Indoor range safety FYI

[Local480wireman]

So I was at the range today minding my own business, wailing away at a target with my favorite sub machine gun when the place bursts into flames. My bad. I didn't realize I could do that. There was a pile of spent casings swept about a foot high and five feet in circumference. Most of my 70 round magazine casings must have landed in the heap. I guess they still contained powder that didn't completely ignite. It burned about five feet high for about 30 seconds. It was a good thing that floor and walls were concrete, but it could have gotten to some cardboard barrels stacked by the wall and eventually the ceiling. It is funny now but running around with a loaded machine gun slung around my neck and hollering where is the fire extinguisher is not my idea of a good time.

Long story short, be aware of your surroundings while shooting. Safety first.

 

[AmishEskimoNinja]

Huh. I've never heard of something like that happening. Then again, I've never shot enough rounds to make a 5' by 1' pile of brass. How many rounds was that?

What is the phrase, Video or it didn't happen?

 

[06sandstone]

Sounds like your range needs to keep up on the house keeping.

 

[Local480wireman]

No, the brass was from range keepers sweeping the floor over several days. When the pile got big enough to fill a cardboard barrel, they would shovel it then. I only shot 380 rounds. And trust me, I couldn't make that up.

 

[zipakna]

ive heard of it.. Seen it too, it happens in dirty ranges and ranges that get used Heavily. its called a Green Powder Buildup. get too much build up and it can cause the entire range to flash.
Green powder is the partially burned powder. you can sweep a shooting range and get a pile of what looks like a Dark Green Powder.

 

[Sid T.]

A reactive range makes an interesting change from reactive targets I suppose ;-)

 

[BlackBelt]

Wow! Never heard of that happening. But I shoot out in the woods and dont go to indoor ranges anymore for safety reasons.

 

[Chrisok1]

I was at the indoor range near my house and the guy next to me was shooting an AR with some rounds he bought at a gun show. A fire started in the backstop and we had to get a fire extinguisher to put it out. He was unknowingly shooting tracers. It was 25 yds so there was no visible trace.

 

[J-Ho]

Happened to a friend's indoor range. One bay burned up completely. The unburnt powder built up in the cinder block walls as well. The walls had nice thick paint on them so once the powder ignited the paint burn very nicely as well. He lost the dividers for the bays and a ton of smoke damage was done. The bays get mopped on a regular basis now. Guy only had 1 fire extinguisher. A bunch of us regulars donated extinguishers to him. I think there are around a dozen of so now.