Tip to primer detonations. Energy needed?

P

Pond James Pond

New member
A recent post about a lever action mag tube got me thinking.

I reload and often, lacking an ammo box, I put all the rounds in a tupperware box to take them home, or to the range, in my bag.*

My question is, particularly with flat nosed or FMJ ammo, 200-300gr, as my ammo is and will be, is there a realistic risk of one or more cartridges that may have lined up, nose to tail in the box, discharging the cartridge(s) in front, if the box were dropped or took a stout knock etc (getting rear-ended on the drive to the range for example)?

That could be from a shoulder bag or even down the stair well. What kind of height would we need for that to happen.

Just curious....


*(Before I get flamed for not having a dedicated ammo box, I've also seen the likes of Hikock45 with tubs of ammo on the bench)
 
You're fine, don't worry about it.

With the lever action mag tube you've got rounds perfectly lined up exposed to a very sharp inline recoil impulse. Hence the proscription against pointed bullets in those rifles. That's not going to happen with your setup.

I often use rubbermaid containers, old vitamin jars, and lately these nice huge nut jars from Costco. No worries.
 
The bullet noses are much too large to indent the primer's center and hit the primer's anvil. Pointed bullets can do it though.
 
A gunsmith I worked for was looking at some bulk 200 grain semi-wadcutter in 5-gallon buckets. He tossed the round he was looking at back into the bucket and it, or the round it hit, went off.
 
Your good, in 50+ years of shooting & reloading only had a one time drop discharge of lose ammunition. Knocked a less than half full box of .45 acp(U.S. GI in original box) off a 4 foot high shelf and when it hit the floor next to me one of the rounds was struck on the primer by the bullet of another round hard enough to fire it. Shredded the cardboard box split the fired case open scattered the rest of the ammunition over a maybe 3 foot area and scared the you know what out of me. No injuries, no other rounds going off, it was kind of like somebody had tossed a firecracker next to me.
 
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