Bullet explodes in woman’s handbag while she shops

Just read this story and thought this forum could weigh in on what happened here.

A shopper at Lowes had to take a trip to the hospital on Sunday afternoon, following a freak accident in which a bullet apparently exploded in her purse as she was in the store, according to Montoursville Deputy Police Chief Jason Bentley. "She did not have a gun in her purse or on her," Bentley said, adding that the woman, whose identity was not released, was not aware that she had two or three bullets in her purse. "Something must of hit the primer of one of the bullets," Bentley said. "The bullet stayed in the purse, but its casing put a hole in the purse and caused a minor leg wound," he added.

SOURCE:SunGazette.com

The story does say that something must have hit the primer on the cartridge, but really? Wouldn't it take more than a poke by car keys to set off the cartridge? My thought was that the cartridge made a connection with external contacts on a cell phone battery, but even that's a stretch.

Does anyone here have similar stories or can you shed light on how this might happen? Sounds like something for the Mythbusters...

I don't think the battery would effect a striker primer round. I know the rounds for the Gatling guns don't have a striker primer they are fired by an electric charge and can be set off by certain radio frequencies. Maybe they were cheap rounds, the purse took a good jolt with something heavy in front ramming hard into a key or similar sized object.

HAARP?

I have a hard time understanding how it could happen with a primer. Maybe a bit more of a possiblity with a rimfire cartridge but still...

reply to post by Phage


LOL - My first HAARP reference in a post and it comes from Phage. Nice.

The article didn't mention caliber or rim-fire versus center-fire but yes, I had the same thought that it could increase the odds with the former. I seriously doubt she was carrying some space-age radio frequency activated chain-gun ammo in her bag.

Just glad no one was seriously injured - and that I keep my brass safely encased in aluminum and steel. Love my precious metals...

Was it rimfire or striker/primer fired. I could see a rimfire maybe going off in this fashion....still kind of weird. I have dropped rimfire .22 on concrete and haven't had them go off.

Cook-off? I don't know what happens in women's purses. It's actually one of the great mysteries of all time, also where the one sock from the dryer winds up next to a woman's ID (but only when she's looking for it at the checkout in a grocery when paying with the dreaded check). Something in there must've gotten hot...who knows.

IMHO
The casing exited the purse which indicates the lead was up aginst something and the casing was not,
which would indicate the primer was struck a glancing blow while the purse was in motion,
either from something heavy sliding around in the purse, or a counter edge or the like, through the fabric of the purse...

reply to post by BBobb


Yah know, this is the one of the most reasonable explanations yet. There are indeed mysteries that evolve at the depths of a woman's purse, this could be one of them. Some sort of quantum mechanical singularity

I have heard of a few tells over the years of really old cheap ammo with corrosive primers going off but it is very very rare. I think this makes like the 4 case I have heard of in like 40 years. I wonder if something like a high RF field or something set it off.

reply to post by Danbones


I agree. I think it sounds like the bullet got wedged between two objects and maybe one of the objects hit the primer. Who knows what women keep in purses, especially if they have kids. Some woman's purses are like bug out bags. I mean she did have bullets in there with no weapon. She may have had a hammer and a dwarf in there to strike the bullet??