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DONT DROP LIVE ROUNDS

STEERZ@NDSTRIPESSTEERZ@NDSTRIPES Member Posts: 370 ✭✭✭
edited September 2002 in General Discussion
I was just curious if any of yall ever dropped live rounds that went off after striking the ground or any other object. I had someone tell me they were doubling on skeet with a break open and had a round hit the ground and go off. Just like one hell of a firework he said, no one was hurt.

JUSTICE WITHOUT MERCY
IS TYRANY, MERCY WITHOUT
JUSTICE IS WEAKNESS.
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Comments

  • mkirklandmkirkland Member Posts: 1,040 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Your friend isn't telling the truth. Rounds won't go off if you drop them, they need to be in a firearm. They might phizz and spit out the round but it won't shoot like your friend says.
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  • Smokeeater 38Smokeeater 38 Member Posts: 2,735
    edited November -1
    No, I've never heard about any rounds going off from just being dropped.

    I rush in where others flee.
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  • Warpig883Warpig883 Member Posts: 6,459
    edited November -1
    We used to tape marbles to the primer when we were kids. THEY WILL GO BOOM when they hit the ground.



    Used to throw them in the wood burner also.

    moc.murofsmraerifeht
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  • STEERZ@NDSTRIPESSTEERZ@NDSTRIPES Member Posts: 370 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Thats why I asked I had never heard of anything like that. But then I thought, If a round fell directly onto a bunch of jagged stones and just happend to strike the primer, well maybe?

    JUSTICE WITHOUT MERCY
    IS TYRANY, MERCY WITHOUT
    JUSTICE IS WEAKNESS.
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  • allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,696 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    As a restless and disturbed child I would, in the interest of science, lay a 12 gauge shell on the ground and shoot at the primer with a Daisy bb gun. When the primer was hit, that thing blew. It was a loud explosion, just like it had been in the gun. I made sure to remove the shot before I tried it, which is why I have lived to tell about it. I believe that a shell that was dropped, if it hit a rock just right, would go off and I wouldn't want to be anywhere nearby when it did.
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  • TxsTxs Member Posts: 17,809 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Never heard of that happening, but I did witness a pretty funny freak incident with ammo that wasn't loaded in a gun.

    Way back when I was in the military we were just beginning our shift one night, drawing weapons from the armory and preparing for inspection. One fella drew a .38 with 18rds of ammo, a hand held radio and a spare battery. He loaded his weapon, put the radio in it's holder, then just dumped the 12 loose rounds and spare battery in his flight jacket pocket. Right in the middle of the open ranks inspection his jacket pocket blew up. The guy, along with everyone close by, almost freaked. Come to find out, one of the loose rounds had shorted across the terminals of the battery, causing it to discharge too rapidly and explode.

    The poor guy didn't need coffee the rest of the night.

    Edited by - Txs on 09/06/2002 17:35:09
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  • Judge DreadJudge Dread Member Posts: 2,372 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Well a friend dropped one in the dark trying to load his gun and the thing just looked like this.






    400 million cows can't be wrong ( EAT GRASS !!! )
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  • MobuckMobuck Member Posts: 14,165 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I had a .22 rimfire pop when it shorted out a 9v battery in a fanny pack. Brass went all over. Definitely would have caused injury except was under the seat of my pickup.

    Mobuck
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  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Well, there would sure be shrapnel from a round going off outside of a firearm, but the force would be much less than if the casing were contained in the chamber.

    Never even thought of detonating a shell by using it to make a short circuit . . . and will be mighty careful not to try it in the future.
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  • nunnnunn Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 36,085 ******
    edited November -1
    I saw this happen at my house, and again at a gun show. Both cases were with loose-packed rounds in a plastic bag. The bag was knocked off the table and hit the floor. When it hit the floor, one round discharged.

    What happened was that the rim of one cartridge was situated against the primer of another. When the bag was jarred, it was enough to fire the round.

    Very minimal risk. There is no chamber to contain and direct the force generated. The expanding gases take the path of least resistance and rupture the case, leaving little energy to move the bullet.

    In the case at my house, the bullet traveled about 8 feet and struck the refrigerator door, not hard enough to dent it. Just hard enough to dislodge a magnet. The fired case was torn all up. My rounds were .38 Special.

    I don't know what the caliber was at the gun show, but it was at an ammo dealer in the next aisle over from me. The show was crowded with the usual buzz and noise of several hundred people all talking at once. When that round went BANG, you could have heard a pin drop. In just a minute, it was figured out what happened, and everything went back to normal.

    The hazard of rounds firing when dropped was probably instrumental in the demise of the pinfire ignition system.

    Centerfire rounds will likely not fire if just dropped. Maybe if the primer is seated high and it falls on the primer.

    Theoretically, a rimfire round can fire if dropped on the rim, but it would have to be dropped from considerable height.

    SIG pistol armorer/FFL Dealer/Full time Peace Officer, Moderator of General Discussion Board on Gunbroker. Visit www.gunbroker.com, the best gun auction site on the Net! Email davidnunn@texoma.net
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  • Hunter4lifeHunter4life Member Posts: 45 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've shot all kinds of shells/cartidges with
    my pellet gun, as a kid...even tossed some in
    the campfire...The shot/bullet pretty much goes
    nowhere, and the powder just fizzles. The bullet
    wont stay in the brass long enough to build much
    pressure, it more or less "falls" out. The primers
    however, make a hell of a bang. It's almost as
    loud as being shot out of a gun. I do not recomend
    trying this...Just take my word for it.

    Hunter
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  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Hunter4life - Hehehe . . . I wonder just how many of us, impressed with the hero doing just this in so many old Westerns, just *had* to try it for ourselves . . . ? Let's see a show of hands.

    BTW, you were not the only one, of that I'm certain! LOL! Thanks for the memories.
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