Safe Ammo

grugnir

grugnir

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Location
London, Ontario
Hey, folks, hope everyone's enjoying the reopening of outdoor plinking season :D

I was poking around today and tripped over this story here that kind of both gave me the creeps and got me wondering at the same time:

A house fire took a dangerous turn for Edmonton firefighters yesterday morning - when ammunition began exploding.
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I keep my ammo stored in a homemade metal box so damned old that I can't even remember where I got the bloody thing anymore. It's about 2 cu ft inside, made from welded 1/4" steel painted over, and locks with a simple hasp and padlock. It's ugly as a warthog's nutsack but, if rounds were to start cooking off in there, I doubt that anything short of a .50BMG would be punching through it. So what I'm wondering is this:

We hear a lot about what we do to theft-proof our stuff (that's the primary purpose of my UglyBox™) but what do others here do to fireproof stored ammo? Are most folks like me, in that fire resistance is just an accidental byproduct of not wanting your stuff ripped off?

(edit:)
Guess I should have mentioned this, too:

Page concluded that the shells and bullets didn't contribute to the fire.

And he added that, along with several rifles, they'd been stored properly - in the upstairs bedroom where the fire started.
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A solid steel box is not the best thing to store combustibles. It should have a weak side or other weak point to vent pressure so the box doesn't build up pressure and cause a catastrophic explosion.
 
SandRoad said:
A solid steel box is not the best thing to store combustibles. It should have a weak side or other weak point to vent pressure so the box doesn't build up pressure and cause a catastrophic explosion.
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i doubt its air tight, id say the "seal" between the id and the box will vent long before an explosion occurs
 
heavenIsAlie said:
i doubt its air tight, id say the "seal" between the id and the box will vent long before an explosion occurs
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I agree with you, and was just making a point. Cartridges will not go off all at once as detonation of one cartridge will not quickly propagate to another. Now for powder, rather than cartridges, it is much different.

Powder on the other hand is typically stored in a small number of larger quantity containers and once burning starts....

Also remember that even a 1' x 1' lid on a box, with 10 psi pressure in the box, will have a force of 1,440 lbs on it. So if pressure doesn't vent quickly => boom
 
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SandRoad said:
I agree with you, and I was just making a point. Cartridges will now go off all at once as detonation of one cartridge will not quickly propagate to another. Now for powder, rather than cartridges, it is much different.

Powder on the other hand is typically stored in a small number of larger quantity containers and once burning starts....

Also remember that even a 1' x 1' lid on a box, with 10 psi pressure in the box, will have a force of 1,440 lbs on it. So if pressure doesn't vent quickly => boom
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Actually, the "seal" on the UglyBox is just some weather stripping; the "sealing effect" is just a result of the weight of the lid (it opens up like a trunk). And since it contains nothing but cartridges (I don't buy powder often and use it almost immediately when I do), I think the odds of a big, simultaneous detonation are somewhere in the monkeys-outta-my-arse range.
 
grugnir said:
Actually, the "seal" on the UglyBox is just some weather stripping; the "sealing effect" is just a result of the weight of the lid (it opens up like a trunk). And since it contains nothing but cartridges (I don't buy powder often and use it almost immediately when I do), I think the odds of a big, simultaneous detonation are somewhere in the monkeys-outta-my-arse range.
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Hey, wanna leave my monkey out of this.. :D ;)

I was just pointing out the pressure thing if someone reading this thread decided a strong, well sealed box might be a good idea for storing powder. :wave:
 
Someone had posted a link to a firefighters training video the other day. The gist of it was that ammo in a fire is really not that much of a hazard (low velocity bullets).

It was a good video to watch. I'll see if I can link it.

Ah, here we are LINK. Good old SAMMI. :D
 
I don't put too much in any reporter out there these days. Ammo exploding, my opinion would be it popping off not literally exploding. How many articles have we seen posted here on Gunnutz that was written by a reporter with a flare for making an average story exciting when it comes to something firearm related. It may be possible but I think the ammo must be in a air tight solid container.

I watched a fire training video on YouTube where they lit a small building on fire full of assorted ammo and all it did was cook off the rounds. No explosions, no shrapnel, no flying bullets. Search youtube and watch it for yourself guys it is interesting.

At our range we incinerate regular garbage in a old converted boiler type vessel. Live unwanted rounds go in a special container. Occasionally someone will put live ammo in the regular garbage and when it get burned it doesn't explode, it's just pops like popping corn....it does make us back away when it starts but in no one has ever seen anything explode, nor has there been any injurys. Just my 2c and a chance to voice my opinion.
 
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