[Rick1967]

The other day my wife called me at work to tell me that she had washed my jacket. She said that she heard a clanging around in the laundry. When she checked she found my ammo wallet with 6 357 mag hollow points in it. She found them before going into the dryer. Anyone know for sure if an electric dryer does or doesn't have enough heat to set them off?

I remember as a kid building a camp fire where we had seen empty shells on the ground. We didn't know any better. There were live ones under the dirt. It was a good 30 minutes berfore they started going off. They kept going for quite a while. Maybe 15 or 20 minutes before the stopped. The fire was still burning because we were too scared to put it out.

[MotorG20]

I think a dryer very well could have set them off, what with the heat, and static electricity. I can tell you one thing, if it did go off, you wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to face your wife when you got home

MotorG20

[IGETEVEN]

Originally Posted by Rick1967

Anyone know for sure if an electric dryer does or doesn't have enough heat to set them off?

You dryer gets hot, 160-180 degrees, but not hot enough to ignite it. Handguns left in vehicle goveboxes can reach a temperature of that of a dryer or above with rounds in them and they don't go off. Most people use static dryer sheets with their clothes these days to eliminate it, so that eliminates that theory.

After being washed, most likely the powder would have been exposed to moisture. Main concern would be, if the primer was struck or hit just right while tumbling, it could ignite the primer.

Jack

[Rick1967]

Originally Posted by IGETEVEN

You dryer gets hot, 160-180 degrees, but not hot enough to ignite it. Handguns left in vehicle goveboxes can reach a temperature of that of a dryer or above with rounds in them and they don't go off. Most people use static dryer sheets with their clothes these days to eliminate it, so that eliminates that theory.

After being washed, most likely the powder would have been exposed to moisture. Main concern would be, if the primer was struck or hit just right while tumbling, it could ignite the primer.

Jack

Hadn't thought about the primer strike idea. My wife wouldn't be pissed. She took my jacket without asking. Just being a good woman. She's like that. I did think about the powder being wet. I disasembled them and reprimed and charged them.

[tom98915]

Not too likely those rounds would go off...but why be a test case and on the wife's bad side?

[jcwit]

Would say it would be nothing to worry about, but, there's that funny 3 letter word, and weirder things have happened.

[Dzscubie]

I have tumbled hundreds of rounds in the dryer (unintentionally) over the years and never had one go off in the dryer but that is not to say it could not happen. Being a firearms instructor and working the line I always end up with rounds in the pockets of my BDU’s. Sometimes I remember to take them out and sometimes I forget, sometimes Linda cleans out the pockets of my BDU’s and sometimes she doesn’t. In the end you hear this clacking in the dryer after a while and when you open the dryer you find a mess of 9mm or 40 tumbling around with the clothes. I put them in a box and shoot them later. Glasshartt can verify this.

[Glasshartt]

Oh, they shoot just fine, besides, a wound made with clean ammo is less apt to get infected. They have never gone off in the dryer. Oh, by the way, it was HIS responsibility to empty his pockets, not mine.

The ones that only went through the washer shot fine too.

[Rick1967]

The people in this group are great. Lots of good info with out a bunch of BS. Thanks for not calling me an idiot for not being careful enough with my ammo.

[jcwit]

Well Rick, we all started at the begining.