A .22 caliber gun is fun to shoot because the bullets are cheap and the recoil is minimal. Since the bullet itself is so small it's tempting to relax the safety rules. But that's not a good idea.
The unusual aspect of the .22 bullet is that it uses a rimfire cartridge -- a primer compound is built into the rim in contrast to the bigger bullets with a primer in the center. So there's another danger with the .22 bullets that isn't so great with the center fire cartridges. A sharp blow to the rim of the .22 can set cause a small explosion. Someone wrote a blog post a few years ago about striking one with a hammer as a kid and getting a bump on the noggin when the explosion sent the hammer right back at him. The wound wasn't permanent, but the lesson was.
Anyway, here's a news report from Modesto, California, in which a man received a .22 caliber bullet injury to his shoulder. Here's his story:
The man told officers he was lifting dumbbells when he accidentally dropped one on a rimfire .22 caliber bullet. The man claimed the weight of the dumbbell activated the propellant powder in the bullet, which shot toward him and punctured his shoulder.
Via NewsLite.tv.
OK, it's tempting to make a "dumbbell" joke here. But instead let's simply note that if ammo is stored in a home it should be stored properly. CartridgeCollectors.org suggests this:
Military surplus "ammo cans" are excellent and safe methods for storing ammunition.
They go on to address another matter regarding home ammo storage.
Newspaper accounts of house or business fires where "bullets exploded by the heat went shooting over firefighters' heads" are completely false and based on invalid assumptions and ignorance. However, news people often leap to hysterical conclusions which attract a lot of attention and are seldom corrected.
To read about some experiments in which large quantities of ammunition were exposed to fire, see Facts About Sporting Ammunition Fires - PDF. The conclusion is that firefighters suited up properly don't run that big of a risk fighting a fire where ammo is stored properly.
Weight lifters with dumbbells, however, do need to sweep the floor every once in a while.
Added 4/28/12 at 5:20pm. For a sample of such a headline see pic above.
I have no source to cite, but I have read several times that the preferred cartridge for Mob executions is (was?) the .22LR (presumably a solid point, not the common hollow point).
It seems that the noise was minimal, the bullet penetrated the skull easily, "rattled around" inside, doing terrible damage, but would not penetrate the skull a second time to exit.
Posted by: Joe Hathaway | April 26, 2012 at 01:58 PM
This week I overheard firemen en route to a Midland structure fire warned that the burning shop had dangerous contents, including ammunition. A savy supervisor requested Dispatch to call the owner back and ask if any LOADED GUNS were inside--indicating full awareness that ammunition in a fire explodes, and can propel the case, but cannot "fire" the bullet with enough force to damage much more than the original cardboard box.
Physics: the light brass case and the heavy lead bullet recive equal force from the explosion, but the bullet only moves a fraction of the distance and speed of the case--which is too light and not shaped correctly to be lethal.
A "cooked off" cartridge in a gun, however, can exit the muzzle exactly as a conventionally-fired round, with the same force and lethality.
Posted by: Joe Hathaway | April 26, 2012 at 02:18 PM
Hmm. Maybe that weightlifter was the target of a mob hit man who was a bad shot.
Posted by: Geo | April 26, 2012 at 02:47 PM