It has been awhile so I would have to dig around to find them but I have seen several tests where ammo cooked off in the mid 400°F range. One of them was on a Mythbusters episode where they put a loaded .45 pistol in an oven.
I know the odds are small that one of those bullets would hit someone but it has happened. I like not having to worry about it and don’t want to risk the firefighters standing by a safe distance away after asking if I have any loaded guns in the house. If my house ever catches on fire it is definitely going to sound like the 4th of July
SAAMI has some fire tests, I don’t remember if they set a firearm with a round chambered on fire… House fire temperatures (not sure how hot that is) are hot enough to cook off a round.
Skip to about 12min mark for the fire related tests.
So I was thinking about this some more while driving, my best place for thinking.
I have a bunch of ammo in my house and in my safes, it’s still going to go off based on your temperature estimates. I can’t see how it will matter if it’s in a firearm or not.
I checked the specs on my safes and they say they can maintain an inside temperature of <187 degrees if the outside temperature is at 2700 degrees for 4.5 hours. The specs did not go higher than that. I’m not sure there is enough burnable material to maintain a fire that long and for that hot where the safes are.
I love to think and drive. Though I fear sometimes thinking and driving can be almost as dangerous as drinking and driving if the thoughts are too engrossing;)
You must have some very high quality safes if they can actually meet that standard. But there is a huge difference between a bullet that goes off in the chamber vs loose or in a mag. In the chamber most of the pressure goes towards sending the bullet down range. Out of the chamber the heavier bullet usually stays where it is and the case goes flying but most of the energy escapes out the sides. The case could poke an eye out or more likely cause a small cut or bruise but that is about it.
I have read the primer going off from heat is the culprit that will make your ammo “shoot” off in a fire. So, every thing is a safety tradeoff. If you want 100% assurance of no ammo going off in your safe, then no ammo can be in there. The disadvantage is your firearm(s) won’t be readily usable when you might need them most. I think I will go with the compromise of loaded magazines and empty chambers for pistol/revolver/long guns stored in safe. I would rather have to replace some firearms damaged in a fire than lose my life because I worried about property damage.
We’ve had this discussion in several other places here in the past. If you have good quality magazines with quality springs, leaving them loaded won’t harm the springs. It is the number of loading and unloading cycles that eventually wears them out.
I intentionally left several magazines fully loaded for over 10 years. Some were Glock factory mags and some were cheap KCI mags. They all fired flawlessly when I took them out of storage and I have been using them for the past several years as range mags without any issues.
That’s what I hear. I guess I’m just old school on that one. I do keep 2-3 fully loaded, but swap those out when I go to the range. I’ve been doing it for almost 50 years with various semi-automatics and have never had a problem, so old habits you know…
All of my pistols are cleaned & lubed before being stored in my safe. Why would I want a bullet resting in the chamber with the case touching the barrel? nothing good will come of that & I know of no round that keeps your clean, stored gun even cleaner. It is also a safety issue although we always treat guns as loaded until we double check, it still leaves that .ooo1% chance of human error which an unloaded firearm would not.
Glad to have you here @Jeffrey277 , I don’t personally own a revolver, but there are many here that do. Hopefully @45IPAC, @Johnnyq60 and some others will chime in with experienced trade offs and recommendations.
Well, when I’m not carrying my revolver, it doubles as a night stand gun for my wife, in a quick safe. But, there are a few times I carry my 6 inch .357. Specifically, the 7 days of Illinois firearm deer season. For a gun to be legally concealed carry, during the act of hunting, it must meet the minimum requirements of a legal hunting handgun. With my hunting gear and/or my Carhartt coat, I can conceal a 6 inch, full size .357 magnum GP100.
I will say it doesn’t matter what handgun you carry always keep the trigger protected from accidental engagement by an appropriate holster. This applies to pocket, in-the-waistband, ankle carry, or any other style of carry.
