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For a couple weeks now I have been using my limited computer skills searching for a documented case of a HUNTING type bullet causing a wildfire. There is a lot of statements, news articles, and some very sketchy "studies" funded by the USFS. But I'm not seeing what I thought I would be seeing. The best funded "study" shows some 100,000 frame photos of impacts, and some actual ignition of peat from testing. "A study of ignition by rifle bullets", MA Finney used some pretty wild parameters to draw their conclusions. Like impacting an AR 500 plate at about a 30 degree angle with steel core ammo. Not my idea of a hunting bullet. They claim ignition with solid copper bullets, but I can't find the methodology they used. They claim one ignition from cup and core bullet...but again, no details.
So, my question is, just here on the 24 hr Cluster Camp and Comment, not the experience of your cousin Daryl....has anybody had an experience actually starting a fire or getting a smolder with hunting bullets? There has to be 10,000 years of combined experience here.


Well this is a fine pickle we're in, should'a listened to Joe McCarthy and George Orwell I guess.
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I've never seen anything of the sort, ever. I've seen well over 100,000 rounds shot in my lifetime.


I belong on eroding granite, among the pines.
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Campfire hunters generally have their bullets slow down by going through a body before they hit the grass.

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have had no experience of it happening evah.

but, muzzle loaders with patches in dry woods & low humidity have been rumored......

don't have any actual evidence. but a a cotton patch is more of a suspect than a lead bullet.


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Locals started a fire a couple years back. No record, however, of the type of ammo they were using. They stayed and fought the flames, but things got out of hand, and some air tankers came roaring in and got it under control. No charges incurred, but when conditions warrant the range is now closed from about 10 AM to 6 PM.

Last edited by 1minute; 09/03/20.

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Sounds like a bunch of Bunny Hugger BS to me. Brass and copper are both pretty inert as far as making sparks. And even as far as steel core bullets the deer I hunt aren't made of steel or flint although the way some walk off after being shot you'd think some are. Sometimes Hollywood shows somebody shooting at gasoline on the grass causing a fire. I've tried that and I think it's also fiction. I think it's another attack on shooting and hunting and the Second Amendment in general.


Last edited by Filaman; 09/03/20.

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As above, ML'ers come to mind. I started a small grass fire once while dove hunting with a SxS ML'er. Big old smoldering greased wads were the culprit. Got a little sporty until we got it put out.


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Reason this came up, I stopped by the local USFS Guard Station a couple weeks back, asked the engine boss if he had heard any rumors about shutting down or postponing buck season?
He said he hadn't heard anything but went on to remark, "If it was up to me, I'd shut it down." No point in further discussion.
Every time I drop by there, I swear I'll never stop again. In May it was dry and windy, so I thought I'd stop and make sure power saw use had not been curtailed. Lots of back and forth, several phone calls (they sent the district office people home with pay for the flu scare), he said, "I don't know". So I said, "well can you assure me I won't get a citation then?" He says, "of course not, you break the rules, you get busted". No point in further discussion.


Well this is a fine pickle we're in, should'a listened to Joe McCarthy and George Orwell I guess.
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Originally Posted by flintlocke
Reason this came up, I stopped by the local USFS Guard Station a couple weeks back, asked the engine boss if he had heard any rumors about shutting down or postponing buck season?
He said he hadn't heard anything but went on to remark, "If it was up to me, I'd shut it down." No point in further discussion.
Every time I drop by there, I swear I'll never stop again. In May it was dry and windy, so I thought I'd stop and make sure power saw use had not been curtailed. Lots of back and forth, several phone calls (they sent the district office people home with pay for the flu scare), he said, "I don't know". So I said, "well can you assure me I won't get a citation then?" He says, "of course not, you break the rules, you get busted". No point in further discussion.

Sound like a bunch of fuuckwits to me.


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Hunting Dove this afternoon and the BLM land to the west of the orchard is closed to target shooting during some fire seasons. We often shoot steel plate there but not today. Interesting because the grass is cazy short but have seen evidence of fire . Possibility of fires keeping us away today so says my friend.
And no I've never seen any sparks from our equipment. Our local park has closed the trails to horses because a horse shoe "could cause a spark and could start a fire" OK! My horse is barefoot!

Last edited by sidepass; 09/03/20.

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The only example I have knowledge of is not the bullet that caused the ignition, but the tannerite that it was shot into.

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Originally Posted by Craigster

Well, damn. There goes my idea of a bullet trap utilizing slabs of granite and filled with fine, dried peat. I guess I'll just go back to shooting into the dirt.


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Solution: water cored c-n-c bullets. smile


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Shooters started a fire in the Black Hills shooting steel core ammo, south west of Rapid City.

The rocks in the hills vary - limestone, granite, quartz, gypsum, iron ore, and I believe flint. Even with steel core ammo it would seem not too likely, but when a fellow shoots 1,000’s of rounds...
I see no reason for shooting steel core ammo, especially with AR’s into rocks. I guess for some it might be fun.

I don’t believe it would be at all likely for brass, lead or copper to cause ignition, perhaps possible, but very unlikely.


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Originally Posted by Gus
have had no experience of it happening evah.

but, muzzle loaders with patches in dry woods & low humidity have been rumored......

don't have any actual evidence. but a a cotton patch is more of a suspect than a lead bullet.



Friend of mine was hunting with his family and a group on a WMA when we were kids. Muzzle loader hunts were all black powder, iron sights, etc...and were a big deal on WMA's back then because it was one of the few times you could kill a doe. The group decided to push an area that had been clear cut and nothing had grown back yet....except sage grass, which around here is dry in the winter. Someone took a shot, sage grass caught fire, and he said it was quite a sight to see and the game wardens weren't to happy about it. Alabama's pretty wet in the winter so even though there was limbs and junk on the ground nothing caught on fire except the sage.

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Kevin Robertson burned down his farm in Zimbabwe with a hang fire from his 505 Gibbs

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I probably sent over 100k rounds of small arms ammo (M-16 variants + belt-fed) down range when I was on active duty and I saw several million more go down range.

The only fires I saw get started were from pyrotechnic devices, flame weapons, and indirect-fire weapons. Tracer ammo MIGHT set something alight but I never saw it.


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The first time I fired a 505Gibbs it knocked the cigarette out of my mouth but that's as close as I got to causing a fire from firing a bullet.

I've got a 16inch barrel 30/06 that looks like it could set fire to dry grass when it goes off.


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Originally Posted by mauserand9mm
Originally Posted by Raspy
Whatever you said...everyone knows you are a lying jerk.

That's a bold assertion. Point out where you think I lied.

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Years ago we set some leaves on fire shooting tracers. Not hardly hunting ammo...We were shooting into a steep sand bank across a pond. One tracer seemed to bounce straight up about 20 feet, then fall back to the ground in front of the bank and land in a small pile of leaves. We could see it still burning on the ground and took off running to put it out. Good fire, about the size of a campfire, going by the time we got there. But that was with a 7.62 tracer. Haven't shot any of those things since.

I've been shooting for 55 years and never even heard of anyone starting a fire with hunting ammo.


Harry
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