Round goes off in box

[Agincourt]

Apropos of the condition of the case, many years ago (early sixties?) the American Rifleman did a test to see what actually happened to ammo that was in a fire. The used a variety of rounds, both smokeless and black powder. They built a fire outdoors, tossed in various calibers and put up cardboard boxes on the periphery.

They only found some small pieces of brass that penetrated a layer of cardboard at about fifteen feet. Nothing larger than that. The conclusion, IIRC, was that regular small arms ammo in a fire could burst but the only potential danger was from small pieces of brass hitting someone in the eye. So the condition of the case in the picture makes sense for an unsupported round going off.

Also many years ago the American Rifleman had a report of a death due to a loaded Ruger cylinder falling out of a shirt pocket. This was when they had recently introduced the .22 and .22 WMR convertibles. A man was carrying a loaded extra cylinder in his shirt pocket and when he bent over it fell out and hit the concrete floor exactly at the angle to detonate the primer and the round went through his head killing him.

 

[weekendracer]

Really? I never bought a box of ammo where the ammo was lose in the box. It is always neatly arranged.

Am I buying the wrong ammo?

Short answer, yes.

Not wrong ammo, just wrong amounts of said ammo. It is a pain though, boxed ammo is in a smaller container/box. Loose ammo takes up more space and is harder to manage if you don't have room for larger boxes.

 

[Demoman]

Bought various brass scrap from a closing yard in large gayload boxes loading them in the building there was a few live rifle rounds that fell out ran 2 over with the fork lift and they went off. Didn't know there were cases never mind rounds in the boxes

 

[rivet_42]

Really? I never bought a box of ammo where the ammo was lose in the box. It is always neatly arranged.

Winchester white box 9mm is loose in the box. So is all the .22LR I've ever bought. (Mostly Federal.)

 

[Dench]

The only time I bought ammo that was loose was commercial reloads or factory seconds like xm193bk stuff like that....

WWB 100 round 9mm was loose.

 

[ReluctantDecoy]

Strange that the projectile isn't pointed and the primer isn't dented.

Good point, but the primer does look slightly concave though. Maybe it wasn't the tip (that's what she said?).

 

[swampy]

Really? I never bought a box of ammo where the ammo was lose in the box. It is always neatly arranged.

Am I buying the wrong ammo?

well, lots of the bulk 22lr ammo is loose in the box or bucket. Some commercial reloaders use bulk packaging. I just saw ads somewhere that had ammo in bags.

 

[KBCraig]

Updated story, with video of the incident.

Dropping Live Ammunition CAN Lead To Detonation -

For those that have been wondering about the potential dangers of dropping live ammunition, we have a well documented example for you. The Family Shooting Academy had a recent incident in which a customer dropped a box of ammo. Upon hitting the floor, there was a loud bang and the box flew apart.

www.thefirearmblog.com

 

[drgrant]

WWB 100 round 9mm was loose.

Yes, that, and as someone else mentioned .22 LR.... they just didn't come to mind because its been since like obamascare 2 since I bought either... and that feels like a lifetime ago... Hell, at this point I don't think I've even fired a .22 in at least like 3 years.

-Mike