Green tip .223/5.56 ammo. Range dangers !!

[Gina1]

As an RSO at our local range (public range) I'm starting to see a lot of green tip ammo. I know it's a penetrating round (not an AP via ATF). I was wondering what the fire danger / ricohet is from these steel tipped rounds.
I have looked at several different rounds. Some have a steel core, others have a copper/steel FMJ.
We will be entering fire season in a few months and I am worried about these rounds sparking.
Has anyone had experience with them in this situation ?
Much thanks for any info

Gina

 

[msinc]

I have seen them spark when I shot some into the bank of a gravel pit. They sparked because they impacted rocks. Not much of a spark though...it had to be just before dark to see it. Seems like there would have to be some pretty dry tinder nearby to catch...not saying it cant happen. The area where I live has a lot of gravel pits. Probably better than 85% of the shooting that is done around here happens in somebodies pit. We get really dry around here in the late summer/early fall and I have never heard of a fire being started this way.
Green tip or SS-109 ammo isn't the only thing that will spark. Just about all of the cheap gunshow Russian AK ammo will do it too. It has a steel jacket that they paint copper.

 

[Gina1]

Thanks for the come back. We have rocks along the sides of the ranges AND during fire season in Oregon LOTS of dry tinder. I'm going to hate being the ammo police

 

[Texas10]

The range I shoot at does not allow FMJ ammo due to ricochet and fire danger. Last year, I watched a guy shooting at 200 yds and using FMJ in his AR-15 skip a round well short of the target. About 2 minutes later flames and smoke began to fill the range and Fire Dept was called. They got there just as the grass fire started to moved into bush/trees as the RSO's with fire extinguishers were unable to contain it. A few more minutes unchecked, and it could have been a really different outcome.
I was a bit shocked at how easily the fire was ignited and how quickly it spread...
... and how fast the guy with the AR-15 disappeared during all the excitement

 

[300_whisper]

As an RSO at our local range (public range) I'm starting to see a lot of green tip ammo. I know it's a penetrating round (not an AP via ATF). I was wondering what the fire danger / ricohet is from these steel tipped rounds.
I have looked at several different rounds. Some have a steel core, others have a copper/steel FMJ.
We will be entering fire season in a few months and I am worried about these rounds sparking.
Has anyone had experience with them in this situation ?
Much thanks for any info

Gina

Yes, we shot this stuff before we got the new ammo. During our range weeks we would shut down the range to put out the fires. We had Soldiers trained with fire fighting equipment on standby to put them out quickly. It’s a common occurrence, but we had several hundred Soldiers shooting several hundred rounds each so the chance of fire increased exponentially.

 

[hikfromstik]

The range I shoot at does not allow FMJ ammo due to ricochet and fire danger. Last year, I watched a guy shooting at 200 yds and using FMJ in his AR-15 skip a round well short of the target. About 2 minutes later flames and smoke began to fill the range and Fire Dept was called. They got there just as the grass fire started to moved into bush/trees as the RSO's with fire extinguishers were unable to contain it. A few more minutes unchecked, and it could have been a really different outcome.
I was a bit shocked at how easily the fire was ignited and how quickly it spread...
... and how fast the guy with the AR-15 disappeared during all the excitement

Funny story , my good friend bought a couple boxes of the federal tracer 5.56 for laughs . Well he got a laugh when the back field of his neighbors pasture caught fire right at dusk . The US forestry service and local fire department cane in with dozers and made fire blocks to keep it from burning the country side . He didn't get in trouble ,but had to explain to the land owner what happened . Needless to say we don't shoot at his place anymore. I cringe at the thought of putting burning magnesium bullets in my match barrels . He's a minute of paper plate shooter ,so he doesn't care .

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Watch for tracers even more. I know some of the ammo hoarders found out that was the only ammo in stock at some places

 

[Rsadams]

We had a fire a bit past the hundred yard line at my range awhile back that was bound to have been caused by a bullet.. We have a bad fire season here and all it takes is some wind and a spark...

 

[retired]

it is fairly common to see ss109/green tip/ fmjbtsc banned at private ranges. the steel core can do a bit of damage to stuff plus the possibility of sparks.
typical fmj is a copper jacket over lead..kind of tuff to spark except in movies.
steel jacket lead core is a diff story.
most ranges do a simple bullet to a magnet test.