Removing marine growth

[CBulla]

<sarcasm>
Hit it with a hammer! If it goes BANG it was live, but now its not and your safe

If it doesn't go BANG then it was dead and your safe anyway!
</sarcasm>

Post a pic, full side and one of the bottom of it if its a whole shell. Incidentally, a toothbrush and either vinegar or baking soda and a few minutes time on the bottom of the round (if its a whole cartridge w/round) and you'll be able to see the markings on the bottom that will tell you exactly what it is. Hey.. it could be the round I lost last week

 

[Walter]

Follow Don's suggestion.

"Suggest you call your local police department ASAP. You may have a small bomb with a delicate fuse!"

 

[FredT]

FRED, he said it was a "whole bullet."
Yep, that's what people who have experience eating in Chow Halls call a bullet - a live round.

By definition the "bullet" is the part that goes through the barrel on the way to the target! Confusion is created when a cartridge is erroneously referred to as a "bullet", as is common in the "Hollywood fantasy" weapons training course most kids are exposed to on TV. The bullet if found alone is safe as any active component will have been expended.

The cartridge with an active component projectile _can_ contain tracer or incindiary components that will ignite when exposed to O2. Pulling the bullet from the case can be enough to to do bad things about 1 time in 10 if normal belted ammuniton mix was used.

Wet nitrocellulose or lead azide (the powder and priming components) are not by themselves dangerous if handled with reasonable care and can be easily and safely inerted once the cartridge is identified as either ball or AP ammunition. In any case to get a good display piece it needs to soak in fresh water a while.

http://users.skynet.be/jeeper/page59.html

http://www.saami.org/glossary/

FT

 

[DandyDon]

By definition the "bullet" is the part that goes through the barrel on the way to the target! Confusion is created when a cartridge is erroneously referred to as a "bullet", as is common in the "Hollywood fantasy" weapons training course most kids are exposed to on TV. The bullet if found alone is safe as any active component will have been expended.

Oops. I haven't eaten in a Chow Hall in decades, so I forgot/goofed/screw-up.

But I think he's got the whole "cartridge," and it could be a danger...

Sorry, Fred, and - thanks, don

 

[lhpdiver]

Alright I donated it to the police dept. I actually had two pieces, a little 2" or so silver tip (bullet) and one complete cartridge (copper ?) with (bullet) intact. For a bit of levity - I had them on the floor in the back of the car. When I got to the police dept they had rolled up under my seat and I had to use the electric gizmo to move the seat forward to find it. I had visions of catching the cartridge in the seat mechanism. As I said earlier - I'll stick to gold coins from now on.

Thanks again.

 

[DandyDon]

:bomb:

Alright I donated it to the police dept. I actually had two pieces, a little 2" or so silver tip (bullet) and one complete cartridge (copper ?) with (bullet) intact. For a bit of levity - I had them on the floor in the back of the car. When I got to the police dept they had rolled up under my seat and I had to use the electric gizmo to move the seat forward to find it. I had visions of catching the cartridge in the seat mechanism. As I said earlier - I'll stick to gold coins from now on.

They have any comments about the cartridge...?

 

[lhpdiver]

Nope - name, address, phone, how'd you find it.... we'll get rid of it.

I think I read someplace that they used to target practice off the Broward coast at one point. Come to think of it there was quite abit of badly broken up metal debris in the area. (Nothing very intersting).

 

[FredT]

I think I read someplace that they used to target practice off the Broward coast at one point.

There was a significant "dry weapons" range in the south Pompano area. I've recoverd a mortar round off about ST 10th St there 30 years ago. The problem with recovering munitions there is that the range use bridged the color code change between WWII and Korea. Green used to be a practice dummy round, but that flash color is now reserved for HE with Blue being a dummy round. A green round off there could be either one. Roulette (russian style) anyone? I pulled one up as it was migrating towards the beach after a storm. I didn't think the kids on the beach needed to be playing catch with it. The EOD detachment then stationed at Port Everglades was quite happy to come fetch it, even though there wasn't a secondary blast when they detonated it.

A dive buddy found a new torpedo off there about 5 yerars ago, and there are several other known torps of various flavors. German torps from WWI and WWII were fired towards the beach in the "shooting gallery" of the Fla Straights, as well as German torpedo laid mines. Some found their targets, others didn't. The USN also did both aerial and ship based torpedo testing and training in the area. There are lots of "neat" stuff in the water there. A "sand dive" between the reefs after a storm can turn up all sorts of new stuff. :54:

FT

 

[lhpdiver]

I've been diving alot of "sand" the last few weeks and its been a nice change from the wrecks/reefs. (Ok I live in paradise).

I came across this link a minute ago.

http://www.broward.org/dni02700.htm

I was a good swim from the copenhagen when i found my bullet but I guess that's why they call it practice. Why would I find an intact "cartridge" though ?
Were they throwing them at it ?

When I went for my fills today and related my bullet story the owner told me one of his own. He was diving a relatively deep sub up the coast here and one of the guys he was with started banging away at this cute little propellor attached to a pipe. The guy was really hammering away and the owner started swimming along the "piipe" until he got to the end and recognized what it was when he saw the rounded conical front end