Man seriously injured by burning ammunition?

[philip964]

http://www.click2houston.com/news/man-h ... e/36295826

This does not sound right. A fire intense enough to set off ammunition inside a bedroom, you would already be dead from the fire.

Plus I was under the impression that ammunition set off by fire explodes and does not fire a bullet. So your injury would be from shrapnel not a bullet.

Tell me I'm wrong.

[n5wd]

SAAMI, the association of ammunition manufacturers, did some burn tests with the assistance of firefighters, to see exactly what happened to ammunition in a fire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SlOXowwC4c

Basically, you're correct - the ammunition will cook off, basically rupturing the case when the internal pressure gets high enough due to the heat. But, I suppose that some rounds may pop the bullet out into uncontrolled flight - certainly not at the speeds it would if it were contained within a pressure vessel like a barrel, but possibly fast enough to do some damage if it hit someone close by.

[Middle Age Russ]

Given that the bullet typically weighs significantly more than the case it is in, simple physics dictates that the case will become more of a projectile than the bullet if the rounds cook off without being in a chamber/barrel.

[Pariah3j]

Possibly struck by a bullet that cooked off in the chamber ?

[WildBill]

Possibly struck by a bullet that cooked off in the chamber ?

More likely than ammunition in a box.

[E.Marquez]

http://www.click2houston.com/news/man-h ... e/36295826

This does not sound right. A fire intense enough to set off ammunition inside a bedroom, you would already be dead from the fire.

Plus I was under the impression that ammunition set off by fire explodes and does not fire a bullet. So your injury would be from shrapnel not a bullet.

Tell me I'm wrong.

I have PERSONALLY burned thousands of pounds of pounds of small arms ammo (.50cal and 14.5mm and below)., US and non US, not once, not ever was there anything more then cap gun type pop, and NO projectiles ever went whizzing anywhere.
Larger ammo, 25mm and above does cook off as well...as long as it is not in the chamber it just goes pop as well... though with enough forze to sometimes send the projectile off, with enough force it would give you a wicked bruise

If , BIG if, a weapon with a round chambered was exposed to extreme heat that somehow did not otherwise kill the occupant a cook off could have occurred, which "might" have explained the "getting shot" But other than that my experience is the stuff just burns, fizzles and occasionally whistles.

[philip964]

I still believe, the fire required inside a home to cook off ammunition would still to me have to be large enough to have killed the individual from smoke long before the detonation occurred.

The only exception would be if the fire was in a fireplace.

They also mention a serious injury, which points to the ammunition being inside a gun as Pariah3j suggested.

[JP171]

no phillip, fires can and have caused ammo to cook off at temperatures quite survivable by human beings. there would be other signs of intense heat but not always more than a few small blisters or general redness as a 1st degree burn

[philip964]

no phillip, fires can and have caused ammo to cook off at temperatures quite survivable by human beings. there would be other signs of intense heat but not always more than a few small blisters or general redness as a 1st degree burn

Yes, you could put a butane torch up to a box of ammunition and cause a small fire and hurt yourself from the exploding ammunition. You would not be killed from the smoke of that fire.

I'm just having a hard time understanding a normal fire in a house that the person is injured from ammunition rather than being killed from the smoke from the fire.

The story is just odd.

[MONGOOSE]

The local FD won't enter a home with ammo. Rational or not. Lay will let the home burn.

[tlt]

LOL worth adding to the conversation I guess. Watch the ground at the bottom of this video. I do agree though, if anything the shell casing is the projectile, unless one was in the chamber (likely here). That other video was pretty interesting.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi7TUjRf4-w

[WildBill]

no phillip, fires can and have caused ammo to cook off at temperatures quite survivable by human beings. there would be other signs of intense heat but not always more than a few small blisters or general redness as a 1st degree burn

Yes, you could put a butane torch up to a box of ammunition and cause a small fire and hurt yourself from the exploding ammunition. You would not be killed from the smoke of that fire.

I'm just having a hard time understanding a normal fire in a house that the person is injured from ammunition rather than being killed from the smoke from the fire.

The story is just odd.

Sometimes arson is used to try to cover up other evidence.

[tlt]

LOL, small world. I also went through some of the others on your channel. Thank you for your service. If you ever get my way, let me buy you lunch..