Hi Roger. True. I cartridge does not need a trigger to cause it to fire, but it still requires an external force to get it to do so. Sometimes that force will be greater then the energy released when the cartridge is fired and there are times it will be less, but never the less it stills requires an external force to cause it to fire.

I have been handloading for more then 40 years so I have a little experience in this department. A cartridge consists of a case, bullet, powder, and a primer. The primer is the heart of the cartridge. It ignites the powder that sends the bullet on its way to the target. It generates very little energy, but has a high temperature when struck. The amount of powder in grains determines the velocity of the bullet. The cartridge can be dropped into a fire, which will cause it to detonate, but the fire could do more damage then the cartridge itself. You can drop a cartridge from a twenty story building and in all probability it won't discharge.

It's much the same way with a geomagnetic storm. It only triggers the quake, and the amount of stress in the fault will most likely determine the magnitude of the quake. There are times when a geomagnetic storm won't cause any quakes. Then again it could cause the quake to occur earlier then it would on its own accord, or it could also cause it to be larger then it would had it occurred of its own accord. I have been told as to why this occurs at times and it is something I accept because no one else has offered a reason as to why it can't happen that way. Of course this is a theory which has not been proven to the satisfaction of everyone involved with earthquakes. It is however one bit of information that like a brick laid down with other bricks that will form a path to the day when earthquakes can be predicted with a great degree of accuracy. Take Care…Don in creepy town