Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4957813-20140510034158/@comment-222.67.84.8-20140606171642

Serialkillerwhale wrote: A bullet isn't so volatile despite what you'd think. In most cases, you'd need to hit the primer to cause a big boom, just shooting or swinging at it won't do, and a damaged magazine can be replaced. That's the key part, that unlike larger shells such as those used in tanks and battleships that go boom all the time, a bullet takes alot of heat to cook off, such as being near a fire for a long duration, against which I doubt a metal or plastic casing would do much to protect it.

If it were a large weapon like a cannon, rocket launcher, or just a gun that uses explosive rounds, I'd agree, however, as is, the only risk I see this model having is losing the magazine (And the ammo inside) when damaged. I wouldn't want to even risk using a damaged magazine of any sort. The propellant may not go off, but I wouldn't want to risk causing a malfunction which could be a pain to resolve. With an external magazine, the risk of having a damaged magazine from any sort of melee engagement is quite high, and people can only carry so much ammunition on their backs, so even though it COULD be replaced, it's significantly your effectiveness. This would especially apply to machine guns, as fewer magazines are carried since each has more rounds in each.