i never a bullet could be so usefule in different situations.

That could come in handy in a survival situation.I never thought to use a bullet to start a fire.

whoever gave buck hunter a NO for good comment is an idiot. i did not know this either. golfing sportsman also is a 5 star rank on here and DOES know his stuff. come on guys.

Start a Survival Fire With a Bullet?

Better have plenty of ammo, LOL!

Looking for something that really works and I mean really works even after being stored wet for a long long time! Well by’golly get’ya a small jar of good old fashion Vaseline from and a magnesium fire starter stick from your local Wal-Mart. So simple of an operation A caveman can do it. Take a 2x2 inch piece of cloth and saturate it with Vaseline and scrape a little magnesium on it and hit it with the flint side and now you have instant fire 6 to 10 minutes of flame, now compare that with any other lighter and remember you haven’t really used your fire starting resources at all. I still got the same Vaseline jar in my back pack some 10 years ago and still work as good as the day I put it in.

@Clay : the smokeless powder in a modern cartridge will burn slow and hot enough to get properly prepared tinder started just fine. The flash-bang-gone effect you're thinking of would happen with true black powder or a modern substitute like Pyrodex or Triple-7.

Great tip on the Vasoline! That stuff's good to have for blisters and small cuts too, so it already goes in my survival gear.

I'm assuming powder from a shotgun shell works?

With all the wonderful alternatives to starting a fire, not to mention spoiling a perfectly good hunting cartridge, I think this is an idea relegated to the trash heap. Too many idiots out there are likely to end up injuring themselves, if not from the careful separation of components, of spilling the powder on their person when they go to light the match. POOF!- their went your idea...

I go with Clay on this one, if you're out and wet, wind is blowing and the leaves are wet then you're going to use about 10 rounds to get a fire started or you could use one cotton ball or about a 1/4 stick of fire starter, and either will burn for about 10 minutes. I will give you CPT Bs unscientific example I have pulled the bullet on a 50 BMG which is some of the slowest burning powders out there and laid a line Yosimity Sam style in the dirt. You light the powder and you will have about 5-10 seconds worth of fire. Thats dry ground, no wind perfect conditions. Now heres the difference a 50 holds about 5 times as much powder as you're rifle cartridge, burns about 2 times as slow and I assume most of you guys aren't lugging a 50 around for deer. I think you're seeing my point by now. Carry 2-3 cotton balls, a lighter, or fire starter sticks. Now that we've worked through that one, one more thing please don't try to pour it out through the primer hole..... Very bad things will happen if you go that way! :)

sounds like you could have trouble in a survival situation even with a pair of pliers! try putting the cartridge in a vise first

I never, and I mean never, go into the woods without the following: my old brass waterproof match container, vaseline saturated strips of cloth, my leatherman tool and a folded space blanket. These few simple tools are very small and light to carry and could easily save your life. I have never considered the cartridge powder but it could be very useful. Thanks for the good tip!

Thats a good thing to know

all you people that say it does not work or it is hard are stupid it does work that is how people in the old days started fire...duh....reality check stop acting like you know everything and listen for once in your life....grow up....

jking...

i love these posts:)

There's another whole post on pocket survival kits. Search the survival topics.

Vaseline and cotton would be my #1 choice. Not the point. The point is it's a survival situation. Pretend just for a minute that you are all out of matches, flares, lighters, vaseline, butane, kerosine, diesel fuel, trioxine, etc. This works. It's easy enough to pull the lead out with a leatherman. You can pull a 22 with your fingers and shotgun shells can be cut open.

Come on guys! In a desperate situation you WILL figure out how to "de-seat" a bullet from a cartridge. Keep in mind that you don't care if you damage a case. Stick the bullet point in a crack in rock or fork of a tree and wiggle it back and forth. Heck, stick it in the muzzle of the gun. The case is annealed brass, not titanium. I reload and when I want to reverse engineer a great factory load I use a bullet puller. Sometimes it takes a few good whack if the bullet has a good cannelure, but a design feature of a bullet puller is the assumption you want to save the brass.