Hype, Hype, hype --------------------
I got so fed up with it a few years back, you know all the hype about Joe Blow having XXXXXXXXX amount of ammo in his house and the great and grave danger he caused to all those surrounding homes and families etc. etc. etc.
So when it was my turn to do the "safety meeting, I did a series of slides showing Black Powder burning(exploding) and smokless powder burning. Used a motor drive to make the shots, so it was clear the difference between an explosive - black powder and a propelent - smokeless powder.
Showed some night shots of handguns being fired etc., and talked about the very limited danger of injury when ammo "cooked" off.
Having been there and done that when a kid - now we would be put in the slammer for being a terrorist or something - I told the group that I could start a bit of a fire in a card board box and cook off some ammo and the resulting fragments would never leave the box.
First the primer pops out (non-military), the bullet possibly gets pushed out by the expanding gas, maybe going a few inches from the case, and possibly the case will rupture.
The only parts which will travel any distance will not have enough energy to go through the cardboard box, and will consist of the primer (if it blows) and possible small fragments of the case.
The bullet and the case, being heavy and the bursting cartridge being uncontained, will not travel more then a very few inches at most.
My point is, if we could get them to really be interested, an educated (real life and real things) media would be a far cry from what we have now.
Anyway, don't know if I convenced them, but I felt better after trying.
The same thing applies with the lead issue!
Keep em coming!
CDOC