Have I made a bomb?

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DeepSouth

DeepSouth

Random Guy
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Years ago when I had less guns and even less money but small kids I bought a small "fire safe" using the term loosely. It's about a 14-16 gun safe, while not a gun cabinet its wasn't much of a safe so as my collection grew I bought another safe, a nice big 64 gun safe.
Well at that time the new safe would hold all of my guns that I wanted to keep in a safe, so I started putting ammo in the old one. See where I'm goin with this?

Long story short, I have a smaller cheap gun safe almost completely full of ammo. Now I know exploding ammo doesn't have much power out side of a barrel so I've never really thought about it being a potential hazard, but today I was looking in the safe for some ammo and thought "explosives in a confined metal box? Hummmm, maybe not the best idea." :uhoh:

So what say the Internet experts, in a fire will this be a chain reaction resulting in a bomb or just a lot of fire crackers in a box?

I must say, with today's ammo prices and availability I like having it locked up, but I certainly don't want to cause an explosion in a fire.
Also if it matters, it's very assorted ammo storage, some loose in small cardboard boxes, some in original boxes, some in ammo boxes, some in spam cans, some on moon clips, some in magazines, ect, ect.
 
I got lots of ammo in steel ammo boxes that are hinged shut. So I guess I am doing same. What else are we to do?
 
Wouldn't be a whole lot different then if you had a locked metal box full of wine bottles in a fire and the bottles. I have had .22 go off outside the barrel, as well as a 12ga that someone dropped to close to the campfire. I have seen video of a .50 bmg placed in a microwave till it went off and it barely blew the plastic door open. Of course when a round goes off outside of the chamber the the casing becomes the projectile and not the bullet as it is much lighter. Inside a metal safe, I wouldnt be to worried. The casing just dont have enough force to be destructive. Not saying I would want to get hit with a casing or casing shrapnel but if its in an safe, I dont see it being anything more then a firecracker, unless you also store homade pipe bombs in the same cabinet.
 
A steel GI ammo box in a fire is designed to weaken the latch spring, and burn out the rubber lid seal, allowing pressure release as the ammo cooks off inside it.

All the while, the steel can, and the sprung open lid wings contain the flying primers, and case shrapnel.

There is nothing better, or safer to store ammo in then a steel GI ammo can!
That is what they were designed to do.

A sealed & locked safe on the other-hand?
Not!

There is no vent system designed in to release pressure from burning powder fast enough.

You do in fact, have a very large pipe bomb if your house burns up around a safe full of ammo.

Move it and store it properly to allow normal combustion of the smokeless powder in an unconfined container.

Like a GI .30 or .50 cal ammo can, or cans.

rc
 
If they all went of at the same time with in a couple Millie-seconds of each other they may bulge the door, and the chances of that happening is nill at best. They will get heated up differently and go off at different times.
Nothing to worry about. Loaded guns in the safe. Is a dangerous element during a fire. The loaded pistol in the night stand is another.
 
I think he was saying it was one of those cheaper non-air tight "school locker" style of safes.
EDIT: Actually not sure. OP, is the locker air-tight?
 
I still contend a GI ammo can, or even a cheap 'wall locker' safe would be better then storing any large amount of ammo in a sealed fire rated safe..

If the OP was talking about a 'Stack-On type' security cabinet?
Fine, I could go with that.

A sealed tight fire rated safe?

Nope!!
No way, no day!!

rc
 
While the safe is a "fire safe" I couldn't hardly call it sealed, I can move the door in and out a good 1/2" when it's closed and locked. We are talking about the cheapest safe walmart had 10 Years ago, a first alert. It's not a cabinet, but it's not much better. I think I could realistically say theirs at least a 1/4-3/8 gap all the way around the door, even when closed and locked.

I really feel like it's safe and would release lots of pressure around the door. I really feel like it's probably safer in a fire just because it would keep shrapnel contained. My only concern reall is if on bullet cooked off and caused a chain reaction and then I'd (potentially) have several thousand bullets popping off nearly simultaneously. I'm not sure that could even happen.

I know an individual round or two isn't a big deal, as a teenager I saw hundreds of 22's thrown into campfires, while not real bright to say the least, it definitely taught me theirs almost no power if it's not in a barrel. In my early 20's I worked with people that would tape small screws to the primers on 8ga shells and drop them off of the top floor of a building onto concert, after cutting out the slug, just to scare people. Again, not smart at all, but it definitely showed you little power bullets have in open air.

But I've also seen many a home made explosion, even a can of chicken noodle soup will put you in the hospital if it's cooked off in a fire. I just don't want to get anyone hurt.
 
While it would take a while for a fire to raise the heat inside a stack of ammo high enough to cook of?
It would not all cook off at the same time.

But rifle powder burns off slowly and blows the primer out, releasing the pressure through the flash hole.
Pistol ammo blows the case up.

Ammo in a fire.
attachment.php


rc
 
If the OP was talking about a 'Stack-On type' security cabinet?
Fine, I could go with that.
Click to expand...

Agreed. In fact, it just so happens that's where my ammo is stored.
 
you DO NOT have a bomb.

unless you have the safe filled with cans of powder, you likely do not have near enough ammo to increase the pressure to a dangerous level.
 
I'm wondering how many red flags your question has set off from the different agencies monitoring what we say on the internet.:)
 
Just a lot of fire crackers in a box. Small cheap gun safes usually are not air tight. A GI ammo can is air and water tight, but designed to open easily. No containment means no boom. Not filled with cans of powder either. Smokeless powder doesn't explode. It burns really fast. Nice fire with contained ammo going bang(not enough energy to damage anything) though.
"...would take a while..." Not very. .22's would start in a couple minutes.
 
After reading the thread, it sounds like having the ammo stored in GI cans and then storing those in something like a gym locker with locks on it might be a good idea. Should release pressure during a fire, but be at least a little harder to get into then just having loose ammo cans ripe for the picking.
 
Internet experts? Call you're local fire captain, they will tell you what you need to know about fire and ammo. If you are out of compliance with code they will tell you. If you are, get in compliance with fire code. Your insurance company will use any investigation to void your fire coverage. You're move.
 
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No danger. The ammo would cook off in a fire, but not all at the same time, and a light safe would either fully contain the pressure or would just pop the seams/hinges.

Now, a safe full of cans of black powder would be another story.

Jim
 
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