Is the car too hot for keeping guns

[dalepres]

I sometimes keep a gun in my car. When I take the gun out at the end of the day, the metal is so hot that I can hardly hold the gun. Is this dangerous? Any chance ammo would detonate in the heat?

Thanks,
Dale

 

[-v-]

From all that has been said, no. The temperatures needed for a cook-off are high enough that it would have long ago set most of the upholstery in your car on fire.

 

[clarence222]

Ive left guns in the car with outside temps above 100F and have never had a problem

 

[dstorm1911]

A Taurus PT145 Milpro .45 ACP stays under the seat of my Suburban 24/7 here in Tucson, temps outside hit 120 and inside.... the temp gauge in the rearview mirror has shown 180..... never have had the slightest issue and its a plastic gun to boot, there has always been a .45 of one make or other in all my vehicles out here since 1989

 

[Defensory]

Keep the weapon in a soft case, out of direct sunlight, and rotate the ammo at least once or twice a year.

 

[dalepres]

Thanks for the replies. I'm crossing my fingers that it all works out right. But if it were wrong, I'm sure it would be all over the news all the time in Oklahoma. It gets hot here and there are probably a lot of cars with guns in them.

Thanks,

Dale

 

[VARifleman]

My car will get about 150 in the sun with the temperature around 100 outside. This is with direct sunlight on the mercury of the 30-240 boiler thermometer I keep in there.

 

[Steve in PA]

Unless your keeping the handgun in direct sunlight, it will never get so hot that it can't be held.

Also, even if you did keep it in the sun, the round in the chamber will never get hot enough to self detonate.

 

[MaterDei]

rotate the ammo at least once or twice a year

Why would you need to rotate the ammo?

 

[scrat]

My only caution would be when you go to pick it up. Heck there have been times when i left a pair of sunglasses in the car all day. Then around 5pm i get into the car reach for the glasses. Which i can barely hold onto. then have to hold them infront of the ac for a while so i dont burn my face trying to put them on. So ya just be careful if you go to pick it up. With that i guess i would recomend a soft case too

 

[MutinousDoug]

Temperatures in excess of 250f will degrade rifle/pistol propellant. The ordnance company I once worked for used Bullseye and Unique that was stored outside on the Colorado prairie in a red painted CONEX box for the 24 years I worked there. Tested and no change in performance over that period.
Of course, YMMV.
HTH

Doug

 

[Ritchie]

Less hot..

I find it useful to store my pistol in a hard plastic cooler in the trunk.
Into this goes the shoulder bag that provides some extra insulation as
well as a method of transferring the piece without provoking dismay
and panic. Previously, I noticed that the A/C ducting went across the
top inside of the glove box, and drilled some holes to let cool air in there.
That also helped warm the piece in the winter. But since I got the CCW
I prefer to belt up right away, so this doesn't work fast enough. Recently
I've sometimes gone back into work and made up a small bag of ice in
the lunch room to set the piece on. But the picnic cooler is working well.

 

[Nate C.]

"Why would you need to rotate the ammo?"



So it won't get overcooked?

 

[hobgob]

there is a thread here on rounds cooking off in a house fire that i found pretty informative. I too was worried about this issue since i can not carry while on the job, i have to leave my guns in my car. i usually just leave them in the glove box or in a hard case. but do a search and see what you find. I have not had any issue so far. I would not, however, leave a holster in the car. Most Galco holsters have instructionals that say not to, plus the glue on my ankle holster has gotten a little sloppy after leaving it in the car a few too many times. I always think of the mythbusters episode where they leave the car out in the sun to see if the biscuit cans explode. I dont think cars can really get hot enough to cook off rounds.

 

[bogie]

Attention to detail, folks... Attention to detail...

I had to read several posts to get the "Oklahoma" bit.

Frankly, I probably wouldn't do it a lot if I lived in West Texas, but I wouldn't worry much. Probably do it more if I lived in the UP of Michigan...

Attention to detail... It's the little things that get you kilt.