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Old April 2, 2013, 08:29 AM   #14
Slamfire
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Join Date: May 27, 2007
Posts: 5,261
Quote:
Although the Army considers propellant in fixed rounds as not hazardous, when these rounds are no longer needed and are processed for demilitarization, propellant stability becomes an immediate safety issue."

This is based on something the Army promotes as the “five inch rule”. While the Army agrees that the propellant in five inch or less artillery shells does go bad in the shell, they just don’t consider an autocatalytic combustion risk while it is in the shell. The Army has created this self serving idea that the thermal mass of a five inch or less cartridge casing will conduct heat away from bad propellant and prevent the heat build up which occurs prior to autocatalytic combustion. My Navy Insensitive Munitions expert considers this bogus, a bogus theory created by people receiving cash awards when they "extend" stockpile lifetime or defer demilling costs to out years. He based that on the number of large holes in the ground at Navy Depots that he wrote the after action reports. It is his opinion that munitions will explode, given enough deterioration, whether or not they are five inches or less. None of his incidents are in the public domain because I Googled them and no information is out there.

But if you do notice, the Army agrees once that propellant is removed from the shell and put in large containers, the whole pile of propellant can autocombust.

Which is why all that gunpowder left out at Camp Minden Loiusiana created such a concern:

http://www.examiner.com/article/11-m...injures-man-al
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/10/16...-in-louisiana/
http://beforeitsnews.com/earthquakes...n-2445662.html
http://www.ksla.com/story/5281639/ex...munition-plant

Look at the picture here:
http://www.ktbs.com/news/Louisiana-c...2/-/index.html

Incidentally the state of Louisiana is looking for someone to take possession of the 10 million pounds of old, obsolete, and dangerous gunpowder.

Any takers?
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Last edited by Slamfire; April 2, 2013 at 01:35 PM.
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