Bullets starting wildfires?
- Thread starter muleman69
- Start date
riverwolf1
Silver $$ Contributor
Yes, in particular Armor piercing and tracer rounds will and have started fires! Also had an idiot at the range last saturday that decided to have his wife shoot at a pound of Tannerite! Several people told him that they thought this was recently forbidden due to our area being extremely dry! we are surrounded by BLM land and 1 fire would bankrupt our club! Needless to say when I got done reaming his arse, he packed up and left! Common sense isn’t so common anymore!
muleman69
USMC -1st marine Div. RVN
Holly crap,one pound of tannerite? Scary
Yes - one of the ranges where we shoot has steel bullet traps. The targets are attached to the usual 5/8 OSB in front of the slanted steel back surface. Lots of debris from paper targets, cardboard, shot up OSB accumulates under the OSB face and inside the bullet trap. On occasion I have seen charred (like burned) remnants of paper and trash (I hate trash and filth). I have seen smoke curling up from the insides of the steel traps - all this from common hunting and target bullets. My usual procedure is to rake up all the combustible junk from inside the trap before shooting.
Also - shoot steel in deep shade or at dusk and see sparks. Make sure trash and combustible stuff is not under the target. Steel core penetrating bullets designed for armor fiercing (piercing/green tipped)) applications makes for more sparks.
I saw this in my friends back yard when we started a fire inside a junked car when we were evaluating the effects of shooting green tipped bullets from a .22-.250 at wheels, brake rotors and engine blocks. No evidence was destroyed.
Also - shoot steel in deep shade or at dusk and see sparks. Make sure trash and combustible stuff is not under the target. Steel core penetrating bullets designed for armor fiercing (piercing/green tipped)) applications makes for more sparks.
I saw this in my friends back yard when we started a fire inside a junked car when we were evaluating the effects of shooting green tipped bullets from a .22-.250 at wheels, brake rotors and engine blocks. No evidence was destroyed.
Back in the stone age when I was in the Army National Guard we were at the now-defunct Camp Stoneman in northern CA (lotsa dead grass, which is normal there in the summer) firing familiarization with .30 Cal. Browning 1919's mounted on Jeeps, using a mix of ball & tracer. Battalion level, so we had a lot of guns shooting. With 3 short bursts we set 4 grass fires. So they took the tracer away from us, and no more fires. I've heard of this happening with ball ammo only, but never seen it.
swd
Silver $$ Contributor
We had one 2 years ago about an hour from here right at the CA/NV border. A couple guys out shooting on BLM. It shut down Hwy 80 for a while which is one of the busiest shipping routes in the country. Because of that incident BLM closed most of CA and at least part of NV to shooting for a few months until we had some rain.
That's too bad you did that. Tannerite by itself won't start a fire.
It can/will once it's mixed or not used properly. Many don't know how to use it.
jmm03
Gold $$ Contributor
Yes, out a a buddies ranch in southern Kalifornia. Summer conditions, very dry but sparse scrub vegitation. Shooting matchkings and Bergers, no FMJ, must have hit something like an old metal fence post cause it got real exciting real quick. Lucky my buddy had his service truck with a fire extinguisher and shovels or it could have been a disaster.
Not just tracers. Steel jacketed or steel penetrator ammo can cause fires.
gme
Site $$ Sponsor
yes, it can start fires, the USFS did a fairly extensive study on it:
https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_rp104.pdf
https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_rp104.pdf
Mulligan
Silver $$ Contributor
Lots of fire on dry years are started by regular ammunition, mostly hitting rocks or steel targets.
responded to a fire about 10 years ago, this Grandpa had taken his grandson out shooting and the little fella shot a rock with a .22, a minute later they had a fast moving grass fire to deal with.
When its 100 degrees F and the RH is well under 10%, it does not take much energy to start a fire.
Here in western Colorado, lots of fires are started along the roadways by the safety chains on trailers that drag a little and cause sparks.
BTW. Some, if not all, federal land management agencies have banned or are working on banning the exploding targets. In these arid climates several large fires have been started by them.
CW
responded to a fire about 10 years ago, this Grandpa had taken his grandson out shooting and the little fella shot a rock with a .22, a minute later they had a fast moving grass fire to deal with.
When its 100 degrees F and the RH is well under 10%, it does not take much energy to start a fire.
Here in western Colorado, lots of fires are started along the roadways by the safety chains on trailers that drag a little and cause sparks.
BTW. Some, if not all, federal land management agencies have banned or are working on banning the exploding targets. In these arid climates several large fires have been started by them.
CW
No, typical over the counter bullets will not start a fire under typical shooting situations. Tracers are designed to burn and they aren't the type of bullet used by the typical shooter so I don't consider them a reasonable example of how common it is for a bullet to start a fire.
A study was released several years ago that most "experts" claim shows that fires can be started by rifle bullets (the same study posted previously in this conversation). The reality is that in the summary for that study the authors point out that you need a very narrow set of circumstances to make a fire.
"Peat moisture contents of 3-5%, air temperatures of 34-49 °C (98-120 °F), and relative humidity of 7 to 16% were necessary to reliably observe ignitions in the experiments."
They also had to adjust the angle of the steel plate that they fired in to, to be 30 degrees, they fired from only a few feet away (which means that there was far more heat energy available in the bullet fragments) , they only had repeatable success with all copper bullets, and only dried peat was found to work as a combustible.
It was so hard for them to coordinate all of these factors that they almost gave up on the tests because they had a difficult time finding a way to make a fire start. I believe that it's possible to start a fire with a bullet but I also believe that it's extremely rare, nowhere near as common as the anti-gun experts claim.
While the actual Tannerite product might not start fires I have seen fires started with similar products. Tannerite says that the smoke from their product is actually water vapor and not smoke from combustion.
A study was released several years ago that most "experts" claim shows that fires can be started by rifle bullets (the same study posted previously in this conversation). The reality is that in the summary for that study the authors point out that you need a very narrow set of circumstances to make a fire.
"Peat moisture contents of 3-5%, air temperatures of 34-49 °C (98-120 °F), and relative humidity of 7 to 16% were necessary to reliably observe ignitions in the experiments."
They also had to adjust the angle of the steel plate that they fired in to, to be 30 degrees, they fired from only a few feet away (which means that there was far more heat energy available in the bullet fragments) , they only had repeatable success with all copper bullets, and only dried peat was found to work as a combustible.
It was so hard for them to coordinate all of these factors that they almost gave up on the tests because they had a difficult time finding a way to make a fire start. I believe that it's possible to start a fire with a bullet but I also believe that it's extremely rare, nowhere near as common as the anti-gun experts claim.
While the actual Tannerite product might not start fires I have seen fires started with similar products. Tannerite says that the smoke from their product is actually water vapor and not smoke from combustion.
Last edited:
Mulligan
Silver $$ Contributor
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