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Bullets starting wildfires?

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Some here may not know what "Whites" are. In my father's young day working in the northwest woods, every logger, log driver, and firefighter, and many other woodsmen, wore expensive custom made White brand boots with spikes. They were referred to as "cork" boots (often pronounced "caulk") for the cork or wooden plugs which retained the spikes in the soles. And most woodsmen wore Filson wool "cruiser" jackets with a water-resistant double layer back that formed a large pocket with two side openings, handy for packing a sandwich and extra dry socks. Any store, restaurant, or tavern in lumber towns had a sign outside "No Corks Allowed" to save the wooden flooring. The Whites would be lined up on the wooden porch or sidewalk outside.
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Whites are still the standard. Just had two pair rebuilt this spring, one will likely need new soles by fall.
CW
 
Went to the range one afternoon. One of the "local military rifle shooters" was shooting some of his surplus ammo. I cut my trip short and headed home. Went back the next morning and the hillside was BLACK.:eek:
Come to find out, armor piercing ammo caused the fire. You never know with "old" mil surp ammo.
Our range was shut down for a few days last week. Small fire up the road a piece and it being in the 100s*+ they figured it best to close the range down till things were in better control.
We're in the middle of the Mendocino Complex Fire area (Ranch fire and River fire) so no use pushing our luck.;)

We have banned green tip 5.5 6mm 62 grain .223 ammo at our local range. FMJ/core is steel and will spark when hitting rocks or gravel. Too dry here in southern Oregon to take the risk of more fires.
 
We have banned green tip 5.5 6mm 62 grain .223 ammo at our local range. FMJ/core is steel and will spark when hitting rocks or gravel. Too dry here in southern Oregon to take the risk of more fires.
When it's too hot and dry, probably all shooting should be curtailed, if any flammables are present, and especially if it's windy. Copper/lead bullets striking stone have been proven to induce ignition as well. Our shooting facility is bare decomposed granite and devoid of weeds, so there's nothing to burn.
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I can smell that leather as if they were standing here next to me.
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OK..... you want 'em to smell REAL? Like Grampa's and Uncle Ethel's did???

Then you got's to get 'chu' some Huberd's to work into those roughouts.....

Huberd's.

It's the smell you been lookin' for all yer life and it'll either give you a chubby or make yer guts curl (if you've ever been burned over.....)

Huberd's.

It's downright visceral.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000MLBCWM/?tag=accuratescom-20
 
Huberd's has been around forever. But I was thinking this stuff. Peck is 30 miles up the Clearwater River from my (and Speer Bullets') hometown, Lewiston, ID, and about 12 miles from Orofino and Nightforce Optics.
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EEE7635C-4D29-4ADB-904A-92C8D1699DA4.jpeg Eons ago we used this stuff. Heated the boots over a hot stove and dabbed it on. If the boots were hot enough it would melt and wick in to any crevice. Dabbed it on til it wouldn’t take any more.
 
Some here may not know what "Whites" are. In my father's young day working in the northwest woods, every logger, log driver, and firefighter, and many other woodsmen, wore expensive custom made White brand boots with spikes. They were referred to as "cork" boots (usually pronounced "caulk") for the cork or wooden plugs which retained the spikes in the soles. And most woodsmen wore Filson wool "cruiser" jackets with a water-resistant double layer back that formed a large pocket with two side openings, handy for packing a sandwich and extra dry socks. Any store, restaurant, or tavern in lumber towns had a sign outside "No Corks Allowed" to save the wooden flooring. The Whites would be lined up on the wooden porch or sidewalk outside.
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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
A 22 round isn’t even jacketed... that is solid lead, about as likely to start a fire as a high powered pellet gun. I suppose it’s possible, as you say, you saw it happen, however it would be an anomaly or conditions would have to align just right...
 
A 22 round isn’t even jacketed... that is solid lead, about as likely to start a fire as a high powered pellet gun. I suppose it’s possible, as you say, you saw it happen, however it would be an anomaly or conditions would have to align just right...
Isn't a 22 WMR a 22 round? Most are jacketed. He probably meant 22 LR, granted, but still ...

PS it doesn't require a jacket when shooting rocks. Certain rocks can spark against themselves. There are other plausible explanations, this thread suggests a few:

https://www.northwestfirearms.com/threads/can-a-lead-bullet-make-a-spark.200896/
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Isn't a 22 WMR a 22 round? Most are jacketed. He probably meant 22 LR, granted, but still ...

PS it doesn't require a jacket when shooting rocks. Certain rocks can spark against themselves. There are other plausible explanations, this thread suggests a few:

https://www.northwestfirearms.com/threads/can-a-lead-bullet-make-a-spark.200896/
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Agreed but certainly wouldn’t cite that thread personally. Everyone has opininions I guess. I just highly doubt I’ll ever start a fire the way I myself shoot. Can’t speak for others nor can I bring extreme science to the arguement to counter hypothetics.
 
A 22 round isn’t even jacketed... that is solid lead, about as likely to start a fire as a high powered pellet gun. I suppose it’s possible, as you say, you saw it happen, however it would be an anomaly or conditions would have to align just right...
When it is dry, any spark can and often do start grass or range fires.
In parts of the west, it gets very dry. As an example, some of our weather stations have recorded relieve humidity less that 3% with temperatures above 100*F. The probably of ignition (PIG) is 100% when this occurs. We have lots of fires started by blow-outs, safety chains, cigarettes out the window, just to name a few. A projectile moving fast enough to break a rock or shatter a small piece of a rock can and will spark. At 100% PIG, that is all that is needed to start a fire.
CW
 
Yes, rifle rounds can start fires. I saw them constantly at Fort Hood and Fort Bragg. It was so prevelent we had a team of Soldiers trained in fire fighting techniques and supplied with the proper gear to put out the fires before they became to big.
 
Yeahhh, well.... it's easy to preach but I gotta' stand up for 'MUR'CAN! rednekkidness.....

Tannerite is not generally a fire hazard.

And we shot down on my range all through the recent dry spell.

And gender reveals are cool, especially NOW when marriage, family, values, morals and perty much everyhing 'MUR'CAN!!! is under attack by feebs...

Maybe there's more to the story, maybe some traditional fireworks were involved, maybe we'll never know. But there's probably more story.

For instance.

We just had a deal 2 miles from my house where a girl "pushed another girl off a bridge and hurt her" ....... the vid was viral acros't the freakin' world...... every state, every country, every rednekkid opinionator had something to say about "that bitch"

Sounds TERRIBLE and mean and nasty and "how could anybody do that??" Right?

Well, I've been a kid. And I've GOT kids, and they've got friends, and I've BEEN ON THAT BRIDGE many times in my life in many different states, and will probably be on it again cuz 'MUR'CA!!!!

And we sometimes do wacky $#!t......

I saw the footage of "girl on the bridge" like ten minutes after it happened..... while everybody was still THERE at the bridge...... and my kids have jumped it...... and she WAS out there teetering on the edge and she DID say "hey, if I chicken out somebody push me!" ....... and none of this matters.

My lead man's best friend died jumping another bridge not even a mile from this one...... and just a couple weeks ago one of my kids was up on "The Green Bridge" which is about 3 times higher......

And we'll shoot Tannerite again.

and again

AND AGAIN!!

:)

cuz if you don't get a chubby from that sort of thing, SCREW YA!!

LOL

al
 
I 've jumped off bridges,piers, even one time off the bridge of a ship while we were anchored off Nigeria, I'm not blaming anyone for nothing,,
 
We have banned green tip 5.5 6mm 62 grain .223 ammo at our local range. FMJ/core is steel and will spark when hitting rocks or gravel. Too dry here in southern Oregon to take the risk of more fires.
I never really thought about the steel core in the FMJ,were do you shoot in So. Oregon
 

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