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What Condition, Continued:

RCrosby
This past summer our neighbors house burned to the ground. In the process a few pounds of gun powder and several boxes of loaded ammo added to the general conflagration. Fortunately no rounds were housed "in the pipe" and the ammo and components that burned were just that much more fuel for the fire. A loaded gun, in a house fire, can be a very different animal and the potential risk to firefighters and others in the general vacinity shouldn't be ignored. Do you really think that it's worth that risk to gain the fraction of a second it takes to rack a slide or work a bolt?

Rob
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Comments

10 comments

Date Votes
  • Bill Costik
    Yes.
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  • He Dog
    I stand corrected and properly chastised.

    Since the only loaded firearms I keep are revolvers with the hammer on an empty chameber I will not worry. Perhaps those with a cartridge in the pipe of a semi-auto or long gun should in fact be concerned. It still would not be my largest worry in a fire.
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  • nmyers
    You know how I like to lecture about our moral responsibility to keep our guns locked in a safe or lockbox, but.....this is not a danger that ever concerned me. I am a fire inspector with many years in the fire service; I have never heard of an injury resulting from a round cooking off in storage, let alone while loaded. I doubt that it's even possible, but am unaware of any testing done.

    On the other hand, I stay awake nights worrying about one of my guys getting caught in a structure where there is a lawn mower or motorcyle stored in the basement with half a tank of gasoline.

    Neal
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  • RCrosby
    Points well taken. Guess I'll have to put the fire to a junker some day and see what kind of penetration I get. Maybe H.P. White has already done something like this. Anyone know? In the meantime my preference remains with the quick racking of the slide or working of the pump. If I don't have time for that then I screwed up somewhere along the line; awareness of my surroundings and/or security of my perimeter. Any combat vets care to weigh in on this one?

    Rob
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  • knucklehead14
    He dog, nmyers, YOU ARE DANGEROUSLY WRONG!!! A LOADED GUN IN A FIRE IS JUST AS DEADLY AS IF YOU FIRED THE GUN NORMALLY!! JEEZZZZZ!!!!!
    An unchambered cartridge in a fire has nothing to contain the pressures so it would not be of much danger, A chambered round in a gun on fire would shoot just as if the trigger was squeezed because the chamber contains the pressure and forces the bullet through the barrel. Which would leave you criminally liable for anyone that was hurt or killed by that situation. A loaded gun left behind is just not a smart thing to do.
    Bad spellers of the world

    "UNTIE!"
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  • nord
    Consider...

    A chambered round that "cooks off" is no different than one where the trigger is pulled. I suppose one could argue that a semi-automatic could become a full auto in such a case, but I rather doubt it.

    My point is that there would probably be only one really dangerous shot. The rest would be mere pops. When it's all taken into perspective, that one "directed" shot isn't very dangerous considering the other potential "bombs" found around the household.

    Anything with gasoline fumes is a potential grenade. LP tanks are a huge problem. Even a water heater with an improperly installed pop-off valve makes a loaded 12 ga. discharge look like a non-event.

    Lots of other things would worry me more.

    Nord
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  • MIKE WISKEY
    "Even in a firearm it is not much danger." as the above posters said, this is a very dangerous possiblility. I had a small gunshop attached to my house, the only gun I had with a round 'up the spout' was one I kept under the counter (Sterling mk2 .380). We went away for the week-end and the house and shop burned to the ground. That was the only gun I worried about. When sifting thought the ashes afterwords I found the stirling, it had fired and the case was partaily extracted. Firefighters have enought to worry about as it ie.
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  • Hokkmike
    The odds here are very small. ALMOST inconsequential. Let's not swat flies with 2 x 4's.

    Sako Fan
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  • fishermanben
    I could see that you would not want to leave a high-vel rifle chambered, but I'll take my chances with the gun. I'm much more likely to be injured by an intruder, than a firefighter is with my loaded gun.

    Ben

    24.gif
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  • Fourth Horseman
    Can anybody provide a documented case of a cooked off round in a fire causing injury?

    The only real guns are wheel guns!
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