Can you make a bullet go off by hitting the primer?

Intresting conversation today at work, and some quick google skills say its possible, but very unlikely to do. If you have a bullet with an unfired primer and you throw the bullet onto the ground, would it go off, what would it do?

Another google search says a guy threw a shotgun shell into the backseat of his pickup and it hit something just right, and it went off.


Out of curosity, i opened up a box i have with change in it, over the months i have thrown some empty casings, and bullets that have jammed in there. I noticed i have one 9mm shell with the primer dimpled, and i need to dispose of it.

Again, google searches say to put it in motor oil for a few days to let the powder get wet(this sounds like for new misires rather then months old like mine)

Ideas?

 

use a bullet puller to remove the bullet remove powder then the primer is just a noise maker

 

Ohh boy lol yes it is possible. #1 a bullet = the projectile. So were talking about a cartridge or round unless you have the casing contained the casing will become the projectile because its lighter. Sounds like a light primer strike I would put it back in the gun and try again

 

welp, when I was a kid, we did some experimenting, and we found that, If you hold a lighter to the back of an unfired round. it would detonate. as well and placing a similar round in a small hole drilled in a tree, and hitting it with a hammer. also, a perfectly fired high powered bb shot at the round in a tree would cause detonation... thus sending the shell at whatever direction the primer was facing. lucky for us. the 22 shell wasn't facing directly towards us.

luckily, in all of our experiments the only injuries were a few small rocks lodged in my jaw. this is only scratching the surface of the extensive knowledge we learned "the hard way"

thank you boy scouts

 

posable yes. likely to kill you? no. mythbusters did a thing on it. also i have dropped rounds before, when loading or unloading unfired rounds and have never had one go off.

 

Of what i can remember, that was probably thrown in there around april/may, so i dont think it will go off randomly. I was just wondering if i can pull it apart, or if i need to take it to my range and throw it in the "unwanted" bin.


Or, should i send it to chris4x4 and see what he can do..

 

I used to steal my dad's shotgun primers and put them on the end of my pelet gun. One pump and a BB, then hold it up in the air and fire. As loud or louder than a firecracker.

No doubt a round could go off if it hits something just right.

 

I was a dumba$$ that almost turned into a statistic for your research on this topic when I was a kid. We were playing football in a field beside of a church. I looked down and noticed a .22 round, and it was live. I went to the street, and threw it down at the ground, not knowing any better. It did go off!! No one was hurt, and I still do not know where the bullet landed. Scared the sh!t out of a bunch of us for sure!!!



NT

 

Yeah, I've taped shotgun and .22 LR shells to the end of a bb gun, they will go boom, but don't create a bunch of energy because the shells' sides are allowed to expand outward and forward. Verses being in a barrel/chamber and only having one direction to disperse energy. OP you should have no worries with a "older" round going off, dispose of properly.

 

A cartridge not contained in a chamber will split. The lighter casing will be thrown further than the round, but you really don't want to be all that close to it when it happens.

It's not likely to kill you, but it will hurt and could put an eye out.


For your 9mm, remove the bullet and dump the powder. Soaking it in anything is not going to do anything. I've WASHED 45ACP rounds (machine, as in left in a pocket) and fired them.
The primer is a bit more than a noisemaker though.... just the primer has enough energy to dislodge the bullet and "stick" it in the barrel (squib).

 

And remember... "bulk" ammo and reloads are often sold in plastic baggies and loose in ammo cans. 100-1000 rounds all just dumped into the bag/can.
The tips of the rounds and edges of the rims don't cause any problems. You need to hit the primer "just right" and with something sharp enough to indent it far enough.

Rimfire is another story... ya... that can easily go off from impacting the ground... but they are still sold in bulk packs all the time without incident. It still takes a moderate amount of energy to trigger the primer.

 

Some, but not all of the .22 cases split, most just bulged. Most modern .22 cases are spun after the priming mixtures are added to the cases (to save money on the primer mix it self) to distribute it just around the rim, the strongest part of the case, but they can be discharged incorrectly.

 

I've never heard of a round goin of randomly after a dimple was put in the primer. And a bullet doesn't really have any set path if it's not shot through a barrel. The most you'll get is a loud noise and a few pieces flyin in the air. I've got a scar above my eye where a primer got lodged. I was young and dumb then though haha

 

Oh hell yeah you can, first off I don't know alot about guns or ammo but when I was a kid me & my buddies would get 12 gauge shells & gently open the ends emptying all the wading & shot/powder & shoot the primers with a bb gun HOLY SHIT it was loud (not to mention dangerous)

 

i stuck a .22 into the end of a straw and tossed it up into the air. the heavy end always hits first..pop!!

lordie, i was an idiot. i might have been 12 years old.

 

threw a .22 bullet off a cliff before. 5 seconds later, BOOM!!!!
scared the shit out of us haha.

 

Intresting what it takes to get one to go off..Keep the stories comming.

 

I don't know why I did this, but once I put a primer on the concrete garage floor and hit it with a 2 1/2 lb mallet; it cratered the floor and the mallet, and was extremely loud.

I was wearing eye protection, at least.


I've always wondered about bulk-packaged ammo, though.