Something I saw on a TV show once...

[Skytorn]

Hi, I saw a cool trick on a Chinese TV series once, and I was wondering if it would work in real life.

Basically, at this point in the show the ace sniper had been framed for a murder and is on the run from his former comrades, yadda yadda...he took an AK off a soldier he disarmed, and is in the bush trying to make a fire.

So he gathers a small pile of tinder, then takes a bullet out from the AK's clip. He pries the bullet off using some pliers, then carefully dumps the powder all over the tinder.

He then loads the shell back into the clip, rock & locks into the AK, and fires at the tinder pile.

Poom! The pile is lit by the muzzle flash.

Now, WOULD THIS WORK?

Obviously, it's not practical to carry an AK as a firemaking kit but it did make me wonder if such a trick, using the primer on the base of the cartridge to ignite tinder, is feasible at least.

Hell, maybe a fellow forumgoer who owns an AK can test this. I wouldn't expect it to work with 5.56 though...

 

[Fultron]

Its possible. Les Stroud did it on an episode of Survivorman, although it wasn't with an AK obviously. He tried a ton of times before he got it right. Often just the primer and a small amount of powder would scatter the tinder 5-10 feet in every direction . Would be interesting to try sometime.

 

[Ramm9]

Now, WOULD THIS WORK?

........but it did make me wonder if such a trick, using the primer on the base of the cartridge to ignite tinder, is feasible at least.

Sure it works, I know that because Pierce Brosnan showed us how in "Seraphim Falls"...and he had a couple of other neat tricks up his sleeve.