Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Bullets starting forest fires

I just read where a spokesperson for the state of Colorado said they suspect the Weber fire out of Mancos was started by people target practicing. And that the stray bullets started the fire. Last week it was the same thing in Utah. I imagine it's possible, but not trusting the government much anymore. Maybe it's a way of gathering public sentiment to stop folks from shooting on forest service land. How paranoid does that sound?

My adult son started a range fire the day before his wedding with his new FIL watching...shooting an SKS with steel jacketed ammo. It burned over 4,000 acres real fast.

A lot of fires are started by sparks from high powered rifle bullets striking rocks with dry grass or brush intermingled.

If folks used common sense in this drought or in dry weather in general we would have fewer fires and homes destroyed.

Or if we had a sensible public lands policy - excuse me that is an oxymoron, if land was privately owned ranges could be maintained.

If I was a betting man, I'd bet the report of target shooters starting a fire in Utah came from the Salt Lake City area. One of the wildland fire investigators there is convinced that they are often the cause of the fires. I'm not saying they don't happen, but in many cases that investigators "proof" is the presence of empty brass near the ingition. I think it's much less common of a cause than given by that particular investigator.

I've seen it happen with tracers, but not with standard bullets.

We also started a fire using SKS's with chinese ammo many years ago. Fortunately we stomped it out in time.

Not standard ammo but the junk you get cheap at the gun show. For years local ranges here have banned steel core, steel or bi-metal jacketed ammo due to sparks when it hits a rock or other hard object.

It is so cheap to buy a shooter goes to the local gun show buys the ammo for his ak or ar and heads to the nearest national Forrest open shooting area and ends up setting the area on fire.

I am pretty sure that you can't start a fire with standard gilding metal/lead bullets. They need to have some fire or steel in them.

There is another thread on this from the other day. I can see steel cored ammo possibly, but considering how many lead cored bullets I get to see sent downrange on FT Carson alone every year I doubt them as the cause.
I don't doubt that the Forest Service is receiving pressure to cut down on recreational shooting.

...but we wouldn't have access to the lands. They would be locked up like in Texas, but open for $3,000-$5,000 to shoot a deer.

Shoot a rock some night. You'll see sparks often.

I know Kevin "Doctari" Robertson wrote an article about how he burned down his entire farm in Zimbabwe by firing his .505 Gibbs near dry grass.

More an opportunity to speculate, overreact, and usurp more authority in the name of "public safety"..... than a policy created based on actual evidence.

Far more likely to start a fire by parking your car on the side of the road..... they gonna ban that too?

Very keen insight.

They do to a certain extent, and sometimes careless shooters start fires. I know it steps on your toes a bit, but these things happen.

I guess I can't complain. If it weren't for knuckleheads doing stupid things my income would be about 1/2...and it is about 1/2 already.

I have seen it several times with mil surplus steel jacket ammo. It absolutely can be done. One range has a magnet to check every round. Steel you can not shoot.

There may even be some military surplus incendiary ammo floating around. When I was in ROTC we had some armor piercing incendiary 30-06 to shoot in M1 Garands. The backstop was wet clay. The bullet would go in and for awhile there would be some smoke and a fizzing sounds coming out. I imagine that would start a fire in the west.

Boy there must be a lot of shooting going on all over the country. Lightning strike would be much more probable, kids with fireworks or campfires not getting put out. But say that's good quick thinking by the anti gun left.

I call BS on the "gun fires." By far most forest fires are intentionally set, followed far behind by accidents, open burning getting out of control, and lightening strikes.

One of the rumors for another Colorado fire was that the shooters were shooting "empty" propane tanks. I have also seen sparks flying when rock are hit by steel ammo. Used to have some for my SKS. Those of you who doubt that sparks can start a fire just don't understand just how dry the forests and grasslands are out here in Colorado. A 45,000 acre grass fire that destroyed Last Chance a small crossroads town in eastern CO was started by a car that had a blow out and the ensuing sparks triggered the grass fire.

Cigarettes thrown out the window???