14 AM EDT
[#14]
Small arms ammo, especially pistol and .30 and below, will -as mentioned several times above- "pop" without major issues, though uncontained ammo will tend to toss bits all over the place. If it's in a GI ammo can, it may not even dent the can IF it cooks off.
One major exception to this is BLANKS. Those MFs fragment when the cook off, and they can throw dangerous brass shrapnel for quite a distance. This is from personal experience-my radio site was on the edge of the jungle in Panama, and the Army used the mowed area for training. They would "dispose" of unexpended blanks by tossing them-often whole 100-round M60 bandoleers- into the foliage on the jungle line. A typical dry season grass fire worked its way into the un-mowed area and it was like the 4th of July. We were locked down for two hours because the "disposal" area was where the gate in the fence was... The fire fighters said that the training drop zones were much worse than this in grass fires, because unexpended blanks were scattered everywhere. |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/25/2010 5:56:37 PM EDT
[#15]
Quoted:
Quoted:
I'm kind of wondering the same thing. Say you have an ammo can packed to the brim. The can then becomes the "chamber" containing the pressure if the rounds were to all go off at once. Chances of it going off all at once would seem slim, but if it were to all go off in rapid sequence, would the ammo can be able to contain the pressures? Wouldn't be surprised if they did, as they are pretty well built, but would hate to think those ammo cans have the potential to become dangerous. And no, I'm not sending anybody any ammo to test this. How will you get the can warm enough to pop all of the ammo, but NOT warm enough to melt the rubber seal? I think the Military thought ammo cans out pretty well. Good call. Hadn't thought about that. |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/25/2010 6:26:30 PM EDT
[#16]
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/25/2010 8:19:36 PM EDT
[#17]
I give a hands up to the OP for raising this question, and to those who responded (and to those who asked the same in earlier posts). I never thought about the potential consequences in a fire. This gives me more assurance that they won't "explode" in a fire, but "pop" as they cook off.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/26/2010 2:42:34 AM EDT
[#18]
Great video-thanks for posting the link. It looks like SAAMI wanted to debunk a lot of myths about ammo, and they did a really impressive job. |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/28/2010 7:51:48 AM EDT
[#19]
I'm more concerned about what's under your sink in the kitchen & bathrooms..... then your ammo cooking off.
Being in a rural area.... almost 99% of the structure fires we roll up to has ammo cooking off! |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/28/2010 7:35:02 PM EDT
[#20]
Urban FF/Pm here. I'm more worried about the damn roof over my head than the fire crackers in your closet. However, I'm not so sure about the ones in the chambers. Then again, statistically, I'm more likely to die from a heart attack than a structure fire, let alone a stray bullet in a structure fire.
(First post, love the site, Gathering AR knowledge, first AR to come soon, Hopefully) |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/29/2010 1:02:29 AM EDT
[#21]
Quoted:
Great video-thanks for posting the link. It looks like SAAMI wanted to debunk a lot of myths about ammo, and they did a really impressive job. +1. I've often wondered the same about this myth. thanks for posting this SAAMI video. |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/30/2010 6:06:53 AM EDT
[#22]
Quoted:
Urban FF/Pm here. I'm more worried about the damn roof over my head than the fire crackers in your closet. However, I'm not so sure about the ones in the chambers. Then again, statistically, I'm more likely to die from a heart attack than a structure fire, let alone a stray bullet in a structure fire. (First post, love the site, Gathering AR knowledge, first AR to come soon, Hopefully) Welcome to the site! 
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/30/2010 1:00:11 PM EDT
[#23]
Quoted:
Didn't the Mythbusters dump various rounds into a fire? Forgot the results though... IIRC, they also cooked-off a .50 BMG in an oven. It cracked the oven window and that was about it. |
|
|
Win a FREE Membership!
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.
