True confession time, pertaining to heat (and not much of it relatively speaking) detonating a cartridge.
Long ago in a galaxy far away, I was in the basement pulling bullets out of some old .25-20 Single Shot cartridges to salvage the brass to make R2 Lovell's out of them. All went swimmingly until I got to the very last one which refused to budge. Sooo, I got the bright idea of drilling a tiny hole down through the tip of the jacketed bullet with the idea of running a tiny Easy-Out in to twist it free. I know, I know. With the cartridge held snugly in a chuck, I didn't get maybe barely through the bullet with the bit, when BANG! The case ruptured like a banana peel, the primer went God knows where, and mysteriously the bullet disappeared too. Never found it. Thankfully not a mark on me, but I had some 'splainin' to do with the wife.
Heat was the only possible explanation because the bit didn't go barely beyond the bullet base, certainly not deep enough to engage the primer. That ruptured case remains in view on my loading bench to this day 40 years later as a constant reminder to not be a dumbass.
Are you saying the hot drill bit ignited the powder? Only other explanation would be the rotary movement of the bit somehow interacting with the gunpowder in such a way to ignite it. Don't know exactly how gunpowder works. Who wants to experiment with a hammer and drill? LOL
