Nighthawk:
There is an incident described in Hatcher's Notebook where he was trying to remove a barrel obstruction by firing a bulletless cartridge. The powder ignited, and was trapped in the barrel until the bolt was opened. That is the type of energy I am referring to. The powder gas expanded, but there was not enough stored energy to cause the rifle to blow up. Had there been a detonation, I think the rifle would have been destroyed.
When you have a detonation, there is a shock wave, and this is just my opinion, but if a small amount of powder is the cause of the blow up, it is because of the shock wave that is produced and not the force of the explosion.
The way a shock wave is produced, under certain conditions, instead of an expansion of powder gases, which is the normal function of gun powder when it is ignited and used as a propellant, is beyond my field of knowledge.
The extent of damage caused by an explosion from gunpowder is limited to the bursting of the container, in the event the pressure exceeds the strength of the container. What this means is, you couldn't blow up a building with gunpowder, unless you some how caused it to detonate.
