Rounds go off during house fire?

Ammo most certainly will combust if involved in a fire. What it will not do, unless it's chambered, is launch the bullet at any significant velocity.

The primer might depart the brass fast enough to get through your skin if your standing close, but the brass will generally split when the powder combusts, leaving the bullet sitting close by.

You can learn this for yourself with a handful of ammo at your next brushfire.

Ammo is considered an accelerant which makes the fire burn faster. The rounds explode and there could be injuries from shards of brass. If rounds start going off firefighters generally back off due to safety concerns unless they know there is the possibility of getting someone out alive. They will contain the fire and keep it from spreading to other structures, but normally will not fight the fire aggressively. I don't do it, but it is a good idea to keep large amounts of ammo and powder in a separate storage building for this reason.

In the top sticky area here is a video that SAAMI put out for firefighters about what to expect when encountering burning ammo. Worth watching for any that have not seen it yet. Yes I am a volunteer firefighter and use this video for training.

i have been in my house fires hen i as in the fire department ammo goes off. i have had it go off when i was near it u can feel stuff hit your turnout gear doe not have much power. a case of shotgun shells went off one time that made me pucker some lol.

FROGO207 said:

In the top sticky area here is a video that SAAMI put out for firefighters about what to expect when encountering burning ammo. Worth watching for any that have not seen it yet. Yes I am a volunteer firefighter and use this video for training.

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Here is a link to said video.

Ron

It will “go off”. Bent over to stoke a camp fire when I was a kid and the shirt pocket full of .22 rounds that fell in the coals caused damage to the tent. Not very dramatic but can happen none the less. Kind of like popcorn throwing burning wood.

I think that blank ammunition might be a bit more of a hazard in a fire than bulleted ammunition. That's because (a) the only thing between the fire -- the source of ignition -- and the powder is a thin paper wad, and (b) the powder itself is faster burning than the typical propellant powder. This affects me because as a former reenactor, I still have a large quantity of blank ammo. Nevertheless, although the rounds may pop off and add to the intensity of the fire, flying shrapnel won't be much of an issue. (I have always been extra careful with fire prevention.)

I know that when firing blanks in a machine gun, for example, the heat buildup is much worse than when firing live ammunition.

My only concern with ammunition in a fire is those tiny little pesky primers. I always wondered just how much velocity they can launch at. I know the claims that they will break skin and figure I guess it depends on the cartridge launching them but just one of those things. I wonder if I made a test jig if I could chronograph one?

Ron

I put a primer on the gas stove turned on burner walked away and after couple seconds a heard a loud bang couple bounces I never found the primer.

My only experience heating a round to discharge occurred accidentally and it was similar to what edwardware described in Post #2. The primer ignited (and while it backed out a bit, remained in the primer pocket) and between the force of the primer and the ignition of the powder, the bullet flew somewhere around six to eight inches and that was all except for the fact it nearly scared me and my friend to death.

Hatcher's Notebook has a chapter about what happens when ammunition is cooked off in a fire. The cardboard box rarely got a dent.

I linked this video at the time stamp that deals with ammunition in a fire but the video as a whole covers a wide variety of situation where small arms ammunition is put at risk. In general small arms ammunition not in firearm is relatively safe and unlikely to do anything spectacular.

Too many western movies where our hero manages to slip a few rounds from his gun belt (with his hands tied up behind his back no less) and toss them into the camp fire without the bad guys noticing.

Of course when the rounds start cooking off and bullets flying everywhere our hero never gets shot by one of the bullets.

Since firemen are good guys there is no danger to them (plus the fact that tests prove there is little/no danger getting shot in a real fire).

But movies are more fun.

A few minor suggestions,
The answer is the same for the civilians as for the military for ammo; venting ammo boxes made of steel. Problem solved with cooked off ammunition.

For reloading, vented type wood or steel cabinets reduce the danger. For the paranoid, keep plastic gallon jugs of water in the cabinet above the powders and primers. Primers, keep them in the original containers when not in use. Check smokeless powder periodically--throw away degraded powders and if sealed, watch for bulging of containers due to outgassing. Keep your reloading station clean and promptly clean up spills. Do not reload around open flames or use combustion type heaters around your reloading station. In times of low humidity, it doesn't hurt to wipe down metal and plastic surfaces with anti static materials. Can use even an old ion gun type destatic device (used for LP's)

Blackpowder is a whole nother issue. It requires much more stringent safety precautions.

Yeah, I have heard that live ammo in a fire merely cooks off but I can dispel that rumor. Before I retired I was getting a drink at the water cooler at work. I heard it from a friend, who heard it from a friend who heard it from another that someone's third cousin actually knew a guy who had live ammunition stored in his house when he had a house fire. Pictured below is the result of his only 20 rounds cooking off, the resulting explosion was the result of the sum of the squares of the intense heat. Yeah, something like that!



Ron

In 1005 we had a house fire. I have been a reloading since 1965. I had 60lbs of various powders and who knows how many thousand primers and loaded rounds in the basement. The 1 lb. metal cans of powder with soldered joints were split about 3 inches at the joint. A few of the primers near the edges of factory trays had fired but most of them looked brand new. The basement ceiling above the reloading area was gone and the sky was visible from the basement. The storage area was pretty unremarkable in appearance considering what was stored there. If a round cooked off in a loaded firearm chamber of course all bets are off.

Bob
NRA Benefactor Menber

Englishmn said:

I put a primer on the gas stove turned on burner walked away and after couple seconds a heard a loud bang couple bounces I never found the primer.

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I take it you are single?

Bob Willman said:

In 1005 we had a house fire. I have been a reloading since 1965. I had 60lbs of various powders and who knows how many thousand primers and loaded rounds in the basement. The 1 lb. metal cans of powder with soldered joints were split about 3 inches at the joint. A few of the primers near the edges of factory trays had fired but most of them looked brand new. The basement ceiling above the reloading area was gone and the sky was visible from the basement. The storage area was pretty unremarkable in appearance considering what was stored there. If a round cooked off in a loaded firearm chamber of course all bets are off.

Bob
NRA Benefactor Menber

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I also lost a house to a fire and had a LOT of powder ect. that burned...

There was very little noise, some flash when it went and that's about it... YET the local newspaper reported that there was an explosion that "rocked the neighborhood"!!

There was NO neighborhood where I lived, but that didn't stop it from being reported, and YES I did drive to the news-paper and tell them it was all BS and they needed to print a retraction. (which they never did)

Anyway, if the powder/ammo isn't contained in something that let's the pressure build, there is NO "explosion"...

DM

DM~ said:

I also lost a house to a fire and had a LOT of powder ect. that burned...

There was very little noise, some flash when it went and that's about it... YET the local newspaper reported that there was an explosion that "rocked the neighborhood"!!

There was NO neighborhood where I lived, but that didn't stop it from being reported, and YES I did drive to the news-paper and tell them it was all BS and they needed to print a retraction. (which they never did)

Anyway, if the powder/ammo isn't contained in something that let's the pressure build, there is NO "explosion"...

DM

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Before all else my heart goes out to any of you who lost personal property in a house fire, something I never want to experience.

What this really comes down to is that ammunition or components like primers and powder cooking off in a fire is relatively boring stuff. I mean let's think about it.

As the fire burned the stored components made small popping sounds as flames engulfed them. None of which presented a danger to local firefighters as they extinguished the blaze.

or

As the fire burned the stores of explosives ignited causing explosions which rocked the normally quiet residential neighborhood sending scores of firefighters fleeing for their very lives.

Newspapers and the media in general will do whatever it takes to embellish a story and change truth to lies as required to get their readers to believe what the print. Sadly many of their readers don't understand things like smokeless propellant or other terms in our daily lives making it easy for the media to spread their lies in "breaking news".

Ron

When we were about 12 years old a friend of mine found a box of 22 shells at church. ‍
Anyway he proceeds to throw them at the cement sidewalk like firecrackers. A low percentage went off and we found most the bullets very close by. No injuries. But the SS teacher was not happy.

What does 20,000+/- primers cooking off at once do?


Asking for a friend.

alfsauve said:

What does 20,000+/- primers cooking off at once do?


Asking for a friend.

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See post #17.

Ron

jmorris said:

It will “go off”. Bent over to stoke a camp fire when I was a kid and the shirt pocket full of .22 rounds that fell in the coals caused damage to the tent. Not very dramatic but can happen none the less. Kind of like popcorn throwing burning wood.

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Just reminded me of a guy I knew in High School. He came in with some marks on his face. For some reason he decided to hold a 22lr round and put a lighter under it.

Got some brass in his hand and face. Idiot.