Help Identifying Possibly Live Shell

Not to thread hi-jack, but what kind of long gun is that mounted to your dept.'s RMI?
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If you're talking about the RMI in my picture, its a Rem 1100. I also made a special 3/4 inch water cannon which is mounted also, but I don't think it shows up in the pictures.
 
Alan;
I think it could well be that just from this forum thread the ATFE could be in the process of tracing your IP address and you would be in a much much better position to call them in place of them making a house call to you.
The very explicit instruction given would disqualify any claim of ignorance.
But please let us know how things turn out.
 
Like I said in one of my first posts, the 4 pound difference between the specified weight of the shell and what you had could have been an indicator that it was disarmed, but there were no solid indicators that it was disarmed.

I don't think I would have done that. All you did was unscrew a fuse assembly, but that still could have caused a detonation of a live round.

So, what about the fuse assembly/plug? is it a fuse, and is it disarmed?
 
Congratulations on the addition to your collection!

I just joined in order to offer a comment.

Your projectile will look much better in your collection than it would with a .50 caliber hole in it or in small pieces after being "detonated" by someone that might not really care how good it will look in your collection.
 
So, much like in poker someone does exactly the wrong thing but gets a great result so the idiotic behavior is reinforced. Yay. No idea of what the fuse is or what's inside, or even what I'm doing, but let's unscrew this thing! And it was empty, proving of course that you did the right thing. :rolleyes:
 
Your projectile will look much better in your collection than it would with a .50 caliber hole in it or in small pieces after being "detonated" by someone that might not really care how good it will look in your collection.
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I can't believe I just read that.

It almost sounds as if you are saying that looking good in a collection is all that matters, and that keeping a probably armed artillery shell without being certain is acceptable behavior, and that being able to put the thing on a shelf is worth the risk involved in taking a pipe wrench after the thing to disarm it.
 
I talked to the guy, he said it's definitely inert, and that it was just a placeholder fuze. As in they would have this fuze on it until they were about to shoot it, then they would unscrew it and replace with the timer fuze, setting the timer as they did so, which also prevented it from accidentally going off.
 
You wont care how it looks if it kills you and you will probably be very sorry if it kills the ones you love and regardless if anyone gets hurt you are likely criminally liable not to mention civil litigation....

Even if it was by some miracle totally legal to have (it could be but I seriously doubt it) it isnt very wise to do so without knowning for absolute certain its safe..

The suggestion to keep it for a collection without being certain is in my opinion very, very bad advise....
 
"I can't believe I just read that.

It almost sounds as if you are saying that looking good in a collection is all that matters, and that keeping a probably armed artillery shell without being certain is acceptable behavior, and that being able to put the thing on a shelf is worth the risk involved in taking a pipe wrench after the thing to disarm it."



Please don't try and put words in my mouth. If I wanted to say "looking good in a collection is all that matters", I would have said that. I did not realize that the projectile was "PROBABLY ARMED". In fact, I am not sure how we determined that it is probably armed. It could just as easily been probably NOT armed. It is not a dud. There are no rifleing marks on the driving band. It has not been fired. In fact the driving band, as shown in photo #1147, shows that it has been beat around quite a bit. Pipe wrench to disarm? No, actually I would most likely use my M-18 fuze wrench.


"Even if it was by some miracle totally legal to have (it could be but I seriously doubt it)"

Miracles do happen -

http://oldguns.net/catho.htm

http://www.big-ordnance.com/

http://www.inertord.com/index.html

http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/showthread.php?t=245681

http://www.bocn.co.uk/vbforum/forum.php

I just counted. I have 66 items in my collection above 60mm - up to and including 175 mm - and over 4,000 other items. The big stuff does not sit on a shelf. It is much to heavy. It is legal - and - I don't doubt that.

Sure, this stuff is dangerous, unless it is not.

I just don't believe the first thing to do about something that could be dangerous is to blow it up. The bad thing about a sympathetic explosion with an EOD demo charge is, if you don't get one, it is too late; you already blew the thing up.
 
I talked to the guy, he said it's definitely inert, and that it was just a placeholder fuze.
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Yes. Because your antique dealer is obviously a trained EOD expert, who has no incentive whatsoever to lie to you about having sold you a potentially lethal item. :rolleyes:
 
just counted. I have 66 items in my collection above 60mm - up to and including 175 mm - and over 4,000 other items.
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You’re really into this stuff and I get it... I’m not going to try to convince you any further than what I am about to say.

I have over 2 decades of active duty day to day military experience including combat and service in combat arms (none of it national guard or reserve). I have been in more military operations then I care to remember. The one thing all us ex-military, military and retired military seem to agree on is the simple possession of one of these is not wise UNLESS a bonafide expert has made a judgment otherwise... It’s not blue (the round) so more than likely it is or was a live round and even being blue isn’t a 100% guarantee... you have others here who are EOD, military, police, lawyers and the like... thats a whole lot of expertise to ignore.... Im not a ordinance expert, but I do know all to well what kills..

You of course can do whatever you wish... I’m not going to comment further. Best of luck, hope no one ever gets hurt...
 
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Please don't try and put words in my mouth. If I wanted to say "looking good in a collection is all that matters", I would have said that. I did not realize that the projectile was "PROBABLY ARMED". In fact, I am not sure how we determined that it is probably armed. It could just as easily been probably NOT armed. It is not a dud. There are no rifleing marks on the driving band. It has not been fired.
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"Probably armed" is the default safe consideration when there is no evidence that the round wasn't an inert practice round or no evidence that the round had been live, but that had been physcially inerted.

Believing that the round is safe without verification is what gets people killed or seriously hurt.

It does not matter if it was a dud, fired or not.
 
kraigwy. Cute toy. I'm old school. We had a KBAR and a rope when I was in in 1975.

You"re right Until the thing has been confirmed that it has been decontaminated to XXXXX (5X) level by a competent demil facility It is live and dangerous.
 
Mister collector, since the word probably means the one and only option that is most probable, it can't be probably armed or unarmed. It is certainly one or the other. It is to be assumed that when there is no physical evidence of an action, that it probably didn't happen. there was no evidence that it was disarmed, the default probability with no evidence is that it was not disarmed.

Regarding the tool, it's also probable that the shell owner was not in possession of a fuse wrench. Once again, it is probable that he used a pipe or spud wrench Or some other tool from his garage.

my opinion? There was nothing particularly stupid about what he did, he simply gambled his life, family and home that the thing was safe to open up. Millions of people take far bigger risks every day, doing things like jumping out of planes for fun.
 
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