Husband was hunting all week and I am doing his laundry. I thought i got everything out of his pockets but when i was getting them out the dryer a shot gun shell falls out.
Can it explode in a dryer?
2007-11-25 13:43:05 · 10 answers · asked by Amy D 3 in Sports ➔ Outdoor Recreation ➔ Hunting
Nope. You sort of found out already, but dryers don't get hot enough to cook off a round.
It won't go off with the force it would have if fired out of a gun, either. The shell would just sort of burst with a muffled "pop" and fizzle as the powder burned out.
The chamber of a gun is what contains the pressure, not the shell or case. So when a round cooks off, it just sort of "pops" like a piece of popcorn or very small fire-cracker.
I wouldn't suggest trying it again...but its not something to be really worried (as in paranoid) about. Yell at your hubby for leaving good ammo in his laundry.
2007-11-25 13:53:53 · answer #1 · answered by DT89ACE 6 · 6⤊ 2⤋
Yes, it can. If anything can go wrong it will. However a loaded cartridge detonating outside of a gun does not have anywhere near the power of a cartridge going off in the gun. Modern smokeless powder doesn't detonate at a high enough speed outside of a gun to cause lethal injury through the thick glass of a dryer. Modern high explosives like a blasting cap could do that, but a shotgun shell going off in a dryer would most likely damage the clothes, blacken the clothes and scare the living daylights out of you. It would be unlikely to hurt you. I am unloved and have to do my own laundry. I have run .22 shells unknowingly through the dryer all the time. It's easy to leave them in a pocket and not notice. It's easy to miss a .22 shell in a pocket. It's a lot harder to miss a 9mm or .38. How you can miss a 12 guage in your pocket is beyond me.
2007-11-25 23:02:23 · answer #2 · answered by Jack Flanders 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Yes, it can but it's very unlikely. Something would have to strike the primer just right and...
Hey, are you looking for a way to get a new dryer? Yeah sure! They blow up all the time!
Now you just need to figure out how to set one off in there without hurting anybody.
2007-11-25 21:56:43 · answer #3 · answered by gunplumber_462 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It could. If enough heat was applied. But your dryer does not get that hot.
It could however hit the primer on somthing in the dryer.
2007-11-25 22:08:37 · answer #4 · answered by cpttango30 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It shouldn't get hot enough. There's always a minor chance that as it bounces around it could fall primer first on part of a zipper or something.
2007-11-26 00:05:26 · answer #5 · answered by Chris H 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not unless fate hase something aginst you, but theres allways that chance that the primer is hit just right but highly unlikely
2007-11-26 02:34:31 · answer #6 · answered by Glenn 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There's always a chance, but ammunition is tested to withstand extreme temperatures of hot and cold. Just be thankful nothing happened this time.
2007-11-25 21:52:35 · answer #7 · answered by mdemar1205 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
no unless the primer is hit it will not go off. Even if by some strange chance the primer was hit, the shell would simply "pop' open as the plastic shell is not under pressure from the barrel. Where this to happen say in a camp fire we would call it "cook off". Also, your washer probibly soaked the gun powder so your ok. Yell at him anyways.
why all the hate with the 2 thumbs down?
2007-11-25 21:53:27 · answer #8 · answered by daddyofthree 1 · 7⤊ 4⤋
a shotgun shell or any type of shell is highly unlikly to explode in any dryer. the primer would have to be struck for the shell to ignite.
2007-11-25 21:58:43 · answer #9 · answered by TLS (Caitlin is coming! 5/15/08) 5 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Under certain circunstances, it most certainly can, you were very lucky.
2007-11-26 07:00:38 · answer #10 · answered by WC 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋