SAAMI - Sporting Ammunition and the Fire Fighter

[firemike]

The video was made for firefighters, but I think it is valuable for anyone who has or is around ammo.

Video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SlOXowwC4c

It is long - almost 26 minutes.

It does a great job of extreme conditions effecting ammo - and shows ammo is actually very safe.

I think it gives some good info to think about when choosing how to store.

[WaterChunker]

The video was made for firefighters, but I think it is valuable for anyone who has or is around ammo.

Video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SlOXowwC4c

It is long - almost 26 minutes.

It does a great job of extreme conditions effecting ammo - and shows ammo is actually very safe.

I think it gives some good info to think about when choosing how to store.

Thank you for the post...definitely worth watching.

[ST911]

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=117460

[PA PATRIOT]

Puts a tear in your eye seeing all that ammo destroyed even if its for a good cause.

[Moose-Knuckle]

Damn over 400K rounds exhausted, I'm gonna assume that SAAMI donated the ammo for the tests.

I've always wondered why so many people believe that ammo in a fire is going to explode and kill everybody within distance. They never think it through about the whole pressure built up inside a chamber and barrel thing, oh well I guess they have seen to many movies.

Edit to add:

I'm glad they did the retail store test; back in 1999 the liberal City Council of Fort Worth TX tried to use their Fire Marshal and shut down Cheaper Than Dirt stating the amount of ammo they have in their warehouse was hazardous.

Link to story here.
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33299

[firemike]

Thanks for that story !

[Moose-Knuckle]

Thanks for that story !

Your welcome, thanks for sharing the link to the tests!

[5hortbus]

Ok,
Was passed this video today, and SHOCKINGLY, I did not start a new thread but searched first. Years of lurking actually paid off.

Here's my question. As the ammo in a loaded firearm will obviously behave as a fired round is supposed to:
Assuming someone stored their weapon with a round in the chamber; will a semi-auto potentially repeat? In other words, fire multiple rounds as fresh rounds are chambered? Given the proper circumstances, of course. (round in chamber cooks off, then after cycle, the next round has not gone off and is properly chambered etc.) My gut tells me that it would.

How about if the weapon is on "SAFE"? Or a striker fired pistol with "Safe-action". Also assuming that it would continue to fire, but I'm too tired to think it all the way through.

[firemike]

Interesting question 5hortbus ...

I think it would be rather complicated for a semi-auto to free fire under fire conditions. I haven't tried it - but ...

You can cause a failure by limp wristing a pistol - would any normal weapon cycle the next round when it is just "laying there" ? We could test this by laying the gun down in a safe way and function the trigger with a string. Don't fire a second round - we just want to make sure it chambers correctly while laying "limp" (stored in a bracket would be a different scenario - I am thinking the old gun layed on the floor under the bed story)

A second consideration is the concept of the heat in general. If the area around the gun is hot enough to cause the round in the chamber to cook-off, I would expect the other rounds in the magazine to burn as well. Even one round bursting inside a magazine would be enough induce a malfunction more times than naught.

[5hortbus]

Firemike,

I think most have lived the pistol thing.

It would obviously have to be a "perfect storm" in order for this to work. A lot would have to do with the particular weapon as well, I would think.

An AR would not succumb to limp wristing any way. But the string test would work to play that out.

I think my mind is working on the fire without trigger pull and/or with safety. In our current environment, my guess is that it will all be theoretical. No one is burning up half a million rounds today, much less semi-auto firearms!

I'm just thinking about the hoserollers running into a house with loaded semi-autos in the stamped metal "safe" in the closet. So they'd be somewhat supported.

It's a world of "what-ifs". None of which really matter unless you're the guy standing on the floor above the aforementioned "safe" at exactly the right moment at exactly the right time.