round going off when dropped

ccwrangler · Oct 16, 2012

Im sure this has been covered before, but I want to let everyone know that it IS possible for a round to go off if dropped just right.

Today was my last day at Frontsight for the 2 day defensive handgun course, and pretty much on our last time out on the range, after we had completed our administrative unload, and were walking back to our seats, we all heard a "shot" and I saw what looked like a ND hitting the ground near like 5 people. We were all pretty worried including the instructors, and the lady who we all thought somehow managed to shoot accidentally despite the through safety checking, informed us that she had just dropped a round out of her hand and it went off. None of the instructors or students had ever seen this happen before, and only a couple of them had even heard of this happening.

Anyways, we never found the projectile, but we DID find the case! I got a couple pics to post for the unbelievers

pretty wild if you ask me!

mark-in-texas · Oct 16, 2012

My quess would be that the round fell in JUST the right orientation on JUST the right size rock to strike the primer. Odds are you could take a case of ammo, drop them one by one and not have this happen again for a LL-OO-NN-GG time. But statistics caught up to you this time. :lol: PS. if you think about the physics involved; the bullet, having the highest mass, would have gained the least velocity from the detonation.

MAC702 · Oct 16, 2012

I've heard of it, ONCE. This makes the second. And when you see how many rounds are fired at Front Sight every day, and they've never seen it... That lady should have skipped class that day and dropped $3 in MegaBucks.

Nevada carrier · Oct 17, 2012

The good thing is that under these circumstances, the round wouldn't have much force behind it. Being that there was no chamber/barrel for pressure to build behind the slug, it wouldn't be much more than a noise maker. Still , one in a million me thinks.

MAC702 · Oct 17, 2012

The case becomes far more of a projectile than the bullet, which now assumes the far heavier roll and is the recipient of the recoil.

ccwrangler · Oct 17, 2012

MAC702 said:
The case becomes far more of a projectile than the bullet, which now assumes the far heavier roll and is the recipient of the recoil.

yeah I think in most of these incidents, the people end up finding the bullet and not the case.. but for some reason for us it was the opposite.

thebigsd · Oct 17, 2012

Wow, pretty crazy. Good thing everyone was okay. Maybe we should submit it to Mythbusters so they can give us the odds of it happening.

SovereignAxe · Oct 17, 2012

I totally believe it. I once had a round go off on the road and the case lodged into my tire. I heard a loud snap and then a tap tap tap noise as I ran over the rim of the case over and over. I pulled over to check my tires and saw a piece of brass sticking out of my tire (what caliber I couldn't tell. The rim had been chewed up beyond recognition by that point, but it was somewhere around .380 or 9mm). How the case got lodged mouth first into my tread without the bullet going in I have no idea. I was able to get the case out without having a puncture all the way through the tire.

So yeah, a round falling and going off isn't anywhere near as weird as that, so I definitely believe it.

Steveboos · Oct 17, 2012

We always worry about this happening when a round gets dropped, but I've never heard about it actually happening! Good to know and the pictures help a lot!

MAC702 · Oct 17, 2012

I was teaching a class that consisted of the wife of a very good friend of mine. He was sitting in, too, and we had a good time while she learned all the safety and basic knowledge and laws for carrying in NV. When we discussed the part about ammunition, she actually asked if a round could go off when dropped. I gave her the same one-in-a-gazillion chance, and you'll never hear about one.

Later at the range, we were sitting at the table loading magazines, and she let a round roll off the table onto the concrete. I hunkered over with my eyes squinted and put my fingers in my ears. She about had a heart attack, and my friend about died from laughing so hard.

twoskinsonemanns · Oct 17, 2012

perhaps it was a reload and the primer did not get completely seated.

Yard Sale · Oct 24, 2012

twoskinsonemanns said:
perhaps it was a reload and the primer did not get completely seated.

Then in that case it would be more likely not to fire.

28kfps · Oct 24, 2012

twoskinsonemanns said:
perhaps it was a reload and the primer did not get completely seated.

I am pretty sure front site checks all ammo and does not allow reloads.

MAC702 · Oct 25, 2012

28kfps said:
I am pretty sure front site checks all ammo and does not allow reloads.

Yes, reloads are prohibited, but you bring them one box for inspection, but they trust you that you are using the same stuff for the whole class.

twoskinsonemanns · Oct 25, 2012

Yard Sale said:
Then in that case it would be more likely not to fire.

Perhaps. If the primer was not properly seated then it could have been sticking out slightly, allowing for it to be struck when dropped.

But it was said reloads are normally prohibited so scratch that.

Yard Sale · Oct 25, 2012

High primers don't ignite when struck by firing pins. I imagine a high primer wouldn't ignite when dropped on a rock. The primer's anvil needs to seat against the case.

Felid`Maximus · Oct 25, 2012

SovereignAxe said:
I totally believe it. I once had a round go off on the road and the case lodged into my tire. I heard a loud snap and then a tap tap tap noise as I ran over the rim of the case over and over. I pulled over to check my tires and saw a piece of brass sticking out of my tire (what caliber I couldn't tell. The rim had been chewed up beyond recognition by that point, but it was somewhere around .380 or 9mm). How the case got lodged mouth first into my tread without the bullet going in I have no idea. I was able to get the case out without having a puncture all the way through the tire.

So yeah, a round falling and going off isn't anywhere near as weird as that, so I definitely believe it.

The casing should be flying the opposite direction of the bullet. Maybe what you ran over was a primed casing with no bullet, and it went bang from the primer going off as you ran it over? Or maybe the bullet fired and lodged itself into your tire but the ground prevented the shell casing from exiting? [Although, I would expect more tire damage from the latter.]

Felid`Maximus · Oct 25, 2012

twoskinsonemanns said:
But it was said reloads are normally prohibited so scratch that.

It's possible for something like that to escape a factory as well, I believe. I've seen some pretty odd looking factory defect cartridges.

As for whether it will go off if the anvil is not in the right place I do not know. Maybe it isn't in a spot where it can go off initially, but after a bit of plastic deformation of after being smacked into position, it seems it could be possible.

The Big Guy · Oct 25, 2012

Yard Sale said:
High primers don't ignite when struck by firing pins. I imagine a high primer wouldn't ignite when dropped on a rock. The primer's anvil needs to seat against the case.

Tis true in my experience. Back when I was new to reloading I had some '06 that would not fire. When I looked at the primer I could see that it had been struck. I would re-chamber the round and it then went bang on the second strike. As I was confused by this I ran it past my reloading mentor and he explained that the chances are that the primers were not completely seated. When the primer struck the first time the primer would seat and then go off on the second strike.

I would not 100% guaranty that a dropped round with a high primer would not go off, but I think it highly unlikely. Primers can vary some in their sensitivity. My best guess would be that this was a combination of a very sensitive primer with the weight of the round, falling just right on something sharp and hard.

TBG

Shoobee · Oct 25, 2012

Fulminate of mercury is not supposed to do that.

But Murphy's Law supersedes all other laws.

This is why it is best not to keep a cartridge chambered if you can possibly avoid doing so.

With any revolver, you can indeed avoid doing so, and whenver I carry my 44 mag revolver I always keep the cylinder bore behind the hammer empty.

With a pistol, there is no way around keeping a round chambered however, if you want to be ready to shoot at the draw.

With a pistol, I have always used ready-condition 2.

Oh well, too bad about the misfire.

round going off when dropped

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