No longer a firearms owner (fireman and burning ammo)
fish fillet
In article <53...@mimsy.umd.edu>, lai...@crash.cts.com (Laird P. Broadfield) writes...
#
#***some sad stuff about a house being burnt to the ground deleted***
In response to article 52563 (concerning house fires with ammunition and
firearms present), I would say that ammunition poses little danger to
firefighters. I am not sure what Texas A&M firemans training school is
teaching now, but here is the scoop when I learned it four years ago.
In 99% of all cases, the bullet is many times heavier than the shell. For
this reason, if the bullet should happen to be heated up to a temperature
sufficient to ignite the primer and thus the gunpowder, the explosion will
cause the shell to be propelled many times faster than the bullet. The
ratio is such that neither can harm a firefighter in full turnout gear.
So even if the shells do ignite, they will probably not be able to penetrate
thick cardboard, let alone harm a firefighter in full gear. Other things
work for firefighters in such situations. Most people store shells close
to the ground i.e.(under the bed). A house fully involved in flames may
not have a temperature on the floor over 400-500 degrees. This will probably
not be enough to begin discharging shells in under 20 minutes. All in all,
if the temperature is high enough to ignite shells, it will also be
hot enough to melt the face piece on scott and msa air packs. To sum up
the danger present with shells, #1 they will usually not discharge when
the temperature is low enough for firefighters to fight the fire #2 they
will almost never injure the firefighter in full gear. To make a shell
dangerous, it has to be chambered in a firearm. This is probably a fireman's
greatest fear with ammunition. Most people do not keep their guns chambered,
but there are still a few people that elect to keep a loaded gun (pistol or
sawed off shotgun) in their matress or pillow (maybe not the shotgun).
This would be my greatest fear because of the incredible temperature
matresses seem to be able to burn at. The temperature will almost always be
hot enough inside or on top of the bed to cause the chambered round to
fire whether a gun lock is present or not. This spells trouble for the
fireman digging around in the matress/bed to put out the fire completely.
So if you love your friendly neiborhood firefighter, keep you gun loaded,
but not chambered. That one bullet in the camber is what we are looking
for. We had a house fire today which engulfed one corner of the house,
but seemed to flash over and then back off until we got five engine companies
on the scene. Getting to the point, The owner had over 15 guns (which we
saved). I stuck out the entire fire and never heard a sigle explosion with
the thirty or forty boxes of ammo he had in various places of the house.
Kent Fuselier
just my 2 cents
kjf...@rigel.tamu.edu (409)846-2315
k.fus...@ieee.org (409)845-1598
Bryan/College Station Pct 4 firefighting paramedic
Engine Company 440
"give me an army of west point graduates,
and I will win a battle.
give me a handfull of texas aggies,
and I will win a war."
General Patton
[MODERATOR: Thanks for the good report, Kent!]