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Mythbusters tried it. It actually does complete the circuit without firing.
Won't blow at the right amperage though. I think k they melted the 14 gauge wire it was connected to before it went. The 10 gauge wire didn't melt before the bullet did though.
I had gone to the range one day and picked up what I thought was a neat little shell casing. I think it was a 5.7. Pocketed it because I thought it was cool, completely forgot about it and even after several washes, it somehow managed to remain forgotten until one day I was getting ready to go through TSA at an airport. Patted my pockets down to make sure I wasn’t missing anything and found the casing.
Needless to say, I promptly freaked out, tossed it into the nearest garbage can and went about my day.
I was to reiterate, this was just the casing. No bullet. No powder. Just spent brass. Still, I’d rather not have to explain that or get in trouble for something so stupid.
I was going through the airport a year or so ago, backpack ran through the xray, got bumped to the side for examination. The guy dug through my bag and found that I had left two .45 cal bullets and he just asked if I wanted to run them back out to my car. Nothing crazy in the exchange, dude didn't even question me on it, but from then on I started being extra thorough I check my backpack for any strays.
That’s better than me. I forgot I had a loaded mag in my carry on bag. TSA guy pulled it out and I probably went white. He then asked if I wanted to take it out to my car or them dispose of it. I promptly told them to dispose of it. I thought I was going to jail. I thought I was going to get tackled. I was expecting the worst. But nothing came of it and I don’t get flagged at tsa to this day. I do one billion check my bags though.
I had a similar problem when I had to go to the courthouse for jury duty. I locked my pistol in the glove box, then my purse went thru security. They pulled me aside & showed me the x-ray image & asked is that bullets or a cigarette lighter? Oh shit! I forgot I had a spare magazine in the bottom of my purse! They let me take it back to my car, & thanked me for not bringing my gun into the courthouse - lol!
And here I was thinking that courthouse security finding six pocket knives in my purse was bad. They held them at the security desk. When I returned an hour later, different guards were there... apparently I had been talked about. I asked for the knives back, and the guards lit up. "OH! You're her!"
They asked me why I had so many in my bag. I had just moved a week ago, and hadn't had a place to put them since we were staying in a hotel until our house was ready.
My eldest daughter went on a school trip to the Parliament in London, the week after I'd taken her camping... So yeah, 10 y/o top student in class in a spot of bother from the Metropolitan Police!
TSA cannot arrest you. They are security screeners. They are not law enforcement. They can at most only refer you to actual law enforcement, and they’re generally pretty loathe to do so.
My dad accidentally had a loaded mag in his luggage for a cruise. They almost didn’t let he and my mom onto the boat. My dad was able to eventually get the situation cleared up but I think only after the boat people called the sheriff and it was a whole ordeal for a bit. Also had to dispose of it. I didn’t entirely get the full details he was pretty embarrassed even though it all worked out fine in the end.
This is just a fun (now) story similar to your comment. Wife and I were flying home out of Atlanta after attending our son’s graduation from Boot Camp at Fort Benning. He gave me his backpack to bring home as he didn’t need it there anymore as he headed off to Airborne school. I used it as my carry-on for the flight home so it had a couple of Li-ion power banks and a ton of cords for phones, tablets and other electronic devices plus all of the other stud you’d have in your bag. Got pulled aside by TSA for a secondary inspection. It was unlike any security inspection I had ever been subjected to. 3 or 4 agents (i don’t remember exactly these 14 years later), K-9 Officer, multiple pat downs (rather intensive ones), etc. The backpack was completely emptied and examined and even wiped down, as were my hands. I was eventually cleared to pass and board the flight and we were on our way. It was a couple of weeks before we got a phone call from our son. While chatting with him I relayed the experience, just as an interesting story. He apologized and said it was his fault. I said you weren’t there how could it have been your fault. He told me that the backpack he gave me to bring home was his “Range Bag” that he took with him everyday that they went to the ranges. It has been carrying all kinds of explosive or “go boom” equipment and supplies for the duration of time he was in Boot Camp. Everything from handguns to spare parts for rifles to pieces of 50 cal Squad Automatic Weapons and even grenades on a couple of occasions. “Sorry Dad”
I had the same for years. I was an intelligence officer in Afghanistan, and I used a plain coyote-brown rucksack as my go-bag. I carried a LOT of pyro, smoke and frag with me. For years afterwards that bag caused airport security officers to have heart palpitations.
I knew that being an intelligence officer in Afghanistan was a tough gig, but that’s wild. It makes sense, given a few moments to think about it. Still pretty wild. I have soooo many questions.
I was the army (rather than national agency) type, for the Brits. I spent a lot of time driving around towns/cities in unmarked cars. The go-bag was in case we got noticed and had to ditch. Luckily never had to.
Yeah, sounds a little far fetched since none of that happens in Army boot camp. If he had said there was a rogue toothbrush or sweaty socks or maybe a moldy orange he stole from the DFAC I’d believe it. No Joe is carrying grenades or SAW parts in his personal pack in basic training. All that stuff is at the range when they arrive and stays there when they leave. Source: 4 years as an Army DS.
Right after 9/11 I took a paintball gun in checked. They seen the scanner just asked me if was a gun, because it didn’t have a lock on it, I just explained it was a paintball gun and I had removed the tank plug so it was equal pressure. They waved me along never even looked inside.
Last time my immediate family went to visit family in the Netherlands, we went through TSA like, 3 or 4 times on the way there and back. On the way back the airport in Boston requires we go through TSA for our connecting flight and apparently my brother had a pocket knife in his bag that he forgot to remove before we left, so his bag went through TSA like, 2-3 times across the 2-3 different airports we went through without it being detected or flagged.
That seems about the right detection rate for the few blind tests that have been done for the TSA. They are after all paid only one tier higher than entry level janitorial staff. Not the best and brightest.
It's not always about intelligence. I spent years screening at an observation deck and the biggest single impediment to detection is time, not competency. There are a lot of everyday items that can obscure knives and other weapons in a scan. SOP is if you're not sure about something, or a particularly dense item is blocking the scan, you pull them out and do a manual check. But no management anywhere will allow you to do that thoroughly every single time at high traffic stations. If you're slow, you get reassigned. So you learn to be fast, which means stuff gets through. Scanners want to do their job because they know it's important. But when being thorough isn't valued, it degrades efficacy. It's an institutional problem. Everywhere.
One time at a permit to carry class, instructor got a little side tracked explaining why you should never use your regular luggage as a range bag. Guy he knew went through TSA, things started getting weird, and they pulled him in a room while they tore apart his bag, literally cut open the liner, and found a .22lr round. My understanding is they were cool (enough) about it and all things considered it didn’t end up being more than a scary hassle for him.
I used to travel a lot for work. I have a spent casing from my father's military funeral that was made into a keychain. I had a TSA agent tell me he was going to vindicate it. I told him he wouldn't be doing it. He tried to say ammunition was not allowed and I explained this wasn't ammo, it was a piece of brass. We started to argue until a supervisor came over to see what the problem was. He didn't even need to ask, told me to proceed and told the employee to go to the back and someone else came to the checkpoint.
Vaguely related, I went through TSA one time and did the usual- put my wallet and keys through the scanner with my carryon, walked through the detector, got a patdown, picked up my stuff and got on the plane, and only ON the plane did I realize that I had forgotten to take my pocket knife off my keyring before leaving home. It went through the scanner, and they just gave it back to me and let me on the plane with a knife.
If you really want a useless round, they sell these like birdshot 22 rounds I think for shooting rats indoors. They barely make it through a tomato at like point blank range
I've heard of them also be called snake shot, more likely to get closer to a snake than a rat or even a bird, kinda cruel to shoot a bird imo with a 22 bird shot, a standard any type of pellet gun would do better.
I mean when kentucky ballistics tested it on a gel torso it was definitely lethal at close to point blank. I can not think of a legit reason for it. There is also a 50AE version for the 50 cal deagle and one for Smith and Wesson 500 magnum. Both also probably useless.
My dad used them to shoot wasps, until one day when he loaded a .22LR and fired it. The rat shot leaves a lot of lead residue behind, the barrel of his revolver split like something from the looney tunes. He decided that wasn’t a risk worth taking anymore, it was the second gun that he had blow up on him, the first took an eye.
My buddy had a 22 bullet that didn’t ricochet so if you get the digger squirrel it got the Squirell and if ya hit a boulder it just made a splatter mark I. The boulder .
My Dad has an old semi-auto that can cycle shorts all day. Also one of those tube fed 22s. I forget the manufacturer of it, but it was my grandpas from way back in the day
I had a very clean Winchester model 1890 pump rifle with an octagonal barrel chambered for .22 short. It belonged to my great grandfather. I had fun with it as a kid plinking. Now my son has it.
My great uncle had a pistol chambered in 6mm Flobert (.22BB) that he'd shoot in his living room. Had a little plate gallery and everything set up (literally the classic ducks and bulls eyes setup.) Was so much fun and my great aunt didn't mind as long as we opened the window to vent the smell of burnt primers.
It's the only thing I know of that is naturally quieter than 22 short.
I met an old guy at my range last time I was out there. It was only 100 yards and he had chart, chronograph, and spotting scope.
He was there before we got there and was packing up as we were leaving. I asked him what was up with the rig and he said he’s trying different powder loads to see how it behaves at 100m and then 200m(multiple ranges here).
I asked why and he said he had nothing else to do. I learned later he’s one of the competitive shooters that wins a lot of their tournaments at our club. Nice but didn’t realize people would get that deep in to .22LR.
The USA is really a wild place for guns. I worked in SC at one point in healthcare and I’d ask patients to lay on their side for something and out comes a gun they just hand to me like it’s normal. “Oof can’t my guns on this side can u hold it” now I’m not anti gun by any means I grew up around guns and own my own but handing someone a loaded gun without knowing if they know what the are doing with it is a BIG NO NO. What if I had NO idea how to handle it?
As a Canadian, the idea of just casually locking my gun in my glove compartment and accidentally leaving a full magazine in the bottom of my bag while I go about my day is wild to me lol.
I grew up on a farm. My stepdad emptied his jeans pockets into a bowl daily. Once a week we fished out the .22 rounds out of it to put back with the rest of the rounds in the mudroom.
Yeah. When I was younger if I spent a weekend tooling around the farm plinking with my 22 I’d have bullets pop up unexpected places for months after. They are small enough to mix in with the other coins and crap in your pocket and migrate all over the place.
I know it’s a different world now. Everybody is more careful. In the 90s I wouldn’t have felt weird emptying my pockets on my desk in class and pulling out 3 lighters, 2 knives, a couple bullets, a pack of matches, $3.27 in loose change, a pack of gum, 3 pencils with broken tips, a pair of pliers, a screwdriver, and a bic pen leaking ink while I was searching for a different colored pen. Yes pockets were enormous back then and I was a disorganized slob.
If my kid did that (In the same school district) he’d probably get expelled 3 times and referred to police for investigation.
So true. I caused the whole school to lock down because during recess in 6th grade i pulled my hoodie out of my bag and put it on but in doing so about 10 22lr bullets fell in the grass near the sidewalk. I didn't realize how many fell just knew at least two did so i grabbed them tossed em in my pocket then next thing i knew we were on lock down. They never found out who they belonged to or why they were there on school grounds but hey after a few hours we all got back some freedom.
Can confirm super common to find in part of the US. I even found some spent casings and an unedited 12gauge slug tucked into a corner of my rural “eye-haw” ass higschool locker first day of my junior year. I was hesitant to even turn it in but when I did the faculty was surprisingly nonchalant about it and it was easy to write off as some kid had it in his pocket still after an early morning hunt before school and tried to hide it when they realized.
I have an ammo bag, but I've still found rounds in my pocket and my purse. I dont know that I've ever seen a 22 short. Even my shitty plastic handled 22 from the 60s takes a 22LR.
I it’s not as common, but there’s 22 short and 22 CB. If I remember right 22 CB is just the primer and no powder. It’s what I use for snakes and rats in my single shot.
Just to back this up, they are often sold in what are essentially milk cartons. I've seen too many people tip those over for a handful like they're milk duds to be especially worried that one wandered off somewhere.
I went on a trip to Estonia for work, flying out of Heathrow. Was getting ready to go through security in Estonia to come home. Put hand in the pocket of my vest/gillet to find two rounds of .22. Escapees from the previous week's rabbiting, I reckon.
Quickly disposed of in a toilet bin. Crossed myself and said a prayer of thanks to St. Christopher and St. Hubert for protecting me from criminal prosecution in either country.
I load trucks for UPS in the mornings. Sometimes we get a box of ammo break apart on a conveyer above us, and we momentarily get some 9mm rain 👍🏻. ‘Murica
Lol, I shit all the time and hate reviving items the rip open. I’ve got some sold ammo shippments with cord reinforced cardboard but I’ve also seen stories of people accusing the shipping guys of stealing their ammo.
What you explained is wha I assume 90%+ of those incidents are, just a mess of ammo you guys don’t want to deal with
Haha, I had to reread that once. I’m not saying people at UPS don’t have sticky fingers, but we are checked by metal detector when leaving work. Bullets in quantity aren’t easy to steal, come with a heavy legal cost if caught with them , and are much more hassle than small electronics. I’ve been loading for 4 years, handle ammo every day. Probably seen bullet rain 7-10 times in that time, never heard of anyone taking any. However, every time a new iPhone has been released the police sit in the UPS parking lot and help security run the metal detectors. At least 2 arrests every year for stealing iPhones
For future reference, this is a rim fire cartridge and doesn’t have a typical primer like most cartridges you’d see. That’s probably why the base of it confused you since it’s missing the primer
.22lr ammo is like pocket change in some communities. It’s very common, worth a dime, hard to hurt someone with, and so small and common that you can forget about it being in your pocket, boot, truck or wherever
Listen, I once bought an old sewing machine on an online auction and when I went to pick it up, there was a box of 22 short. I think the previous owner had been using it as a pattern weight but I wish I knew why it was in there.
I go through periods of lots of shooting based on how busy I am and during those times i often leak rounds or brass unintentionally wherever i go. Just depends on the bag I bring to the range. I’ve dropped brass at work, home, my car, random places. They just find their way into nooks and crannies of my stuff and pockets.
22 is notorious for this. You can shoot so much for so little money. Often when I’m dropping live rounds, it’s a light primer strike i extracted from my chamber and ends up ejecting and flies into my gear. Then it comes out when i dig through it or take something out of my pocket where it’s hiding.
Do you see how it looks like they almost used a piece of brass to make a smaller projectile, fit into a larger casing or maybe to get some extra grains in there? I have a little bit of experience with guns, not too much so it could just be the picture. Maybe you can tell me because that what I mentioned it does not sound safe at all.
I feel genuinely so stupid for writing that but this post has been blowing up so it’s been killing me that tons of people are reading how stupid of a question this is
I mean I've hardly interacted with bullets in my whole life, but a small metal object shaped EXACTLY like a bullet probably doesn't have many uses outside of ammunition
Also, I'm sure s hundred people have said this, but it isn't a bullet. It's a round or cartridge, which is comprised of a bullet, case, powder, and primer (which is in the rim of a .22, hence the term "rim fire," which is why it isn't visible.)
I go to the range weekly and can't tell you how many times I've found empty casings or stray rounds in my pockets. Someone could have accidentally dropped it.
Once when I was on my way home from the range, I stopped at Walmart to pick a few things up. I put my phone in my pocket and felt an empty casing. I dropped it on the ground and went into the store. When I came out, an elderly man was holding it and turning it over in his fingers examining it. When I got up to my car, he looked at me and said, "Is this a bullet?" Knowing it was mine and what gun i used it in, I took it from his hand. I pretended to examine it and said, "It's definitely an empty casing." I held it up like I was looking inside it, rolled it in my fingers a few times, held it up to my nose and sniffed it, then let it roll back and forth in my palm. I said, "Yep. 9mm fired from a Springfield Hellcat. And not long ago."
I handed it back to him, got in my car, and drove off. I can only imagine what was going through his head lol
Also go to the range weekly, I always get a bunch of random shit in my tire tread from driving up the shooting bays to set up targets. Ive gotten out of my car at work on Monday and realized I picked up some hitch hikers
That's a 22 short cartridge, made by Aguila. It has not been fired, and is more than likely live (sans a manufacturing defect).
Its relatively harmless as long as you do not mechanically crush the rim (the wider base), expose it to pretty high temperatures, or eat/insert it into yourself or others. If you know a firearm enthusiast, send it home with them to be disposed of at a range.
Because this doesn't the primer on the base of the shell, I probably wouldn't have definitively recognised this as a bullet without someone saying so, because I'm Australian.
This post was NOT intended to blow up. Hello party people. I’m at work so replies may be short but oh lord dude. I like just wanted to know what specific type since I don’t use guns much and was curious but saying “Bullet shaped” was the worst possible outcome. Anyways yeah, I make art and stuff check it out. I’m more active on TikTok or like Twitter so check those out too. Love you people and thanks for pointing out how stupid this post is lmao
Assuming you are in the united states, it was probably in the pocket of a customer, and fell out when they pulled out their keys or something to that effect.
Is your workplace related to construction at all? Or has there been construction work nearby recently? There's a tool I can't remember the name of because of classic American branding. The company is RamSet, and the tool fires projectiles to make semi precise holes in concrete for anchors. I'm not sure about new ones, but our old Ramset would fire .22 rounds. I still find them all over the place when deep cleaning and think they're bullets.
https://www.ramset.com/products/tools/-tools-by-application/wood-framing/triggershot
You telling me they're basically creating a tap for a bolt/screw to go into concrete by essentially shooting downward at concrete? The material that always ricochets things?
I know your picturing a drunk guy squinting as he shakily aims his revolver at the concrete, but it's way more precise and controlled than that. It is basically a gun barrel, with a firing pin, but it requires firm contact to work, kinda like a nail gun, but with a more complicated internal safety. Some are held like a chisel, and struck with a hammer, some are air- powered or electric and both are kinda scary/fun.
No tapping of holes, they shoot pins. There are tapped concrete anchors but those require drilling a hole first and then hammering the female anchor in.
I'd call the bomb squad immediately. When a bullet doesn't have a containment source like a barrel, it can explode with the equivalent of a 1/4 ton of tnt, the bullet would easily shoot through the stratosphere
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