How much heat can ammo take?

[reteach]

A friend had a fire in his metal building. A water heater's hoses bursting created a kind of sprinkler system that kept the fire from doing as much damage as it might have done, but there is some damage from the heat (and smoke.) He had ammunition stored in the building. Nothing cooked off. But he's wondering now whether the heat could have damaged the ammo in any way.

Anyone have any experience with this? Or can anyone suggest a resource to find an answer?

Thanks.

[reteach]

I asked you guys first, then did a search on the innertube. SAAMI has an article that addresses this specific question.

https://saami.org/publications-advisories/advisories/

"Guidance On Firearms and Ammunition Exposed to Fire"

Looks like it only takes 200 degrees F to cause primers and powder to break down. I'm afraid my buddy just lost a lot of ammo.

[rickyrick]

Info I didn’t know, thanks for sharing.
A bit off topic, but I had a water heater catch on fire while at work, an old propane fuel type, but the fire melted a water pipe and put out the fire. Only a small circle of floor was damaged, I got lucky, sounds like your friend did too.

[Jim Watson]

I lost ammo to fire hose and rain water damage in the Incident but one batch with heat damage. I had ammo loaded with different powders in baggies to be used for low light muzzle flash comparison. The bags were just slightly crinkled, nothing visible on the brass.

I broke two extractors before realizing that ammo had been cooked into excess pressure.
I would not trust his.

[reteach]

Jim Watson - Sorry you had to go through that, but thank you for the useful information. I will pass it on to my friend.

That's why I like this forum. There must be 1000 years worth of experience here and folks willing to share and help.

[44 AMP]

Before heat renders ammo non functional, it can reach a point where it becomes "hyperactive". It may not have happened, or it may have, as Jim said, "cooked into excess pressure", or it could have been cooked to the point of going inert.

Without recording instruments present and functional during the fire there is no way to know exactly what temps the ammo was subjected to, and even if there were, there is no way to be certain how much of a change in the normal chemical reaction became altered. And beyond the powder and primer chemicals, there is also the brass itself, possibly softened or weakened by the heat, and if that is the case, even normal pressure could result is a dangerous situation.

The safest thing is to discard the ammo. The bullets might be reuseable, or if lead and melted/distorted, can be recast.

[Jim Watson]

I savaged a lot of smoked, hosed, and toasted bullets and brass.

[Aguila Blanca]

Originally Posted by Jim Watson

I savaged a lot of smoked, hosed, and toasted bullets and brass.

I hope that was a typo ...

[Jim Watson]

Well, I did beat on some of it with a hammer (type bullet puller.)

Other soaked ammo. Soaked, fire hose water and rain through a burnt out roof, nobody bothered with a tarp, the house was totaled.
S&B 9mm with pretty red sealant around primer and bullet. Nope, lots of misfires from wet powder.
Aluminum Blazer 9mm looked OK but split on firing, gas cutting the chamber.
Winchester JHP .45 one got barely damp, stuck bullet in bore.

Others, various misfire rates. Cast and .22 not zero but less than most jacketed, except USGI which was made to take it.

[reteach]

I've never used a bullet puller. They seem to be all about the same. Is there one brand/model that works better than others?

Thanks everyone for the information and entertainment.

[georgehwbush]

as to pullers i have only used the hammer type. one trick that will help you is put the ammo in a press with a seating die and set the bullet back just a little first "makes it loose traction" then pull it.