Q: What happens if a fire breaks out where firearms ammunition is stored? Are firefighters and civilians in danger?
A: Not much.
These demonstrations are contradictory to intuition (promulgated by Hollywood) that a fully engulfed fire in an ammunition cache creates serious danger to fire fighters. In these circumstances, unless a bullet or shell is chambered in a weapon, their velocity is significantly reduced – the energy contained within the shell, between the casing and the projectile, blows out in an infinite number of directions in addition to front to back, and in rare instances sends a piece of shrapnel through a single layer of 5/8-inch gypsum board.
That means that if you were living in an apartment adjacent to someone who had an ammunition stockpile next to the demising wall, and a fire broke out in the adjacent apartment, the exploding ammunition couldn’t wound you, let alone kill you. (The fire and smoke can, so get out anyway.)
My interest in the vid was not so much in weaponry as in fire protection, and I found it interesting that the most dangerous part of a shotgun shell in a fire is neither the shot nor the gunpowder, but the plastic casing.
I also like to see things bein’ done blowed up with trollfaces and stuff.
Tags: .gif animation, 2nd Amendment, ammunition, cache, fire fighting, tests
