[Lynn Eades]

Any m.g. that fires from a "closed bolt" can "cook off" If I recall correctly....
A cook off would just fire it with no damage to the gun, because the cook off is the result of the primer / propellent being set off from heat from the chamber.
I don't pretend to know much about this stuff, but if Rob wasn't right about spiking the gun, then I would suspect that this artillery piece was firing H.E. that for some reason prematurely exploded before the projectile exited the muzzle.
How far up the barrel will the shell primer push the projectile before it stops in the barrel? (no charge in shell?) What happens then if the projectile has had its fuze set? What determines when the fuze starts running?
Can an Arty guy educate me a bit?