1 in a 1000000

[Drm50]

rburg's post in The Old City Dump, about misfires. Ect in 22 rf
ammo reminded me of experience I had as a 5 year old. My
Dad took me up the river to buy me a pair of shoes, our little
town didn't have a shoe store. Then we went to the Hardware
Store. We bought 2 boxes of 22s that dad would use for hunting.
This was in the day when they wrapped items in brown paper
and tied with string. When we got home dad told me to bring
the package with the 22 shells. I was carrying it like it was nitro.
Dad sat me down on curb, took out his pocket knife and opened
package. Then he proceeded to give me a lesson in the workings
of Rimfire ammo. He explained case, primer, powder and bullet.
The street in front of our house was that WPA concrete, with the
river gravel exposed like miniature cobble stones. Anyway to end
up the technical talk on 22 ammo he flipped cartridge into the
street to show me how safe it was. Bang, she'll went off when it
hit the street. I will never forget the look on the old mans face!
In all my years of seeing ammo abused, sometimes on purpose
I never saw another detonation like that.

 

[tops]

That would have shocked me. I wouldn't have thought it possible for one to go off that easily. I carry .22s loose in my pocket and have wondered if anybody has ever had one to go off in their pocket but I haven't ever heard of it. Larry

 

[rwsmith]

If the rim.....

If the rim hit a stone just right, I could see that happening. I was tapping on a primer with a Lee Hand Loader and it went off. Those things are pretty loud.


I've never heard of one going off in a pocket but if you were rough enough with it I suppose it could.

 

[Jessie]

He taught you a lesson, but not the one he intended.

 

[vigil617]

My old man was one for visual demonstrations, too.

One summer day he decided I needed to more fully understand about the flammability of gasoline fumes.

So we went out in the back yard, and he poured a few ounces of gas on the ground, stepped back a couple of paces, struck a match, and tossed it on the little puddle.

WHOOOOOOOSH!

The fireball came close to burning the hair off his legs, and he jumped even higher than I did!

Even my old man learned a little that day....

 

[vigil617]

I've often wondered: how dangerous is the .22 projectile when this kind of discharge happens?

Seems I've heard that if a rimfire goes off by an unintended strike, the bullet does not fire in the same way it would coming out of a barrel (obviously), and that there is relatively little danger of the bullet injuring. Maybe the detonation itself is the more dangerous event, as far as potential for injury.

Anyone know?

 

[snake803]

I've often wondered: how dangerous is the .22 projectile when this kind of discharge happens?

Seems I've heard that if a rimfire goes off by an unintended strike, the bullet does not fire in the same way it would coming out of a barrel (obviously), and that there is relatively little danger of the bullet injuring. Maybe the detonation itself is the more dangerous event, as far as potential for injury.

Anyone know?

The brass case becomes the projectile..since it is lighter in weight...The lead kinda stays where is was (is?)and the brass flies off... Don't ask how I know this..
JIM............

 

[Brian41]

That was a one in a million chance to go off like that. I've dropped plenty of 22s on even cement and never had that happen.

I do remember my older cousin stacking shotgun shells on a table like a pyramid in their cabin up north. It got to a certain point and they all came crashing down and we both hit the deck not knowing it was about impossible for them to go off.
I had a buddy that told me he put a shotgun shell in a vice once and hit the primer with a punch to see what would happen. He said it went off but didn't shoot the shot very far or with much power. He wasn't the brightest sort either.

 

[Alpo]

The bullet does not go anywhere.

Newton's laws of motion. A body at rest tends to stay at rest, and the more mass something has, the harder it is to get it started.

A cartridge going off in the open, the lightweight brass case expands until it ruptures, which happens long before the heavy lead slug starts to move. Any danger comes from brass shrapnel.


edit: and I see Snake beat me to it.

 

[diamonback68]

The brass case becomes the projectile..since it is lighter in weight...The lead kinda stays where is was (is?)and the brass flies off... Don't ask how I know this..
JIM............

I'll ask Jim, you threw a couple in an open fire then ducked, didn't you? Now you know how I know.

 

[vigil617]

Thanks, snake and alpo. Your descriptions make perfect sense to me. Hadn't even thought about it that way, but smack my forehead, of course it's the lighter part of the cartridge that would release first.

Sir Isaac Newton and I have had a respectful, at-arm's-length relationship over the years. I don't test "Ikey's" laws, and he in turn releases me from the duty of performing complicated mathematics.

 

[Salty RI]

That was a one in a million chance to go off like that. I've dropped plenty of 22s on even cement and never had that happen.

I do remember my older cousin stacking shotgun shells on a table like a pyramid in their cabin up north. It got to a certain point and they all came crashing down and we both hit the deck not knowing it was about impossible for them to go off.
I had a buddy that told me he put a shotgun shell in a vice once and hit the primer with a punch to see what would happen. He said it went off but didn't shoot the shot very far or with much power. He wasn't the brightest sort either.

It's even more fun when you shoot the primer with a BB gun.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Laid a 12 ga shell on a table and shot the primer from a distance with a .22 rifle. Primer ignited. Powder burned and didn't even open the crimp on the shell.

 

[EQGuy]

When I was a teenager I had a box of strike anywhere matches in my pants pocket. I took the pants off and threw them on the floor and the box of matches ignited. Being the curious teen I was I tried many times to duplicate this and was never successful.

 

[Warren Sear]

I can tell you this; never, ever shoot at the primer of a 12 gauge shotgun shell with a BB gun. Ever.

 

[rwsmith]

I 'heard'....

I've often wondered: how dangerous is the .22 projectile when this kind of discharge happens?

Seems I've heard that if a rimfire goes off by an unintended strike, the bullet does not fire in the same way it would coming out of a barrel (obviously), and that there is relatively little danger of the bullet injuring. Maybe the detonation itself is the more dangerous event, as far as potential for injury.

Anyone know?

I 'heard' a story in Boy Scouts that a guy threw a .22 in a fire and the case hit him in the eye when it popped. I don't think I believe that.

As soon as the bullet cleared the case mouth, the gases would go in all directions. I can't see either the case or the bullet getting much velocity.

 

[Cyrano]

My faher told me this. He had a cal 50 case and he wanted to have the primer deactivated. they put the case in a vise and hit the primer with a punch. Despite the primer crimp, the thing flew up 4 feet, ricoched off a pipe and went 3 inches into a 2X4. This was in WW II. Be careful with primers.

 

[kimporter]

i read a story in a gun rag several years ago about a guy taking photos at a rifle match,his battery pack on his camera was getting low so he swaped it out with a fresh one and put the used one in the pocket of the down vest he was wearing,after a few minutes his pocket blew up,had feathers going everywhere,seems he had an old 22lr in there and it was laying across the battery terminals cooking before going off

 

[EQGuy]

I 'heard' a story in Boy Scouts that a guy threw a .22 in a fire and the case hit him in the eye when it popped. I don't think I believe that.

As soon as the bullet cleared the case mouth, the gases would go in all directions. I can't see either the case or the bullet getting much velocity.

In my misspent youth we would pull the bullets from .22 LR cartridges and make a trail of the powder so that it would end at the primer compound. We would then light it with a match and the primer would pop and the case would fly across the floor and bounce off of the opposite wall so I would believe the story you heard is possible. Do not try the above yourself as it is potentially dangerous and I stopped doing it myself many years ago.

 

[Kevin J.]

The bullet does not go anywhere.

Newton's laws of motion. A body at rest tends to stay at rest, and the more mass something has, the harder it is to get it started.

A cartridge going off in the open, the lightweight brass case expands until it ruptures, which happens long before the heavy lead slug starts to move. Any danger comes from brass shrapnel.


edit: and I see Snake beat me to it.

Exactly. A while back Mythbusters did a test on this about a guy who used a .22 cartridge in place of a car fuse. The myth had him getting shot in the leg when it went off. In their test it was the case and brass that caused a slight injury to the test dummy "Buster".