Covering the ejection port to catch the live round

[JAD]

All else being equal, I'm a believer that the best way to clear a gun is to shoot all the bullets in it.

-- Shichyeah. I also have a distinct preference for environments where the last instruction is to top off and holster.

[P30shtr]

So whos to say a round couldnt couldnt go off from hitting a rock or some other object on the deck? I suppose better on the ground than in your hand but... I dont see hows the odds of a detonation would lean more one way or another.

Seems theres no real right or wrong from all the different opinions about it here. I guess just do which ever method the RO or instructor prefers.

[seabiscuit]

If a round goes off on a rock, it won't be near your hand. And since the gasses won't be contained by a chamber/barrel, the bullet won't really go anywhere.

Also there aren't sharp pointy things like ejectors on rocks. And the round isn't being pushed back against them by the slide.

[Odin Bravo One]

And since the gasses won't be contained by a chamber/barrel, the bullet won't really go anywhere.

Oh it will go somewhere.

Without a chamber and barrel, we don't know which way it will be going, but it will be going there, and getting there in a hurry. I won't get drawn into a theoretical discussion of physics or the geometry of explosives on the internet, but there is a mechanical explosion still taking place. That it was not contained by the device designed to contain it does not make it any less dangerous.

[JAD]

Oh it will go somewhere.

Without a chamber and barrel, we don't know which way it will be going, but it will be going there, and getting there in a hurry. I won't get drawn into a theoretical discussion of physics or the geometry of explosives on the internet, but there is a mechanical explosion still taking place. That it was not contained by the device designed to contain it does not make it any less dangerous.

You would think, right? I've only seen it with pistol rounds (two .45 ACP rounds, ten years apart) but it does happen, and it is /catastrophically/ disappointing. "Pop." Bullet goes about 2 inches, shower of unburnt powder in the gravel.

[seabiscuit]

I stand corrected. I just figured the energy would be dispersed in flying brass and stuff, since that has less inertia and is more easily accelerated.

[seabiscuit]

Here's a video of a shotgun round going off outside a chamber and barrel.

[TheRoland]

The popular show Mythbusters cooked off .44Magnum and a .50BMG round in ovens and were unable to get them to penetrate significantly without a chamber-like constriction to contain conflagration. Video is here.

I'd be worried about the high-speed brass and energy released from momentary deflagration more than the bullet. I wouldn't want to be holding the primer and powder when they ignited, in particular.

I'd think constraining the case in any way, as might or might not happen in the previously discussed ejection-port scenario, would make the results less predictable, too. Here's what happens when the case is constrained on a .22lr (moron alert). Bullet caused "an abrasion" and did not penetrate.

[peterb]

More on unchambered ammuniton "firing" -- in this case it's from fire, but the damage caused is probably similar. http://www.saami.org/specifications_...tion_Fires.pdf

[Spectre044]

The popular show Mythbusters cooked off .44Magnum and a .50BMG round in ovens and were unable to get them to penetrate significantly without a chamber-like constriction to contain conflagration. Video is here.

I'd be worried about the high-speed brass and energy released from momentary deflagration more than the bullet. I wouldn't want to be holding the primer and powder when they ignited, in particular.

I'd think constraining the case in any way, as might or might not happen in the previously discussed ejection-port scenario, would make the results less predictable, too. Here's what happens when the case is constrained on a .22lr (moron alert). Bullet caused "an abrasion" and did not penetrate.

All I can think is the guy in that second video is now telling all of his friends that he has been shot. I also giggled a little when he showed the "bandages" on his gut.