Watch: Hickock45 Cooks off a Cartridge

Hickock45 asks, “Is a bullet dangerous?”

I think we all know the answer to that (“maybe”), but what the heck? Let’s play along.

Unfortunately for folks like me who love accuracy, he uses the term “bullet” when he means “cartridge.” See, the bullet is just the projectile (the part that flies downrange when the gun is fired). But anyhow…

The real question Hickock45 is trying to answer is “what happens when a cartridge or round gets so hot that it fires while it’s not contained inside of a gun’s chamber?” That’s what we find out in this video.

In what he calls “the scientific experience here,” we see a single round of 9mm ammo being placed inside of a metal pot that’s sitting over the lit burner of a Coleman stove. After a while, it cooks off and goes bang.

The amount of damage to the pot may surprise you. Or maybe not…

Let’s watch.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.