Spent casing setting off live cartridges?

[JohnKSa]

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.

Either the case mouth or the case rim. You can actually see the case bounce off the wall and hit the box of ammo in the video. For the unseen shooter theory to work, the gun would have to fire at exactly the same time and in exactly the same place that the case hit. And then whoever took the video would have to post it with a misleading caption.

As unlikely as the empty setting off a live round is, it's far more improbable that someone accidentally fired a gun at exactly the right time and aimed exactly correctly so that it hit just as the empty case hit and in the same spot.

 

[fxvr5]

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.

How conspiracy theories are born.

 

[mjsdwash]

Either the case mouth or the case rim. You can actually see the case bounce off the wall and hit the box of ammo in the video. For the unseen shooter theory to work, the gun would have to fire at exactly the same time and in exactly the same place that the case hit. And then whoever took the video would have to post it with a misleading caption.

As unlikely as the empty setting off a live round is, it's far more improbable that someone accidentally fired a gun at exactly the right time and aimed exactly correctly so that it hit just as the empty case hit and in the same spot.

maybe, but having a guy fiddling around directly behind him certainly increases that chance. I know I have seen many time at indoor ranges where people have never handled a firearm before film from behind while playing with whatever is rested on the rear bench (my old range had a table running the length of the room opposite the shooting booths, and the tourists would often play around with anything laying there.) While lining up exactly with that case falling onto the tray is unlikely, i cant imagine its more likely that something with the energy of a pingpong ball and no pointed surfaces set off a primer. As far as misleading caption, most internet users have seen hundreds of recycled video's with people's own explanation narrated. I do know if I was filming, and I accidently shot something 3" away from killing someone, I wouldn't go bragging on the internet.

 

[Darth-Vang]

I find it hard to believe that the force from a case could ignite a primer like that. Cases ejected from the gun shouldn’t be bouncing that hard but by what the video has shown is entirely possible…

 

[JohnKSa]

maybe, but having a guy fiddling around directly behind him certainly increases that chance.

So the person holding the camera with one hand is holding a loaded gun in the other hand and aiming it around while shooting the video? And that plus the round hitting in the same place at the same time as the empty does is more probable than what is quite obvious in the video?

i cant imagine its more likely that something with the energy of a pingpong ball and no pointed surfaces set off a primer.

I used to have a pair of shooting glasses with a nice crescent cut out of the polycarbonate right over where the pupil of my eye would be from where the mouth of an empty .45ACP case hit it "with the energy of a pingpong ball and no pointed surfaces".

 

[Carl N. Brown]

The video is not clear on my phone.

What was the round that discharged, centerfire or rimfire?
What was the empty that hit it?

I can image an ejected centerfire casing hitting an exposed rimfire cartridge with enough force to dint the rim & ignite the primer.

It is hard to imagine an exposed centerfire cartridge being hit and being fired by an ejected case of either type.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

When I fire my CZ52 pistol with Czech S&B ammo, the empties eject with much more energy than ping pong balls.

 

[tactikel]

Any piece of metal hitting a primer anvil hard enough will set it off.
Friend at the range had a .22 LR dud (" golden ammo" go figure) ejected the cartridge checked for a primer strike and declared this stuff is s***, threw the shell down in disgust where it hit a rock and popped off!

 

[Demi-human]

So the person holding the camera with one hand…

…Also appears to be eight or nine feet tall, by the perspective of the camera shot down onto the man’s head.
Clearly a lucky video of an unlucky human experiencing a fluke occurrence.

Nearly as bad as spilling a sweet tea into an open ammunition box with not yet charged but fully prepped and primed cases among the test cartridges.

I bet both he and I close the top now…

 

[WheelGunMan]

Unreal! Going forward, I'll be sure to keep my ammo cases closed.

 

[.38 Special]

Just more justification for my avoidance of bottom feeders.

I would have bet the situation in the video was impossible. Guess I don't know everything after all.

 

[doubleh]

Unreal! Going forward, I'll be sure to keep my ammo cases closed.

Or at least set the open box on the left side of the bench away from the ejected empties.

 

[mindbent]

Could've had a slow burner that didn't fire and just put it in the box, reloaded gun and continued to shoot. The round just so happened to go off at that time. Not enough video before the incident to determine cause. Seems to be the case in many videos of a situations gone wrong.

 

[Havok7416]

I've seen this sort of thing happen before - just not in person. It can absolutely happen. I've been covering my ammo on the bench since I don't know when.

Awhile back a member here posted something about tripping and dropping a box full of .45 cases that were primed but not loaded. One of them hit something solid and the primer was set off.

 

[wesmonster]

I’m with mcb, not heat but force of impact could have set it off, more likely if primer was soft and not set at the correct depth. Also more likely if it was a steel case that struck it.

if this is a ‘should I be worried?’ question, no. Properly made ammo is stable and even if if it does go off without being chambered, the risk is minimal as the case wall will blow out, possibly sending brass bits flying, but that bullet won’t go anywhere.