Dropped ammo detonates...
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jar
Contributing Member
A Lucky Gunner 22 reliability test. There is an interesting shot during the opening showing manufacturing but at the 3:40 point in the in the video he puts 500 rounds in a tumbler for about an hour. The results might be interesting.
We did something similar. We taped a 12 gauge shell to a BB gun. In retrospect, it's not the best idea in the world.
Officers'Wife
Member
This reminds me too much of when my uncle fitted his fireworks rockets with a small pistol primer then dropped them in a tube with a sharpened bolt at the bottom. He could consistently launch the devices that way and actually got to the point where he could have the heads detonate wherever he wanted them to.
Pretty much everyone in the neighborhood was amazed the man managed to die of natural causes.
Pretty much everyone in the neighborhood was amazed the man managed to die of natural causes.
NIGHTLORD40K
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Back i my hellraising days I was standing by a campfire when my idiot buddy threw a .30-06 round in the fire. The primer blew out and hit him in the forehead. Left a good welt.
We recovered the shell case the next morning with the bullet still seated.
We recovered the shell case the next morning with the bullet still seated.
My boss tells a story that he is on the range....the ammo is open in a box and the empty cases are doing what empty cases do....flying out of the gun....one comes down on a round in the box hits a primer and sets the round off.....I don't remember if it was him or someone else on the range.
danez71
Member
I witnessed a friend fall on his butt with a 22lr in his back pocket.
It went off and left a silver dollar size beat red mark on his butt, exited his pocket to the side and lodged in a wooden backstop a little deeper than flush.
It went off and left a silver dollar size beat red mark on his butt, exited his pocket to the side and lodged in a wooden backstop a little deeper than flush.
Plan2Live
Member
A while back I hear a loud boom in close proximity to my house. My wife asked what caused the boom. I casually answered "probably Joe ______". Joe lived two doors down. Joe runs a lawn service and I was guessing he lingered a little too long while putting air in a lawnmower tire. A week or two later I confirmed it was Joe. Joe dabbles with reloading and was in his shop sharpening a lawnmower blade on the grinder when a spark landed in an open box of primers causing a chain reaction ignition. He said the blast knocked him off his feet and he was glad he had donned ear protection before firing up the grinder. He has since relocated his reloading supplies. I'm guessing the blast startled him and he stumbled while instinctively back peddling, but knocking him off his feet was his testimony.
Demi-human
maybe likes firearms a little bit…
Eli? Is that you?
Didn't work like a shot gun, did it?
We must have walked two miles hunting for the "perfect quarry".
Ahh, childhood. Whelp, I'm gonna go lock up all my shot shells from my kids now...
I was old enough to know better. I didn't start doing stupid things till I was a teenager.Eli? Is that you?
Didn't work like a shot gun, did it?
We must have walked two miles hunting for the "perfect quarry".
Ahh, childhood. Whelp, I'm gonna go lock up all my shot shells from my kids now...
Not Eli. I take it you had a similar experience.
tipoc
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That was it. The article also explained that this was not a new box of ammo so there was no plastic or foam container inside that kept the rounds in place. This was it seems a partially used box of ammo with loose rounds in it..
Riomouse911
Member
Riomouse911
Member
I will say from experience that a vacuum will pop a dropped primer, it’s a bit of a surprise.
I’ve also seen the trustees on the sheriffs range get an occasional scare when a dropped round hiding in the grass between the concrete lanes meets one of their lawnmower blades.
Stay safe.
I’ve also seen the trustees on the sheriffs range get an occasional scare when a dropped round hiding in the grass between the concrete lanes meets one of their lawnmower blades
.Stay safe.
Lawnmowers setting off dropped rounds -
For several decades I maintained a private property that had a range on it. Most casings were left here they fell into the turf, and more than a few live rounds were dropped a lost. The shooting area , along with the rest of the property , was maintained to a high standard and mowed 1-2 times per week. Mower setting was 3". Never once did a round get set off by the mower , and I can say that there was not even any evidence of kicking a spent casing out of the mower deck. At times the area was mowed short and tight as a croquet court , mowing level down to 1 1/2 - 1 1/4" , and that is short by turf standards. (golf course fairways are about 1".) No casing strikes. The metal casings are fairly heavy and lay low in the turf crown. It should be noted that this was an occasional range , not daily high traffic. But - I do remember several occasions in which many hundreds of rounds were discharged in a session , and I mowed within a few days.
For a round to struck by a mower blade that mower would have to be set really low , almost scalp level.
For several decades I maintained a private property that had a range on it. Most casings were left here they fell into the turf, and more than a few live rounds were dropped a lost. The shooting area , along with the rest of the property , was maintained to a high standard and mowed 1-2 times per week. Mower setting was 3". Never once did a round get set off by the mower , and I can say that there was not even any evidence of kicking a spent casing out of the mower deck. At times the area was mowed short and tight as a croquet court , mowing level down to 1 1/2 - 1 1/4" , and that is short by turf standards. (golf course fairways are about 1".) No casing strikes. The metal casings are fairly heavy and lay low in the turf crown. It should be noted that this was an occasional range , not daily high traffic. But - I do remember several occasions in which many hundreds of rounds were discharged in a session , and I mowed within a few days.
For a round to struck by a mower blade that mower would have to be set really low , almost scalp level.
Riomouse911
Member
This range shoots 3,000+ people through every three months, plus the seven separate 30 to 50-lane/50 yard ranges (and the 300 yard range and live-fire house) are used 8-10 hours a day for 5-6 days a week by dozens of outside agencies. (The trap/skeet range is used maybe 2-3 times a week, usually by retirees who belong to the Sheriff's gun club.)
Unfortunately guys are constantly dropping rounds into the grass, which is kept roughly 1.5 to 2", and losing them. I've picked up at least 100 live 5.56/.223 rounds there over the past decade, plus some .308 and a couple of .30-06, countless 9-.40-.45-.38 Spl. I even found a live R-P .45 Colt round about two weeks ago, which was a first for me.
Sadly, a high-volume and full motion range, coupled with most of the guys shooting ammo they're not paying out of pocket for, leads to guys not spending much time looking for dropped rounds like on a private range where people pay for (or reload) every round (Believe me, I look for my dropped ones
). And yes, I have personally seen the commercial Honda mowers the trustees use hit a round and set it off. When I asked the full-time range staff about it, they said that they get those a few times a year. It makes for a pretty good POP!, and the bug-eyes from the trustee I saw hit one showed it was a surprise for him, but they've never had an injury from one. Stay safe.
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