Transporting ammunition in saddlebag

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Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse

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San Antonio, TX
On the way home today, I placed a couple hundred rounds of my ammo in my saddlebag. As I was riding home, it occurred to me that the saddlebag sits on top of the rear muffler. There's a rubber stop that positions the bag in place that keeps the saddlebag from sitting directly on top of the muffler. It was a 22 mile ride back home in 100 degree Texas heat.

Question, Can it get hot enough inside a motorcycle saddlebag that a round could cook off due to the exhaust heat?

It's a dumb question after the fact, but it didn't occur to me until after I was 1/2 way home. Nothing happened, but I can't be the first to have done this or have had such a thought.

TIA



CH
 
Back when I used to ride, I had saddlebags on my bike on occasion and never worried about it. The bags didn't touch the muffler, and once moving it's still just 100 degree heat. If you stop to shoot your velocity and pressure may be different, but I wouldn't worry about cooking off a round.

chris
 
So, I had a garage fire.
The hottest portion of the fire was directly over a military surplus ammo can full of 45 auto handloads and factory loads. The aluminum on the motorcycle which was the unfortunate catalyst to this event was melted within two feet of the box. Inside the box the hot glue on some of the cartridge boxes was melted and evaporated, and the cardboard was dry.
No ammunition in the box detonated. I doubt any was safe to shoot and I never tried. but it did not detonate.
So, two lessons I got from that:
(1) Unless the ammo is in direct contact with the heat source, its hard to get them to spontaneously ignite with an external heat source. I did have a few rounds loose near that area and I never found one of them intact...
(2) Military ammo cans are a good way to safely store ammo in trucks, saddlebags, garages, canoes....
 
Thank you all for the comments. I just wanted to make sure. I've never had a round detonate unintentionally, but with it being close to the exhaust, I wasn't certain. Like I said, nothing happened, but I started thinking about maybe pulling over and putting the ammo on my back seat secured with cargo netting.

CH
 
If you can’t melt a ziplock bag with a ham sandwich In it, that would have already been toasted or blow up a soda pop in the same bin due to heat, you are not going to “cook off” a round.

If it still has paint on it, you are good to go.
 
jmorris said:
If you can’t melt a ziplock bag with a ham sandwich In it, that would have already been toasted or blow up a soda pop in the same bin due to heat, you are not going to “cook off” a round.

If it still has paint on it, you are good to go.
Click to expand...
I have things in plastic zip-loc bags laying in my saddle bags and nothing ever shows any signs of heat damage. I wouldn't give putting ammo in there a second thought. :)

Ron
 
I wouldn't worry about it until somebody passes you honking and pointing. Indian?
 
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LOL. Thanks fellas. I guess the question is kind of funny, but I thought it better to ask before doing it again just to make sure.
 
I used to carry a flat of shotgun shells in my saddlebags, and the 870 cased strapped to the sissy bar and sitting on top of my S&S Super, tucked under my leg.Never had any problems.
 
Years ago I came home on a Sunday night from army drill weekend and threw my BDU pants on the bed and got dressed. About an hour later heard a muffled pop/bang in the bedroom . A 5.56 blank I forgot about in my pocket had fallen down on the electric baseboard heater behind the bed and cooked off. Made a little blackened hole in the bedspread that was down between the bed and the wall nearby. My wife wasn't very pleased.

That being said, I would think everything would be fine as long as it wasn't in direct contact with the heat. In fact, I'd probably be more worried about the saddlebag if its a nice one.
 
Like others have said, don't worry about it. If the heat was too much then any leather saddle bag would be scorched and the paint melted on hard saddle bags. I used to carry ammo all the time when I rode. I never had any problems with leather soft bags or plastic hard bags.
 
Even if it did, which I'd think highly unlikely, the result likely wouldn't be what you think.

Had a friend in my youth who used to get his kicks throwing live rounds into the flames at bonfire parties. It was pure comedy to watch everyone scatter. A minute or two later you'd here a small pop, a little fizzle, and see a quick rush of sparks from the powder. That was it. Those in the know used those precious moments to fill our cups from the keg while everyone else sought cover.

What generally happens is the case ruptures. Without the constraint of the barrel & chamber, there's nothing to allow significant pressure to build up, nor direct said pressure in order to propel the bullet. Disclaimer: It was still stupid, & ill advised.
 
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Lots of good info above, but ya never know what can happen on a Harley...
 
I'm old now, but, I seem to remember a few years (2-3) ago that someone did a test and set a pallet of ammo directly on fire and nothing exploded. Was that a dream???
 
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