Posted on 03/16/2014 9:38:23 PM PDT by smokingfrog
One week after an explosion at the world’s second largest small arms propellant factory leveled a building, Belgian authorities have evacuated an area 350 meters out from the edges of an “explosion exclusion perimeter.” A French hazardous materials recovery company is now on-site and has tackled the dangerous process of attempting to recover existing propellants and begin the clean-up and evacuation of materials.
PB Clermont SA provides small arms propellant (gunpowder) to most ammunition manufacturers in Europe and many in the United States. Last Friday at about 5:00 PM local time after most workers had gone home for the day, an explosion leveled a key building used to manufacture propellant used for rifle cartridges. Two employees were injured.
The cause of the explosion is still unknown.
Clean-up efforts began yesterday, after the necessary initial investigative work had been completed and the area was saturated with water to help prevent the possibility of a follow-on explosions. The recovery of explosive materials is expected to be completed today.
Sabine Huc, the communications manager at PB Clermont, said that 20 nearby homes were evacuated for the duration of the clean-up.
(Excerpt) Read more at bearingarms.com ...
That’s just great.
I question the timing.
I wonder if they are related to FN Herstal? I know they used to make ammo because I once had a thousand rounds of 7.65 Argentine Mauser dated 1933 and 1934., head stamped FN. It was corrosive but fired fine until I finally shot it all up.
Probably Berdan primed too. Don’t bust a pin!
Phillipine .22lr will now go over $70 per 500 ...
Yeah it was Berdan primed. I found a method of depriming the cases with water but never could find the Berdan primers.
Take a look at Ammoseek.com You can search for any caliber, make, weight round you want.
You’ll see 22LR anywhere from the current 15 cts/round up to near a dollar.
IOW, it’s already there...been there for a while in fact.
I wouldn’t use ammoseek to find ammo for purchase. They are in cahoots with the gougers. Scorpion was under fifty per 500 just a few weeks ago. Now? Anybody’s guess
Yeah, I’ve seen that setup with water and the recapping die. Looks slick. Graf and Sons or Powder Valley occasionally have them. ‘Course there’s a hazmat fee.
Recapping= decapping. Dang auto correct!
My uncle told me of the time the DuPolt plant in Tennessee blew up. He said it burned for a week and they used to gather at a safe place and watch the explosions.
I also remember when the HERCULES black powder plant blew up here in the USA. I believe it was owned then by Go-ex.
They show all prices. I’ve seen 22LR for 5 cuts a round there. It varies.
From what I have been able to find, it is one relatively small building in the plant.
The ammunition plants are designed to be compartmentalized this way, so that when one goes, it does not destroy the entire plant.
These sort of explosions happen with some regularity.
I suspect that the plant will be back up and running in a month or two, maybe less with the demand for ammunition at such a high level.
It simply comes down to need. It is interesting that in the last couple months or so, the amount of 22lr searched by these ammo bots, is way down. 4-5 months ago, 22lr was everywhere and, of course, at all prices.
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