After lying in bed at 2 am thinking of stupid things instead of sleeping, the question came to mind if being hit by lightning could cause a gun to fire. I went down the research rabbit hole and found some scientific explanations as well as an old first-hand story that indicates it might not. Please reply if you know of it ever happening.
David Rowe - Firearms instructor, Hunter Safety Instructor, Hunter: “I think not, and this is why. While guiding an elk hunter in the late 70’s, my hunter and I were overtaken by a blizzard as we tried to make it back to camp. It had been snowing for hours and it was at the point where you couldn’t see farther than the head of your horse, what is known as a ‘white out’, so we took temporary shelter in a group of large boulders on top of a hill. We tied the horses on the lee side of the hill to a dead snag and climbed back up to the shelter of the boulders. While huddling there out of the worst of the wind driven snow, we both experienced the strangest tingling sensation that I had ever experienced. It took a moment to realize that every hair on my body was standing on end and simultaneously with that realization came a blinding flash. I don’t remember hearing any thunder, but in that instant a bolt of electricity arched across from the bolt of my .270 and burned a hole in my down parka, and the same happened to Greg’s rifle, which got so hot he dropped it into the snow. If we weren’t actually hit by lightning then something damn similar occurred. To this day I still think I used up a lifetime of good luck that evening in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado. For the record, I was also wearing my Model 19 S&W in a holster at the time.”
If the firearm is near enough to a lightning strike to be subjected only to the electric charge, but no closer, probably not. On the other hand, if the firearm is close enough to feel the heat of the lightning strike (~45,000 - 55,000 degrees Fahrenheit), absolutely.
I used to think that until one of my secretaries stopped me and said, “I need to ask you a question and I’m afraid it’s a stupid one.”.
I reassuringly repeated that often cited by me adage to make her feel like she was in a safe environment and encourage her to go ahead and ask.
She then asked me if “calling New Mexico was in international call”…
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I looked at her and said, “I was wrong, that IS a stupid question!”, shook my head and I walked away.
That day, a lifetime of belief in that old saying went down the shitter
Could it happen? Not sure i want to be holding on to a gun and get struck to find out. Not exactly on my bucket list.
As for stupid questions, some make me shake my head…although may not be dumb to the person asking.
My sis in law asked us one time if we had phones in AK. I told her we were on a ham radio and she had to say over when she was done talking. She did it.
Finally my wife made me tell her the truth and when i asked her what #she called, she realized we had phones.
Ive been asked what the rate of exchange is for alaskan currency. I told them its expensive. You give me $20 american and ill give you $5 american.
Ill just shake my head and come up with a smartass answer but…
In my professional life (which has nothing to do with firearms instruction) I have ZERO time to educate. I already spent enough of my life doing that for my kids and now with my grandchildren. That’s about all I have in me. As one of my best bosses told me years ago, “If I have to do your job, why do I need you.”. I need knowledgeable self-motivated people around me or they can go work with someone else.
Folks that know me and work with me know that I do not ever mean to ridicule, BUT, I do not sugarcoat and will make very direct and sometimes harsh comments on ideas and questions that are presented to me. Feeling ridiculed is a personal emotion that is on them, and if THEY want to feel embarrassment based on any of my comments that is 100% on them, and they can then figure out how to deal with it or better yet, think it through before they open their mouths again.
This person in particular was a highly paid professional and if she was really interested in the answer to that question she could have easily looked it up before stopping me on my way to a meeting to ask, but she chose not to for whatever reasons that eluded me then and now. That’s was 100% on her, I’m pretty sure she bough herself a map of the USA after that.
While stationed at Cannon AFB in the BOOMING metropolis of Clovis, NM, I did find a few spots in the city that definitely made me feel like I was in a different country.
As far as the electricity setting off ammo? I would call it plausible, but I’m not going to test the theory.
Whether or not the firearm goes off if struck by lightning would be the least of my worries. If I was holding/carrying the gun at the time, the bullet would be the least of my worries. The lightning would be the problem. Neither you or your firearms should be out in a lighting storm. Unfortunately, I have been guilty of both.
As for stupid questions, I think the complete adage is, “There are no stupid questions, just stupid people.” Mr. Garrison, South Park
