Is it safe to leave your firearm in your vehicle?

[Tucker's Mom]

Interesting topic. Last night this was the same question I had in mind before I went to bed. (I only saw this topic this morning.) It was because my laptop downstairs was on all day and my gun was behind my laptop where the air from it made it hot. Then I thought of the would-be temperature in my car today if I go out and happened to be in Illinois. Will my gun survive? Or my ammo?

Thanks for the replies so far.

[che]

I'd be concerned with theft. I had a LEO buddy of mine (US Marshall) have his Beretta M9 stolen out of his glove compartment.

[Babarock]

Mythbusters did a show once where they tested the heat tolerance of ammunition. They put the ammunition in an oven at 450 degrees until the ammunition finally popped and fizzled out. It didn't fire off like it would have had it been fired from a gun.

MYTH:::Bullets can explode with lethal force if they are stored inside a hot oven.:::MYTH

BUSTED
The Mythbusters placed a .22 caliber, .44 caliber, and .50 caliber bullet inside an oven. All of the bullets exploded once the oven was hot enough, but none of them were able to penetrate the oven. Without a gun barrel to contain and direct the propellant gases, the bullets did not develop enough speed to pierce the glass or steel portions of the oven. The shell casings actually caused more damage than the bullets.

Now in the event that you store your GUN (loaded) in hot temperatures

MYTH:::::A gun can fire a bullet with lethal force if stored inside a hot oven.::::MYTH

CONFIRMED
The Mythbusters placed a loaded .38 caliber revolver inside a hot oven pointing towards the oven door. Once the temperature was high enough, the gun automatically discharged and sent the bullet out of the oven, which could potentially kill anybody who happened to be standing in front of the oven.

So to simplify: It takes a lot of heat to make bullet go pop. I know lots of people store ammunition in vehicles that can get up to 120 + degrees without incident. Now if left in a hot atmosphere for long periods of time (1 month - years), the powder can break down making your ammo less effective.

[advw]

The type I use can also be used in air travel, securing the safe to the inside of the suitcase. Here is a link to a similar product.

SecureIt KeyOperated Handgun Storage Safe - product summary - Bing Shopping

So mounting it under the driver's seat would be ok, i suppose the back would be too.. Is that where you have it mounted?

[DougG]

It is 110 dewgrees in Dallas today and I have had both a gun and bullits in my car allday

[B2Tall]

I use an Autosafe made by SentrySafe mounted in my center console. It has already withstood the effots of a thief to crack it open. The one I have can hold a subcompact (G36, HK SK) or any pocket gun.

As far as ammo cooking off, as other have pointed out - if your vehicle were that hot you'd have a lot more to worry about than your firearm. You'd need to call the FD in order to put out your car/truck.

[XD40FAN]

I live in hot as florida and leave my firearm under my drivers seat and have not had any issues in 5 years!