Forgotten Gun in the Oven goes off shoots Florida man

[Excaliber]

Yep... bad things happen everywhere. It's always in every story where they interview a neighbor who says, "we never have anything like that happen around here..."
It's still extremely low odds like almost zero. But never hurts to be prepared.
That being said, I would bet some money that your neighbor's situation involves more to the story. Those kind of things seem to almost always have a back-story like drug deal or money owed to bad folks... random murder crimes between strangers in a nice area... that almost never happens statistically. That's why I was comparing it to the odds of a fire.

Agreed. Since 1996, when I moved here. Aside from the fellow being murdered in his garage, we had one incident of a car load of thugs breaking into several cars for stereo's. Other than that...nothing. Not bad odds at all.

Where in Houston do you live? My son and his wife just moved into a nice home in Sugar Land. Got in at a 3% interest rate. Just in time. They paid over 600K for a 3000 square foot house with a pool and maybe a quarter acre lot. Very nice area. Funny thing is, I bet 80% of his hood is Asian. Not to sound racist but Asians tend to be peaceful, clean people. It seems very quiet there.

The "I never thought anything like that could happen here" phrase was something i heard at every major crime scene in nice areas.

Folks don't understand there's a major difference between statistical risk and actual experience. In an area with one major crime for every 1000 homes the risk of being victimized that way is one tenth of one percent - pretty good odds, and wonderful for 999 of those people. However, the experience of that crime for the remaining 1 is 100% and a really bad day. No one is ever one tenth of a percent victimized - it's either zero or 100%.

[The Annoyed Man]

Well, I would point out that one of my rules for home safety is to not put the gun in the oven.

But you do have a point about the hazards of a home fire and the possible danger there. I have never thought about it before. I would say this is a judgement call on where the greater hazard is, a fire or a home invasion? I know that both are extremely rare events for the average person, so I cannot rely on the statistics for it. I, personally, am more worried about the home invasion than the fire, so i would leave them loaded. But it really is, in my opinion, a personal judgement call.

We have 4 gun safes in the house … well… 3 safes plus a Stack-On cabinet that’s in my bedroom. All of the guns in the 3 safes are unloaded. The pistols in the cabinet are loaded and in their holsters. These are carry guns. There’s a couple of unloaded ARsin there—loaded magazines kept nearby, but not in the cabinet—as well as a couple of shotguns. One shotgun is unloaded, and the other one has buckshot rounds in the magazine tube, but not chambered. The primary fire danger is the chambered rounds in the pistols. I doubt that the cabinet would contain those. But I’m pretty sure it would contain ammo cooking off in the magazines. Not sure about the shotgun ammo in the mag tube.

Of the 3 actual gun safes, I know that my big one has a few loaded magazines in different calibers—primarily .308, .30 Carbine, and .45 ACP—but those safes have pretty decent fire ratings and the exteriors are made of pretty heavy gauge steel. Like I said, the guns those mags are for are unloaded, and I’m pretty confident that the safes would stop a cooked off round. The much bigger problem in that regard is the 1000s of rounds in various calibers, mostly stored in steel or plastic ammo cans, plus maybe another 1000 more in various calibers, in their original cardboard boxes stored in an ammo cabinet.

But like you, I’m willing to take those risks. Like you say, I’m a lot more concerned with being able to repel boarders than the likelihood of a house fire.

[03Lightningrocks]

Yep... bad things happen everywhere. It's always in every story where they interview a neighbor who says, "we never have anything like that happen around here..."
It's still extremely low odds like almost zero. But never hurts to be prepared.
That being said, I would bet some money that your neighbor's situation involves more to the story. Those kind of things seem to almost always have a back-story like drug deal or money owed to bad folks... random murder crimes between strangers in a nice area... that almost never happens statistically. That's why I was comparing it to the odds of a fire.

Agreed. Since 1996, when I moved here. Aside from the fellow being murdered in his garage, we had one incident of a car load of thugs breaking into several cars for stereo's. Other than that...nothing. Not bad odds at all.

Where in Houston do you live? My son and his wife just moved into a nice home in Sugar Land. Got in at a 3% interest rate. Just in time. They paid over 600K for a 3000 square foot house with a pool and maybe a quarter acre lot. Very nice area. Funny thing is, I bet 80% of his hood is Asian. Not to sound racist but Asians tend to be peaceful, clean people. It seems very quiet there.

The "I never thought anything like that could happen here" phrase was something i heard at every major crime scene in nice areas.

Folks don't understand there's a major difference between statistical risk and actual experience. In an area with one major crime for every 1000 homes the risk of being victimized that way is one tenth of one percent - pretty good odds, and wonderful for 999 of those people. However, the experience of that crime for the remaining 1 is 100% and a really bad day. No one is ever one tenth of a percent victimized - it's either zero or 100%.

I can personally testify to that. My truck was one of the several they broke into. They broke my drivers side window to get to my stereo. Back then it had a removable faceplate and I always took it inside with me. They still stole the head unit, which is worthless with no faceplate. Insurance covered it but I still felt "violated". I was seriously angry.

[RPBrown]

First, a little back story. When we first bought our house in 99, apparently the guy that was living there before was either a dealer or a heavy user. Within the first year, we had LEO come looking for him 6 times at all hours of the day and night. But we also had some unscrupulous characters come looking for him several times. I started keeping a weapon on my hip until I went to bed and if someone came to the door after that, I always had one in hand when I answered. This really un-nerved my wife, to the point she was ready to sell and move after only a year. Luckily the visits stopped after a year.
Fast forward a few years and we decided to do some extensive remodeling and an addition. It was my thought that if we were going to basically tear off the back corner of the house, why not put in a safe room. We had a master closet built that is 12x18. It was framed and poured in 6" thick concrete reinforced every 5" with 1/2" rebar on all 4 walls and ceiling. We had a steel security door installed with a manual slide lock on the inside that is sealed similar to a gun safe door.
I now have the majority of our guns and all of our ammo that is not in a gun. My wife and I each keep our EDC in our night stands, cocked and locked. I also have a shotgun by my bed that is loaded but with an empty chamber. Something about racking the slide on a pump shotgun that is chilling .
This was all done for my wife that works and stays at home most of the time so if it hit the fan, she has a place to be secure. It is also, somewhat fire resistant as well as a good storm shelter.

[03Lightningrocks]

First, a little back story. When we first bought our house in 99, apparently the guy that was living there before was either a dealer or a heavy user. Within the first year, we had LEO come looking for him 6 times at all hours of the day and night. But we also had some unscrupulous characters come looking for him several times. I started keeping a weapon on my hip until I went to bed and if someone came to the door after that, I always had one in hand when I answered. This really un-nerved my wife, to the point she was ready to sell and move after only a year. Luckily the visits stopped after a year.
Fast forward a few years and we decided to do some extensive remodeling and an addition. It was my thought that if we were going to basically tear off the back corner of the house, why not put in a safe room. We had a master closet built that is 12x18. It was framed and poured in 6" thick concrete reinforced every 5" with 1/2" rebar on all 4 walls and ceiling. We had a steel security door installed with a manual slide lock on the inside that is sealed similar to a gun safe door.
I now have the majority of our guns and all of our ammo that is not in a gun. My wife and I each keep our EDC in our night stands, cocked and locked. I also have a shotgun by my bed that is loaded but with an empty chamber. Something about racking the slide on a pump shotgun that is chilling .
This was all done for my wife that works and stays at home most of the time so if it hit the fan, she has a place to be secure. It is also, somewhat fire resistant as well as a good storm shelter.

Funny. I bought my house from the bank as a repo in 1996 or so. Bank wanted 169 and I offered 141 and got the house. A year later one of my neighbors tells me that the year before I bought it, something went on at my house. I was told that there were at least a dozen FBI agents and about the same amount of local police that were tearing the place up looking for something. Nobody seems to know what went on. I was stunned that the bank took the 141. Maybe I found out why the hard way. I still wonder if somebody was murdered in it or what. LOL.. maybe it was drug dealers or a terrorist suspect. I had that same uneasy feeling for a year or so after hearing this story.

[Scott in Houston]

I was told about this story and hit google to look it up.

https://www.wkbn.com/news/local-news/ma ... -goes-off/

We know ammo in a fire going off isn't a real danger, but if that ammo is in a chamber of a gun, it sure is.

My question to the group is this, do you keep your guns at home chambered?

I always have... well, at least the ones in my home placed for home defense like my nightstand and office, etc.
This has me wondering if I shouldn't... in case of a house fire and potential danger to firefighters or others.

What do you think?

When I lived in NY I would see reports like this from situations where NYPD officers would hide their guns in ovens to outwit the city's aggressive burglars. This is the first one I"ve seen with multiple rounds fired, though.

The multiple rounds part had me wondering as well since it also said it was a revolver... ??

[puma guy]

I would think, correctly I assume, that cartridge in a firearm chamber in a fire poses the same danger as being fired by the primer being struck. Being chambered in a barrel allows the round to build the pressure necessary for smokeless powder to do it's work, although I don't know if the powder's potency is affected as the temperature rises. Ammo stored outside firearms poses minimal danger in a fire as does smokeless powder in canisters. There's a very good video produced by SAAMI testing the effects of fire on thousands of round of ammunition. see below

[03Lightningrocks]

I would think, correctly I assume, that cartridge in a firearm chamber in a fire poses the same danger as being fired by the primer being struck. Being chambered in a barrel allows the round to build the pressure necessary for smokeless powder to do it's work, although I don't know if the powder's potency is affected as the temperature rises. Ammo stored outside firearms poses minimal danger in a fire as does smokeless powder in canisters. There's a very good video produced by SAAMI testing the effects of fire on thousands of round of ammunition. see below

Good video. I have always heard the same. Without a barrel to direct the pressure, the rounds just explode. I worry what happens if my house catches fire and 40K rounds all start exploding at the same time. LOL

[puma guy]

I would think, correctly I assume, that cartridge in a firearm chamber in a fire poses the same danger as being fired by the primer being struck. Being chambered in a barrel allows the round to build the pressure necessary for smokeless powder to do it's work, although I don't know if the powder's potency is affected as the temperature rises. Ammo stored outside firearms poses minimal danger in a fire as does smokeless powder in canisters. There's a very good video produced by SAAMI testing the effects of fire on thousands of round of ammunition. see below

Good video. I have always heard the same. Without a barrel to direct the pressure, the rounds just explode. I worry what happens if my house catches fire and 40K rounds all start exploding at the same time. LOL

Not related to firearms, but extremely dangerous are the front bumper shock absorbers on some vehicles when involved in a fire. They go off like a cannon and can cause severe injury.

[03Lightningrocks]

I would think, correctly I assume, that cartridge in a firearm chamber in a fire poses the same danger as being fired by the primer being struck. Being chambered in a barrel allows the round to build the pressure necessary for smokeless powder to do it's work, although I don't know if the powder's potency is affected as the temperature rises. Ammo stored outside firearms poses minimal danger in a fire as does smokeless powder in canisters. There's a very good video produced by SAAMI testing the effects of fire on thousands of round of ammunition. see below

Good video. I have always heard the same. Without a barrel to direct the pressure, the rounds just explode. I worry what happens if my house catches fire and 40K rounds all start exploding at the same time. LOL

Not related to firearms, but extremely dangerous are the front bumper shock absorbers on some vehicles when involved in a fire. They go off like a cannon and can cause severe injury.

Also not related to firearms but related to car crashes. I witnessed a guy plowing into a huge light standard on the side of the road. He opens' his door and comes running out like Ricky Bobbie running from the invisible fire and starts screaming, I'm Blind, I'm Blind while holding his hands over his face. His air bag had slapped him in the face so hard his eyes swelled shut for a few minutes. I tried to get him to calm down but this guy was completely out of it. Those air bags can pack a pretty good wallop too.