Posted on 10/01/2012 9:10:46 AM PDT by marktwain
Real black powder can be sensitive to shock or crushing especially if old.
Poorly written indeed. I even went to the site and read it. That never helped.
A standalone water heater that "explodes" usually breaks at the bottom, creating a missile fully capable of going through a couple of floors and a roof.
The Mythbusters did a piece on it. The invention of the pressure relief valve probably saved thousands of lives of homeowners alone, not to mention some subset of pedestrians once the water heaters came back down.
Most likely a gas explosion.
Probably a gradual heat buildup by something else burning in a closed room and slowly increasing the room temperature to enough of an extreme. Enough cartridges popping at once could make a funny roar in a nearby room instead of distinct pops. Ammunition storage should be ventilated at least a little to avoid tight containment of pressure.
Avoid storing that stuff in a space shared with a flame (water heater, lights, electrical appliances without circuit covers, etc.). For outbuildings (e.g., shop), build a tough steel cabinet with steel doors that are *not* airtight for small amounts of ammunition and/or handloading supplies (capped top vent preferred). Build another one for paints, solvents, etc. Isolate far from welding rigs, heaters and the like.
Take it from military practices. Any who store very much ammunition (common for some competitors or anyone who like to fire unusually large amounts of ammunition) would be better off building a safer, ventilated (e.g., capped pipe on top), concrete box for it outdoors and in the ground. Ammunition can be sealed in airtight containers that won’t contain combustion too much (plastics, very thin metals, etc.). Same for anyone who stores much fuel. I don’t need to store much of either (not a match competitor for now and don’t use much fuel around the place) but would build safer, separate, outdoor facilities for it, if I did.
Ammunition won’t “blow up” much, if it’s not tightly and heavily sealed, although large quantities of it burning can cause burns, scare fire-persons, etc. (heh, heh...”firepersons” instead of “firefighters”).
1. Modern gnpowder burns slowly if set on fire with a match and not enclosed in a breech. The higher the pressure in the breech, the faster it burns and releases gas.
At atmosperic pressure it burns rather slowly.
A bullet that cooks off in a fire will travel about ten feet and bouce off of you skin. The amount of pressure required to remove a bullet from a cartidge case is about 60 lbs.
Age seems to have little effect on ammo.
Any problems with age and how ammo is stored will result in a failure to fire rather than a bigger explosion.
Blackpowder is not effected by by age whatsoever. 200 or 300 year old black powder is as manufactured. There are a number of cases in which very old black powder was tested and it was found to be the same as the day it was manufactured.
If black powder is wet it can be dried out and used without any problems.
A number of companies have tried to develop electrically fired black powder guns and static electricity is not sufficient to set it off because black powder is electrically conductive and it absorbs the charge like a sponge. I have seen test results with 40,000 volts (it will burn you) of static electricity and the results are nothing. Nada.
The problem with dynamite is only with very old dynamite, 1900 or so. The newer stuff is quite stable.
We agree on nearly everything. I have seen corrosion caused by leather. Often leather has lots of salts in the tanning process.
I think it is worth diferentiating between the degradation of ammunition and the potential for detonation.
It is my educated opinion that modern propellants will only detonate if they are improperly stored in a strong pressure vessel.
Excellent post, thank you.
TNT and mercury fulminate probably aren’t so stable with age.
I made some electrically fired muzzle-loaders 30 years ago.
The amateurs are easy to spot. The first clue is when they describe cartridges as "bullets", but the most revealing are those that use incorrect cartridge designations. They are happy to use layman invented cartridge names or one that has been obsolete since prior to World War II.
But then, their entire 'education' about ammunition and guns was acquired by reading the gun magazines. Little do they know that the gun writers educated themselves by reading each other's tripe. Ignorance is bliss.
TNT hasn’t been used for almost 100 years.
Amytol is its replacement, and it is stable.
Yes, I’ve seen both of their shows on water heater explosions.
The steam will quickly burn any exposed skin.
“Martin said the explosion from the room lifted up the patio slab at the back of the home and collapsed the patio roof. Martin said the patio slab appeared to be the roof of the gun safe room. Amy Wood was on the patio when the explosion occurred.”
So, she apparently had nothing to do with the cause of the explosion.
“Amy Wood was on the back patio, which sits directly over the weapons room. When the room exploded, the concrete slab she was standing on collapsed into the gun safe below. “
So why don’t they add steel wool shavings as a booster? It seems that bridge the gap.
It seems that would bridge the gap rather.
“If you add a bit of amperage to the voltage you can electrically set off black powder easily.”
How much would you step amperage? The test I saw had a ovlt rating but no amperage. The tool used to generate the static electricity is used to test neon lights for leaks and it look impressive as heck.
The current from 4 AA batteries was plenty and was quite reliable, until the corrosion from the black powder weakened the glow plug.
Ignition occurred in some fraction of a second. I would guess maybe .25 to .5 seconds.
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