A little help with powder incident.

GJHIII · #1 10-17-2012, 04:41 PM

I go to the range to practice with two new revolvers; a 15-3 2", and a 586-8 4". I'am using WWB- 130 Gr. FMJ and Ultramax- 148 Gr. Hollowbase WC's in the .38 Spl. In the .357 Mag. I'am using; WWB- 110 Gr. JHP, UM- 148 Gr. WC's, L&B- 158 Gr. SP and finally Fed- 158 Gr. JSP. After about 45 minutes of firing I notice a serious smell of burning black powder. I can't locate the odor so I figure that it's just poor ventilation. After a nother 10 minutes of firing there is a full blown fire of black powder on the floor in the corner of the range where I'am shooting. Needless to say that the range is cleared and fire extinguished. By the time we're let back on the range everyone is furious with me and the owner tells them to knock it off and that this happens quite frequently. I've never seen such a thing happen before and hope someone could help explain what happened and what I may have done to cause such an incident. As always, still learning and Thank you in advance.

shooter37 · #2 10-17-2012, 04:49 PM

G
Had this happen to me years ago at an old military indoor range that had been used to test automatic weapons. Seems like unburned powder had accumulated in the sound deadening insulatuion on the walls. Firing from shooters weapons ignited the powder residue and, like you said, first the stink then the fire. I'd suspect that unburned powder on the walls or struture is the source. I'd like to know if you ever get an answer from the FD or range owner.
Al

Trooperdan · #3 10-17-2012, 04:53 PM

This is the range's responsibility to clean the range of unburned powder. It had nothing to do with what you were shooting. It can be deadly, an employee at Glock in Atlanta died as a result of a range fire from unburned powder! He was a test-firer and accumulated powder ignited. This was a few years go, maybe 5-7 ?

Neal39 · #4 10-17-2012, 05:13 PM

GJHIII,
Not your fault. Unburned powder accumulates in front of the firing line and will ignite. The sand in front of our local pistol range caught fire. I had never seen sand burn, but it set the dried grass on fire also. Someone kept shouting "Fire-Fire" and everyone was confused as no "Cease Fire" had been announced and we all had been "Firing" for awhile. When it was evident we had a "real" fire, we used a garden hose to put it out. Lots of fun for awhile.
As stated previously--- It does happen on occasion.
Neal39

Frank46 · #5 10-18-2012, 01:36 AM

Not your fault. Sloppy indoor range cleaning is at fault. Most pistols/revolvers do not completely burn all the powder. What isn't burned goes out the barrel and on the floor. One indoor range I was at, the floor was literally coated with unburned powder. An accident waiting to happen. Seem to recall a indoor underground range at a VFW hall that was hosting some sort of get together while firing was going on down below.The unburned powder on the floor caught fire and
thanks to some vets no one was injured but the range itself was badly damaged. The powder should be swept up and properly disposed of. No vacuum cleaners. Frank

SMSgt · #6 10-18-2012, 10:41 AM

Everything accumulates in corners, including powder residue. Periodic, thorough cleaning will prevent incidents such as this. Most indoor ranges won't because of the danger of stirring up lead residue.

glowe · #7 10-18-2012, 04:29 PM

It is definitely time to find a new shooting range! These people, as well as the members do not know what they are doing. A very bad accident waiting to happen.

ArchAngelCD · #8 10-19-2012, 01:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glowe

It is definitely time to find a new shooting range! These people, as well as the members do not know what they are doing. A very bad accident waiting to happen.

I agree, time to find a new range. Also, why the heck were the other shooters angry with you? They are lucky you didn't give them a slap up-side their face!

DWalt · #9 10-29-2012, 07:32 PM

Not unusual to find an accumulation of unburned propellant close to the firing line. I've seen a lot of it on floors of indoor military ranges. Proper procedure is to vacuum the area frequently, and there are special explosion-proof vacuum cleaners made for exactly that purpose. I saw one fairly spectacular powder fire in a tube range some years ago.