Just my thoughts on what might have happened
First normal reloading powder does not explode to to simple contact with fire. Just Like C-4 it burns until it's confined. Or it is set off by an explosion such as happens in a cartridge when the firing pin strikes a primer.
To get six pounds to all go off at the same time it sounds like a sympathetic detonation . That's how most military explosives are set off. We don't put a detonator in each block of explosive we set one in several and then concentrate the remaining blocks of C-4 or dynomite in close proximity so when the primed blocks go the rest goes.
Now burning powder will explode if it is confined and the burning builds up pressure to such an extent that the powder then explodes.
I'm guessing since I've not seen the photo's that he had a primer detonation that set off a lot of primers (probably like a thousand) and that the 6 pounds were stored in close contact and went up as a secondary explosion
First normal reloading powder does not explode to to simple contact with fire. Just Like C-4 it burns until it's confined. Or it is set off by an explosion such as happens in a cartridge when the firing pin strikes a primer.
To get six pounds to all go off at the same time it sounds like a sympathetic detonation . That's how most military explosives are set off. We don't put a detonator in each block of explosive we set one in several and then concentrate the remaining blocks of C-4 or dynomite in close proximity so when the primed blocks go the rest goes.
Now burning powder will explode if it is confined and the burning builds up pressure to such an extent that the powder then explodes.
I'm guessing since I've not seen the photo's that he had a primer detonation that set off a lot of primers (probably like a thousand) and that the 6 pounds were stored in close contact and went up as a secondary explosion
