What about the ammo?

[Jack T.]

Hi everyone:

I live in San Diego Co. Cal. and I have a technological question rather than a humorous one.

As I packed to evacuate, I thought about the the 500 odd rounds of various types of ammunition laying about. It would have been a heck of a task to find it all let alone pack it in a hurry.

The question is would the firemen be in danger if the house went up? Or is it necessary to find every stray round to evacuate with my overnight bag? Some people only had a few minutes notice.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Jack

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Jack, yes the ammo would "cook off" and pose a potential hazard. I would always suggest keeping all live rounds together in a safe or at least in steel ammo boxes for ease of finding them and also from a security point of view.

I hope that your home and family remain safe!

Cheers, Ade.

[mkb42h]

american rifleman did a research article about that years ago.

as i recall loose cartridges scatter blown open cartridge cases away from the bullets like rockets, as the bullets are heavier than the cases.

i think ammo cans are perfect for storage as that is exactly what they were designed for.

[james m]

No the loose ammo would not pose a real danger to anyone. This is one of those cock and bull stories posted by the liberal left gun grabers. Unconfined ammo goes off just about like firecrackers and you'd have to be really close to get hurt. Now ammo chambered in a firearm is a totally different matter.
Jim

[Granate]

When 5.56mm blank rounds were plentiful in the late 70's we would build a campfire and get it burning cherry red. We would then thrown in a box of 20 and stand back. We'd be just 35 yards from them when they started cooking off. I probably shouldn't be saying this but they were neat as the made a pop sound and launched up in the air trailing a little smoke, just like a missle. The crimp gave way before the primer.

[geopop71]

Ammo

Strange, but a show called "MYTH BUSTERS" just did a piece on that very subject. They tossed a variety of rounds including .50 cal and .30 cal plus a varity of pistol ammo into a very hot fire. The rounds did go off, but they exploded almost harmlessly like fire crackers, Only brass fragments from the casings did some slight damage to the wood stacked around the fire. No danger at all!!! No bullets flying every where!!!
Geopop

[Jack T.]

Thanks guys,

Didn't hear of anyone getting shot by cooking ammo. And thats with 1700 houses destroyed. But probably should round up all the loose ammo in a steel box.

It looks like the fires could come back next week. knock on wood.

Jack