Spent casing setting off live cartridges?

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Darth-Vang

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Saw a video of guy shooting his guns and his immediate spent casing bounce off the wall and landed on his exposed cartridges(cartridges were upside down) and managed to set off the cartridges!!!! Can hot brass set that off?
 
I don't know that I've heard of a spent casing setting off a live round, but I have heard of a live round being dropped so that it landed primer end down on an irregular object with enough force to fire the primer. The result was unspectacular since outside of a chamber, rounds don't really explode. But I imagine it was a big surprise for the persons present.

To answer your question directly: No, hot brass isn't hot enough to set off other rounds.

Also, I can't see a spent case setting off multiple rounds from impact. I could see it setting off one round if it hit just right on the primer with a lot of force.

I agree, I would really love to see the video if you can provide a link.
 
This seems highly unlikely or possibly like a video that was edited. Primers are very stable (more stable than to be ignited by a hot spent casing). I too would like to see a link to the video.
 
The only time I have had a cook off was when firing the M60 machine gun with an extremely hot barrel. And it was the barrel that set off the rounds. From my experience, a hot case will not be hot enough to setoff an unfired round.
 
I don't think this has anything to do with heat but with percussion. I can believe it, though it was no doubt a rare fluke. If the edge of the empty case impacts a primer in the right spot. It does not take much energy to ignite a primer assuming it's done fast/sharp enough. This is not the first time I have heard of similar incidens.
 
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Dang it facebook doesn’t have a copy link…. but for those who needed to see it, it’s on the “Hmong Firearms” group. It’ll show a senior caucasian male shooting his pistol and his spent cases bounces on the wall on his right…
 


Very interesting. As the caption says, it's caused by the impact of the empty that bounced off the wall. It must have hit one of the live rounds just exactly right and with significant force to get the primer to go off. It's not something that I, personally, would worry that much about. My feeling is that the odds of it happening are very very small. That said, it hurts nothing and is really easy to just close the box while you're actually shooting.
 
I dropped a .38 special round loaded with a Federal primer that hit a rock just right (or wrong) that set it off. There was a pop. Enough to surprise me and my friend but it wasn’t spectacular at all. That was years ago while shooting in the desert on a camping trip.
Of course we had hearing protection on so it may have been a bit loud but what I heard was a pop.
 
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Man the odds of that have to be astronomical...

Then multiply that by the odds of having a video of it happening.

I've seen a video of a ricochet hitting a magazine in the shooters pocket just right and setting off a round. (Video at 11)
 
Had a guy get injured with a 50 cal M2 in OEF years ago. Bad wound to his thumb. I was really confused how that could happen, so looked into it a bit. During a hot fight he had ejected several rounds and some were laying in the turret just wrong/right and when he spun the turret around a primer was struck causing the cartridge to go off. Lot of powder in a 50 and the brass cut him bad.

I would have lost money betting on the video above, but odd things do happen. Wonder if it was factory ammo? High primers make it more likely?
 


Very interesting. As the caption says, it's caused by the impact of the empty that bounced off the wall. It must have hit one of the live rounds just exactly right and with significant force to get the primer to go off. It's not something that I, personally, would worry that much about. My feeling is that the odds of it happening are very very small. That said, it hurts nothing and is really easy to just close the box while you're actually shooting.

Thanks for sharing. Still hard to image even though I watched it 5 times. I am always cautious about blackpowder at the outdoor range. Always seems like someone wants to smoke next to me during a cease fire if I bring any.
 
Thanks for sharing. Still hard to image even though I watched it 5 times. I am always cautious about blackpowder at the outdoor range. Always seems like someone wants to smoke next to me during a cease fire if I bring any.
Off topic. But it seems some comment always opens the door. Any way member at my club pushed for a no smoking ban on the out door range for just that purpose. This a few years before such bans became popular. And here’s me shooting fire breathing percussion hand guns at my station. The logic sort of escaped me then. The measure did pass however.
 
Off topic. But it seems some comment always opens the door. Any way member at my club pushed for a no smoking ban on the out door range for just that purpose. This a few years before such bans became popular. And here’s me shooting fire breathing percussion hand guns at my station. The logic sort of escaped me then. The measure did pass however.
Yes it is off topic just another range safety tip. I don’t smoke but I never minded smokers at the range as long it’s not in my face or my gunpowder. (I know I send others a smoke screen when shooting blackpowder.). On topic, primers are an interesting little invention for sure. When handloading I wear safety glasses when priming. You never know.
 
As others have stated the heat had nothing to do with it. But if the primer gets hit just right yes. This is more common with 22 rim fire ammo. If the rim gets hit just right it will detonate.

I personally know a high school kid who was walking from the parking lot into his school many years ago, (early 1980's). When he put his hands into his jacket pocket he found a single 22 cartridge he forgot about. Rather than get into trouble with it in school he simply tossed it. Unfortunately it landed just right on the pavement and discharged. There were no injuries or damage, but he did end up being suspended for 3 days IIRC.

There was a news story a few years ago about a guy lifting weights in his garage. He set a dumb bell down on an unseen 22 cartridge on the floor and it discharged. He suffered a very minor cut on his calf from a piece of the brass.
 
so in theory a case mouth smacked a primer? I guess its possible, though the energy of a ricochet off a padded wall is unlikely to have the energy. It looks and probability wise, and common sense wise, that someone behind the guy was playing with a gun, and shot that ammo tray.
 
I have set off rounds with heat, there is some time delay from application of heat to detonation, even if the source is close 1000 degrees Fahrenheit and a spent case isn’t going to be near that temperature.

upload_2021-7-4_15-37-5.jpeg

Put me in with the impact crowd.

Likely from above, looks like the case did fall into that area.

And the case that went off was one exposed, outside the protection of the box.

F4749139-777E-43B4-B2A9-D256D70C0B57.jpeg

Might be able to make a call and get more details. The pen the person is holding, pointing to the screen is from this place.

https://texasgunexperience.com/ltc-training
 
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