Dropped round detonation

[tightloop]

I pour loaded ammo from bucket to bucket like it was corn or something. Perhaps I should rethink my ammo handling practices...?

I don't know, Merlin, I have been dumping them from the loading hopper into a 50cal ammo can for 25 years, all Fed primers and nothing....either we are gifted in our pouring method or have been lucky...what do you think.

[markwilliston]

RO'ing a shooter at our sunday club match, on "unload and show clear" the 38super round came out and detonated quite loudly on the gravel behind me. The shooter is an old/deaf guy that didn't hear it go off... so I finished with "if clear hammer down etc.." Once the gun was put away, turned to see that everyone else was okay. The lady writing scores down got smacked in the thigh with something (no cuts, she had jeans on). We found the case nicely opened up with the primer and bullet nowhere to be seen.

[McAllyn]

One thing that stuck in my head in reading through this thread, people kept mentioning "One in a Million." Now I don't have any idea what the true statistical probabilities of this happening would be, but even something as rare as "One in a Million" when dealing with the amount of ammo we deal with could be potentially VERY common.

With many of us sharing common reloading practices, i.e. dumping loaded ammo from one container to the next, dropping rounds in a container after case gauging, etc. the possibility becomes somewhat shared. So between us, we will see a million rounds very quickly. 100 people reloading 10,000 rounds per year would be a million rounds. Someone, somewhere dumping a full akrobin into an ammo can is eventually going to have a discharge.

It could be you, it could be me, or it could be the next person. I'm wearing my eye-prot, I hope you are too.

Mac

[entropic]

I may not have had one go off while just pouring ammo "like it was corn", but I did have a round of 45 go off at a match 2 weeks ago. I ejected the chambered round and it apparently hit a rock...primer first. The RO tried to give me a DQ thinking it was a ND since it exploded right where I was aiming (at the ground in front of me). I've got the piece of brass which i found 5 feet away...picture coming soon. Never did find the bullet but as far as I can remember from physics class, conservation of momentum would give it less energy then the brass...so it couldn't have gone far. Don't think it's really all that dangerous unless you don't have glasses or you are dealing with artillery sized ammunition

Edited June 13, 2009 by entropic

[DyNo!]

I've heard of it happening but I couldn't believe it could happen with non-pointy bullets!

I can understand if it was 5.56 but this is crazy!

I also pour ammo between cans as if it were corn or something.

[G-ManBart]

I've heard of it happening but I couldn't believe it could happen with non-pointy bullets!

I can understand if it was 5.56 but this is crazy!

I also pour ammo between cans as if it were corn or something.

Yeah, it was very clearly the case rim of one case hitting nearly dead-center on the primer of the second round that caused the problem...come to think of it, the rim isn't too far in size from a firing pin

The more I've thought about it I'm not sure if the round that dropped was the one that detonated or the round that was already in the box. The bullet went out the side of the box (nearly 90*) but the case went nearly straight up into the ceiling. All I know is I've changed my method slightly and still always wear eye protection when loading, case gauging etc. R,

[GrumpyOne]

Definitely gonna change the way I load...and store ammo!