Wooden target frame burns after being shot with 308 win.

[Elfego Baca]

After a cease fire a shooter goes to the target frame placed at 200 yards.
He finds it is smoldering.

Apparently the target papers attached to the cardboard backing ignited.
The shooter removed the cardboard and targets from the frame and returned all to the firing line. The paper was still smoldering and placed in the wood stove.

We usually have one used target stapled upon another until the staples refuse to seat.
The usual blame for a range fire is an incidiary or tracer bullet.

Can a fire be started from a traditional lead core jacketed bullet or similar bullet?

Carl

 

[KillerFord1977]

After a cease fire a shooter goes to the target frame placed at 200 yards.
He finds it is smoldering.

Apparently the target papers attached to the cardboard backing ignited.
The shooter removed the cardboard and targets from the frame and returned all to the firing line. The paper was still smoldering and placed in the wood stove.

We usually have one used target stapled upon another until the staples refuse to seat.
The usual blame for a range fire is an incidiary or tracer bullet.

Can a fire be started from a traditional lead core jacketed bullet or similar bullet?
View attachment 31590
Carl

My guess is someone was using a non standard round

 

[TEXASforLIFE]

If the staple was struck in a manner it could cause a spark, then yes it could start a slow burn. Chaffing upon impact was possible when having a stiff backing compared to just hanging paper.

 

[RickAnderson]

Enough monkeys banging on typewriters long enough, eventually one will produce Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Enough shooters shooting hot metal at paper and wood target, eventually one will get a target smoldering...

What are the environmental conditions at the range? Forest Fire warning (well they probably suspend shooting) could contribute a lot....

Is it possible a defect in a bullet, might trap a little powder in the bullet to make it unintentional inciderary round? I'm probably grasping at straws, better experts would probably tell me the powder either burns fast or it doesn't burn at all, even if a defective bullet with a pocket formed in it, carried some powder with it, it would burn up before it got to the target or it wouldn't burn at all...

 

[HansGruber]

Most likely a tracer…I’ve had one show up, unmarked, in a (iirc) South African battle pack of 5.56 M193…I was a little surprised when I got a nice red streak going downrange.

So even checking ammo isn’t a guarantee.

 

[RickAnderson]

A tracer getting mixed in with ball ammo by accident and marking worn off or just not noticed sound more likely than my defective round with defects that make it incendiary theory

 

[Keystone19250]

At the last knob Creek Gun Range machine gun shoot.

I would say anything is possible.

 

[RickAnderson]

Myth Busters tried to bust the Hollywood myth that shooting a gas tank will cause it to explode. They shot up a gas tank and couldn't get it to ignite. They tried tracers and incendiary rounds and could not get it to ignite. They kept getting complaints and kept going back and trying it again. I think the third time, after they had swiss cheesed the gas tank and half of the gasoline had leaked out to form a puddle, and had enough time to evaporate and create gas fumes lofting around the tank. They finally got the right mix of variables, the gas fumes reach the right ratio of air and fuel to be stochiometric, and they got a spark from the impact of a round to ignite the fumes, then shortly after the tank heated to the point to create and ignite fumes in the tank and it burst expelling a huge fireball.

And to geek out for a second, there is a technical definition of what is an explosion, and people are often calling things explosions.

I can tell you how many times on auto forums, I try to explain what detonation (pinging) is and why it is so destructive to your engine. Detonation is when the gasoline explodes and that is what causes the damage. And I keep getting back in response, the gasoline explodes every time the cylinder fires, people even posting educational videos and texts claiming the gasoline "explodes" to force the piston down. It doesn't, it "BURNS" to create heat and pressure to push the piston down. That is why detonation is different, it is not burning, it is exploding.

The media does the same thing, claim rounds explode to force bullets out of the barrel. They burn to create heat and pressure to push a bullet down the barrel. Of course the media also produces graphic showing the entire round with case coming out of the end of the barrel.