Explosives!

[GoGoGopher]

Some of those round canister grenades are US White Phosperous...Bad stuff...Will burn to China and back...Hard to put out also...That stuff gives me the creaps...Your a Braver man that I...

HH,

[Kolby72]

Originally Posted by GoGoGopher

Some of those round canister grenades are US White Phosperous...Bad stuff...Will burn to China and back...Hard to put out also...That stuff gives me the creaps...Your a Braver man that I...

HH,

Yeah those are pesky little things, the thing you have to remember is that WWII ordenance is actually very safe. It is when people try and disarm them or take them home and put them in their display cabnit that makes them dangerous.... Nobody has ever died from looking at explosives everyone who dies is doing something the shouldnt be doing I.E disarming....

[AIRFORCEMIKE]

Wow that is the coolest thread ever. I love WWII history and its a pleasure to see you digging it up safely. Keep up the great finds and be safe my friend. Wish I picked up this hobby when I was stationed in Ramstein. then again I was not there long ...they shipped me fast to the desert..something about some war going on at that time and they needed me.
AFMIKE

[Kolby72]

Originally Posted by AIRFORCEMIKE

Wow that is the coolest thread ever. I love WWII history and its a pleasure to see you digging it up safely. Keep up the great finds and be safe my friend. Wish I picked up this hobby when I was stationed in Ramstein. then again I was not there long ...they shipped me fast to the desert..something about some war going on at that time and they needed me.
AFMIKE

Haha that has happened to me too a couple of times, detecting in Germany is amazing
... I am not looking forward to detecting in the states =(

[AIRFORCEMIKE]

No i cant imagine leaving Germany to hunt in the states. Insult to injury then your stuck with our beer as well.

[Kolby72]

Here is an artillery round we found, I know it is American but I am not sure of the exact size we think it is 10.47? Not sure if that is correct lol I am calling the German ordinance disposal guys today to have them picked up....

[chrispua]

Originally Posted by Kolby72

My buddy and I went out yesterday with a German Explosive Ordnance Team to show them some of the explosives we have found in the area over the past year or so. My buddy and I were talking and we thought that they would just shrug off what we found since they do this stuff everyday but they were really dumbfounded that we had that much. We have found maybe 4 times more than what is shown but it is scattered throughout Germany and they only dispose of the local stuff. Thanks for looking!

When I received my training in the army, we were told specifically to leave one of these Blinds alone whenever we find one. We've had trainees who played with the blinds, it exploded and off course the trainee died. So, if I do find one of these, I would have definitely left them in the hole and informed the explosive team to dispose of it. I wouldn't take any chances at all.

Have you heard of any of these old duds exploded after someone recovered them?

[Kolby72]

Originally Posted by chrispua

When I received my training in the army, we were told specifically to leave one of these Blinds alone whenever we find one. We've had trainees who played with the blinds, it exploded and off course the trainee died. So, if I do find one of these, I would have definitely left them in the hole and informed the explosive team to dispose of it. I wouldn't take any chances at all.

Have you heard of any of these old duds exploded after someone recovered them?

It is extremely important to respect these old explosives but we do our homework and we are pretty safe with them (except for the time we played hot potatoe with a 7cm artillery round). We dig them out take a pic and then put them back and call the German ordinance disposal. The German EOD scare the !!!! out of me because we gingerly remove them from the ground. They come out with a double sided pick and axe and they whack them out of the ground! And then they smack them around a bit to clean them off and lastly the chunk them (literally) into a box. One time we called in 2 American Pineapple grenades and the German EOD and he literally picked them up and smacked them together like 3 times.... LOL buthole pucker moment for sure. But I have probably found close to 80 explosives in the past 4 years but I have only heard of one explosive just going off. And that was a WWI buried land mine, the ground above it was struck by lightning and it shook the fuses enough to make them explode. If you just handle WWII explosives they will never go off. The WWI stuff will go off with just a gentle shake because of the acid fuses they used back then. There are some cases when guys find these explosives and they carry them home try to disarm them and then they go off. Nobody should try this, I know how to disarm almost all of the explosives I have found but the risk factor is to big for me.

[Aquachigger]

Originally Posted by karel

watching a fuse on the grenade's head I'd be very careful. They are still live and more dangerous after long time underground. I had found also bunch of 20mm for MG 151/20 but later when took better information threw them in the river. Anyway nice finds for real men. Congratulation at that thrilling experience

"Threw them in the river". Hmmmm.... Go on.

[chrispua]

Originally Posted by Kolby72

They come out with a double sided pick and axe and they whack them out of the ground! And then they smack them around a bit to clean them off and lastly the chunk them (literally) into a box.

That would really scare the !!!! out of me as well. Lol

[Kolby72]

Here are a couple pics of my shells ranging from around the size of a .22 to a 105mm

[sweendog]

This is an awesome thread...keep the pics coming!

[Kolby72]

Here is a whole mess of stuff we found at one spot.... In the mix of all that are a couple different German grenades

[ramer]

Originally Posted by blk86trbo

That pineapple grenade with the safety pin still in it sure is neat. The grenades I used to throw back in the 80's were shaped more like a baseball. Thanks for sharing your pictures

And what happens when that pin gets weak from rusting all those years in the soil and finally breaks? Couldn't that grenade then detonate?
Personally I wouldn't go near any of that stuff.

[dirtdigler]

Great thread I’m up for a trip to Germany to find explosives with you guys

[700varmint]

I had a idiot fire a rocket at me in fallujah 2004 (phantom fury) anyway it landed next to my humvee but was a dud, I quickly snapped a picture and had my driver move far away,,,, I wouldnt go and ding up against it with a metal shovel though. you guys are insane!!!! even for experienced EOD techs they dont mess around, if it can be blown up in place that is usually the best practice.

[Kolby72]

Originally Posted by ramer

And what happens when that pin gets weak from rusting all those years in the soil and finally breaks? Couldn't that grenade then detonate?
Personally I wouldn't go near any of that stuff.

I know that sounds like a possibility but it doesnt work like that anymore. After 60 years of rotting in the soil. And the constant rain 8 months of the year water gets inside of the grenade and makes it inert about 90% of the time. I have found grenades with the spoons gone and no pin. They should have went off but as the stuff started to rott away water got into the cap and fuse and made it inert.

[Kolby72]

Originally Posted by dirtdigler

Great thread I’m up for a trip to Germany to find explosives with you guys

Come on out! I can promise you that you will return with all of your limbs

Originally Posted by 700varmint

I had a idiot fire a rocket at me in fallujah 2004 (phantom fury) anyway it landed next to my humvee but was a dud, I quickly snapped a picture and had my driver move far away,,,, I wouldnt go and ding up against it with a metal shovel though. you guys are insane!!!! even for experienced EOD techs they dont mess around, if it can be blown up in place that is usually the best practice.

Yeah those soviet made rockets arent always 100% on point luckily for you! Glad to see you made it out. I remeber in Afghanistan when they would shoot mortars and try to hit the planes. Most would just land and would bury themselves in the dirt and not go off. EOD would get a long rope and pull the mortar out with a truck! LOL.

[ramer]

Originally Posted by ramer
And what happens when that pin gets weak from rusting all those years in the soil and finally breaks? Couldn't that grenade then detonate?
Personally I wouldn't go near any of that stuff.

Originally Posted by Kolby72

I know that sounds like a possibility but it doesnt work like that anymore. After 60 years of rotting in the soil. And the constant rain 8 months of the year water gets inside of the grenade and makes it inert about 90% of the time. I have found grenades with the spoons gone and no pin. They should have went off but as the stuff started to rott away water got into the cap and fuse and made it inert.

I guess it would be that 10 percent to worry about then. Today I found a live 40 cal pistol round. The soil was rocky and hard and I was really flailing away with my digger when I finally saw that live round. I imagine had I hit it with the point of the digger just right it could have gone off.

[Kolby72]

Originally Posted by ramer

Originally Posted by ramer
And what happens when that pin gets weak from rusting all those years in the soil and finally breaks? Couldn't that grenade then detonate?
Personally I wouldn't go near any of that stuff.



I guess it would be that 10 percent to worry about then. Today I found a live 40 cal pistol round. The soil was rocky and hard and I was really flailing away with my digger when I finally saw that live round. I imagine had I hit it with the point of the digger just right it could have gone off.

The thing will live ammo is that you have to remember that in order for the slug to travel at a high enough velocity it needs to be contained in a small place IE a gun barrel. In a barrel the slug spins gathers momentum and then explodes out the end of the gun. A round outside of a gun is most likely going to be less powerful than a fiecracker. Now im not saying that had it went off it wouldnt have scared the !!!! out of you lol but your more likely to die from a heart attack if it goes off than it actually exploding and doing physical damage just my 2 cents im not a profesional =)