Ever shot a "range" round or "smished" round.

[Cal-gun Fan]

Of which one?

At one time, there was a radical anti-gun group that advocated doing a number of things to force their agenda, including browsing gun shows and slipping live ammo into display guns while the vendor's attention was diverted. Don't know if it ever happened, but I'd say that the chances are that it did. We hear about gun show discharges, and I often wonder if at least some of them are the result of espionage. If they're willing to do something like that...

On the C4...

During the Vietnam era, there were reports of Navy Seals booby trapping AKs with C4 packed ammunition, and a warning was issued that any found AK not be fired with the ammunition that was in it.

At any rate...C4 and its ugly sister Semtex are set off by heat and shock...not electricity. So, even if it hasn't been done, it's still a possibility and not worth the risk for a few pennies worth of free ammo.

I highly doubt that the anti-gunners were responsible for things like that...certainly it is a possibility, but highly unlikely. Much more likely it was just stupid vendors, maybe whom left ammunition in the rifle when they brought it to the show on accident.

 

[camar]

Practically every trip to the range I find; .22, .45, .38 Spl., and .223. If the bullet matches what gun I brought that day then yes I will shoot it. If I don't have that caliber gun with me then I put it in my pocket and take it home. Either for the brass or the next range trip.

This is not a big deal.

 

[1911Tuner]

I highly doubt that the anti-gunners were responsible for things like that...certainly it is a possibility, but highly unlikely. Much more likely it was just stupid vendors, maybe whom left ammunition in the rifle when they brought it to the show on accident.

At one time, there was a radical group whose members were advocating doing that very thing...calling for supporters to educate themselves on gun/caliber combinations and going to gun shows with a pocketful of ammo. It's been a while, so I can't provide the documentation...but I did see one of their flyers about 15 years ago. I turned it over to the Stokes County Sheriff's Office and never heard another word about it.

Whether or not anybody acted on it is unknown or at least unproven...but not long ago, there seemed to be a rash of unintentional discharges at gun shows. Coincidence? I dunno. I do know that I stopped going to gun shows after my third experience with gunfire in the exhibit hall...one of which happened within 10 feet of where I was standing at a Greensboro NC show.

 

[1911Tuner]

camar...your choice, your risk...but I wouldn't fire unknown ammunition that I find on a range on a bet.

It's just not worth it. You might get away with it for years...until one day, you don't. Even if it's not deliberate espionage, handloaders make mistakes. I trust me, and only two other people on the face of the Earth to reload ammunition that I may have occasion to shoot. Anyone else is suspect.

 

[Redlg155]

My dad was a fan of the gun show reloads. When he passed away I recieved a good suppy of plastic bags with a price stuck to them. No manufacturer name, just heavy duty plastic with a price tag stapled. Needless to say, I won't shoot the stuff.

Big name remanufactured ammo, for example, Black Hills....yes. Joe at the gun show selling ammo and some ancient relics..No.

 

[camar]

Thanks for calling it. NO, I do not use anybodys reloads to shoot. I will take them down for the brass and bullet.

 

[Zoogster]

Also consider that when some individual shoots his hand loads in an auto pistol which results in a kaboom the magazine often ends up outside of the gun in pieces, throwing the remaining rounds of ammo around the area.
Sometimes the floor plate shoots off, other times the magazine ejects with enough force to smash on the ground. When the magazine breaks the spring throws the remaining rounds around the area.
The last thing likely to be on the person's mind is to pick up the remaining rounds which are typical part of the same reloading group and just as overloaded, when they just had a gun damaged, and potential injuries that may require a quick trip to the hospital.

Now some ranges clean up things like brass regularly, other shooting spots can have brass piles from years prior.
I remember before it was realized it could be sold or reloaded by the average person that most informal outdoor ranges had piles of brass going far back. In fact brass collecting seems to have caught on a lot more around the time of the Obama election induced ammo shortage. Prior to that the ground was saturated with brass in all common calibers, and if you looked many less common calibers as well.
Today some guy comes along every now and then and tries to gather up all they can every so many months. While staffed ranges have started collecting brass themselves.
My point is that before recent years you could have overloaded handloads sitting on the ground for years after the kaboom incident happened. Just waiting for someone to think they found some free ammo. Maybe rounds left from several kaboom incidents mixed in with various rounds simply dropped or lost etc over the years.

 

[303tom]

C4 is very stable and insensitive to most physical shocks. C4 cannot be detonated by a gunshot or by dropping it onto a hard surface. It does not explode when set on fire or exposed to microwave radiation. Detonation can only be initiated by a combination of extreme heat and a shockwave, such as when a detonator inserted into it is fired.

 

[Strykervet]

I don't shoot ammo I don't load myself or know and trust where it came from. That said, I've shot funky rejects in a SAW and M4 in the army. I try to be careful with setback ammo, I don't shoot it I pull it. Especially in .40! Very small setback can cause significant pressure in the .40.

 

[303tom]

Just as with other explosives, you need to apply some energy to C-4 to kick off the chemical reaction. Because of the stabilizer elements, it takes a considerable shock to set off this reaction; lighting the C-4 with a match will just make it burn slowly, like a piece of wood (in Vietnam, soldiers actually burned C-4 as an improvised cooking fire). Even shooting the explosive with a rifle won't trigger the reaction. Only a detonator, or blasting cap will do the job properly.

A detonator is just a smaller explosive that's relatively easy to set off. An electrical detonator, for example, uses a brief charge to set off a small amount of explosive material. When somebody triggers the detonator (by transmitting the charge through detonator cord to a blasting cap, for example), the explosion applies a powerful shock that triggers the C-4 explosive material.

 

[lloveless]

Ranger30-06 wrote: "It's true. C4 needs an electric charge to be set off. Not going to happen with a primer!" All C4 needs is a primary explosive to set it off(blasting caps etc). Doesn't need electricity!

 

[Ranger30-06]

Ranger30-06 wrote: "It's true. C4 needs an electric charge to be set off. Not going to happen with a primer!" All C4 needs is a primary explosive to set it off(blasting caps etc). Doesn't need electricity!

Ok I got this info from one of those booklets about improvised explosives at a gun show. Inside was instructions on how to make it yourself and how to set it off by using a car battery. That's about all I read because there were more important things to check out at this gun show. Sorry for the misinformation!

 

[chrt396]

I prefer not to publicly admit to stupidity.

...and if you do...you WILL be flamed to the nth degree! Ask me how I know!