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.
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.