Dropped ammo detonation?

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Ghost Snake

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This is possibly a really stupid newbie type question, but I've only been shooting for a couple of years and I'm hoping to get an intelligent answer from the reloading crowd. I did a search and couldn't find a previous thread on this.

Last year, I bought just under a s#!7-ton of bulk 9mm ammo to feed my newly discovered 9mm addiction. It's the Remington UMC 115gr that comes packed loose in 1000 round cases. I keep it stored in MTM Case-Gard ammo cans that nicely hold 2000 rounds of 9mm each.

Before going to the range, I load up a couple of the 100 round Case-Gard boxes for transport. I find that the fastest way to load the boxes is to open the box, stick it in the ammo can, dump a few handfuls of ammo onto the box and then line them all up into the individual slots.

While loading the boxes this evening, one of the rounds slipped out of my fingers, flew a few inches into the air and dropped down kind of hard on the loose ammo. This got me wondering:

Is it possible to accidentally set off a round (or a whole lot of them in horrifying sequence) by dropping another round on it like that?

P.S. I'm pretty thick-skinned, so calling me an idiot won't make me cry :)
 
Still alive said:
Haven't you ever scooped and thrown 1000s of rounds around like Scrooge McDuck? :)
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No, but when I got my first 10,000 rounds I did (just for a moment) consider dumping them on the bed and rolling around in them :)

And thanks for the reply. I had a "Holy Crap, what am I doing!?!?!" moment when that round dropped.
 
Yes it can happen ,but only if the primer is hit with enough force. The chance of it happening is slim to none. Possible if it is thrown on the ground but as stated previously the primer must be struck . I wouldn't put too much thought to it, during combat ammo is hit in boxes, mags and Vehicles most of the time will not erupt .:ar15::wave:
 
I guess technically it could happen... Although there's not a lot of pointy bits in a sea of 9mm. Maybe if it fell from chest height onto the point of a nail?

Barring something ridiculous, you're probably safe-ish.
 
Very hard to put enough force on a primer to detonate from any kind of fall or general impact. Plus, in case you don't know, a bullet cooking off is unlikely to do much if any harm since it is the enclosed explosion in the chamber that gives the bullet its force.
 
Ganderite said:
I doubt you could set it off by deliberately throwing the round. And if it did go off, it would be very underwhelming. Think popcorn.
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This is very true. I was once challenged to hit the live primer on a shotshell with a .22 at 20yds. I hit it, completely by fluke, and it kinda went fizzz and smoked a little. We looked at it and the shell had discharged but nothing very exciting at all. I still won't want to be in front of it though!
 
the only time I've ever had this mentioned, was at an advanced handgun course. The instructor (Ron Avery), mentioned that he has seen a round detonate when dropped on gravel at a range. Probably was a 1 in 100 million chance of the primer hitting a piece of gravel with a sharp point.
 
Ganderite said:
I doubt you could set it off by deliberately throwing the round. And if it did go off, it would be very underwhelming. Think popcorn.
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I watched a video where Hickok45 cooked a .45ACP in a pot on a propane stove. You just heard a popping noise, a bit of a shake and then show over.

One little pop is nothing. I was more worried about a thousand little pops happening close together :)
 
Ghost Snake said:
I watched a video where Hickok45 cooked a .45ACP in a pot on a propane stove. You just heard a popping noise, a bit of a shake and then show over.

One little pop is nothing. I was more worried about a thousand little pops happening close together :)
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The one little pop would not lead to more going off. It's not like fireworks. If a round out of a chamber goes off the bullet doesn't really go far if anywhere.
 
Yes, its possible, but extremely unlikely. So unlikely that it's reasonable to answer "No" to your question. In any case, if a cartridge does go off, the projectile will not have much force behind it because the smokeless powder is not confined; it will just fizzle and the projectile will pop off with a small amount of energy behind it. But not enough energy to do any real damage. Look at the video at the following url for real examples:

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2012/11/how-ammunition-reacts-in-a-fire-saami-video-report/
 
Vanman and Spooksar have it. And it is likely a 1 in a 100 million chance. So, the answer is, yup, can happen, but if you lose a millisecond of sleep over the chances, you are over rating the danger. Frozen fecal matter can fall from an airliner too, (has happened) but I don't duck every time a plane goes by. Hey, planes can crash in your backyard, or even bedroom, but again, that is not something I concern my tired brain about.

Exploding cartridges can do some serious harm though. Brass fragments can take an eye, or even lodge in jugular veins, or as B points out, cause other painful owees. Still, I don't worry if I drop a cartridge from a shooting bench, nor into a box of other cartridges. I have a better chance of winning Lottomax than getting hurt from a dropped cartridge.
 
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