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To: GeorgeWashingtonsGhost

Ammunition doesn’t really “explode” in fire...at least, not with the force and velocity it develops when shot from a gun. The gun’s chamber acts like a pressure chamber as the powder burns; the force-fit resistance of the bullet traveling down the barrel is the path of least resistance for the pressure.

When ammunition is triggered outside of a gun (like in a fire), the bullet will fly one way and the case the other way, usually before the propellant powder has all been burned. Think “POP” instead of “BANG”.


126 posted on 07/21/2012 9:53:26 PM PDT by M1903A1 ("We shed all that is good and virtuous for that which is shoddy and sleazy... and call it progress")
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To: M1903A1

Thank you. Damn Hollywood...


128 posted on 07/21/2012 9:59:16 PM PDT by CaptSkip
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To: M1903A1

Usually the most injuries from exploding ammo is from case shrapnel. Unless its a large capacity case like a 50BMG.

Blackpowder is a different story though, as we know smokeless powders are propellants of different velocities from fast for small pistol and shotshells to lumbering stuff in big game cartridges.


134 posted on 07/21/2012 10:05:47 PM PDT by Eye of Unk (Going mobile, posts will be brief. No spellcheck for the grammar nazis.)
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To: M1903A1

Indeed, I have verified the same with more than one fireman. I had considerably more guns and ammunition than this guy(back before the boating accident!)which is why I was asking. Even packed in ammo cans it won’t “explode” in a fire like TV and movies portray.


164 posted on 07/22/2012 12:19:10 AM PDT by snuffy smiff (Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy.)
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