ah ha! Jackpot.. sort of. Interesting finds!

[viper771]

Well, no weapons yet. But the good news is, I know where to look for them now. I have about 50 lbs of shrapnel in the garage(seriously), and left a lot sitting on tree stumps in the woods to mark my path. Some of the pieces are about a foot long! I am not talking about just frag grenade pieces, im talking HEAVY ARTY PIECES! The place was hit really really hard by arty. I found the remains of a motar tube, but I didn't take picts of it yesterday. I was in a hurry to find where the weapons cache was located. I will go back out there and hunt around it some more. After a lot of hunting yesterday, I found a LOT of shrapnel, 2 mine fuses, a hatch? that looks like it was on the side of a turret where you would eject your empty shells out of (don't quote me on that though, still researching). I didn't find many bullets out in this area. A few shell casings, but thats it. All the fighting positions I found had no bullet casings, or bullets in them. But just about every one of them had a grenade fragment in them, or some HE shrapnel. So they must of retreated elsewhere when it started to come down.

Today, my friend and I found some really good stuff. We located where all the stuff was buried, blown up, etc. Some of the stuff is really buried in some muddy water, so it is preserved nicely. I pulled out a few bullets that have no rust on them at all! We found 2 anti tank round warheads(they are solid), the one that is kind of shorter than the other weighs 30 lbs!!! The longer one looks kind of squished, and the detonator it had in the nose was taken out. I found 4 large steel shell casings, and I bought 2 home (the smaller on is in the picture, the other one is down in the car still). We also found parts off a anti tank gun, some bottoms of large shell casings where the thinner metal rusted away, and some nice bullets. I hope to do some more digging when I have time and the weather is nice. The buried guns are out there, and I know where to look Hopefully, they are as preserved as the stuff we pulled out today. The warheads aren't dangerous. They are solid, like a solid cannonball. If I forget to add anything, I will add it later. I am going to build an electrolysis machine this weekend, so my finds should clean up a lot better (and it will make the wife happier since I am moving my operation into the garage, rather than the kitchen) Thanks for looking!

pict1: all the finds (minus the shrapnel). You can see that tank turret hatch thing on the right hand side. It has holes going around it.
pict2: 2 mine fuses, they have a bakelight shaft, and the tops have the pins in them still. They are kind of rusty
pict3: a close up of the 2 warheads, one smaller sized casing, and the 2 bottoms of casings that rotted away
pict4: close up of the shells themselves. The one on the left weighs 30 lbs!!!

Enjoy

 

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[Ted Mac]

I would be very very careful with that ordnance. As it dries and warms up to room temp., they could become unstable. But they are very historic finds and congrats on that.

Ted

 

[viper771]

I am not too worried about the warheads. They are solid shot, and don't have anything in them. HE rounds look a little different, and I wouldn't mess with them. They were sitting under water and buried in for the past 60 yrs, and still look great! I hope I can clean all my stuff up a bit more

 

[Bavaria Mike]

Cool finds, like those projectiles, will make some nice door stops or book ends. I found a button today at the Celtic site, LOL, it is a German military, mid 1800s. HH, Mike

 

[iwannafindsome]

wow those are some neat finds there

 

[viper771]

Here is the other big shell casing I found today, just laying on the surface. There are 3 others out there, but they were split and bent. I took the best one home. It will clean up, and I will fix it up a bit. I took a picture of it next to the other shell casing to show the difference in the sizes and diameter.

 

[279785]

Great finds!@!!!!!

 

[birdman]

Viper ,you have been doing really well lately!! Hope we can hunt soon. This weekend should be pretty good if the weather holds out.

 

[misplacedrednek]

What kind of forklift are u using to get this stuff out of the woods? Nice stuff, I hope you get what your looking for.

 

[viper771]

LOL. yeah no kidding right! It takes a few trips back to the car. I still have to take picts of the large pile of shrapnel. Some of this stuff is about a foot or more deep, and in muddy, COLD, water. Today my hand whole arm was down in this water to pull out the warheads. But, it was definately worth it

 

[EDDE]

BOOM

 

[Tommi]

Viper I'm going to post this only because I care hehe
Careful out there big fella

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060404/ap_on_re_us/paperweight_explosion_2

VENTURA, Calif. - A teacher who kept a 40 mm shell on his desk as a paperweight blew off part of his hand when he apparently used the object to try to squash a bug, authorities say.
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The 5-inch-long shell exploded Monday while Robert Colla was teaching 20 to 25 students at an adult education class.

Part of Colla's right hand was severed and he suffered severe burns and minor shrapnel wounds to his forearms and torso, fire Capt. Tom Weinell said. No one else was injured. He was reported in stable condition at a hospital.

The teacher slammed the shell down in an attempt to kill something that was buzzing or crawling across the desk, said Fire Marshal Glen Albright.

Colla found the 40 mm round while hunting years ago and "obviously he didn't think the round was live," said Dennis Huston, who teaches computer design alongside Colla.

 

[SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS]

Your post brings to mind a challage coin from
a EOD outfit.

"INITIAL SUCCESS OR TOTAL FAILURE."

You be careful. Very careful

have a good un........

 

[viper771]

if i find anything dangerous, id leave it out there trust me on that. The only reason why i have these 2 is that they are solid. No detonators on them, no brass with powder. Just big, heavy tips off of tank or arty rounds. I don't wanna get blown up! I need both my hands to metal detect

That guy who used a round to attempt to smash something was really dumb. I woudn't even do that to NEW bullets! Thanks for watching out for me though everyone. I appreciate it

 

[Excavator]

Yep, if your back holds up, you're going to be in great shape for Uncle Sam!

What are those two pieces in the center of the 'shells2' pic? Potato masher grenades? Anti-tank rounds?

You're giving me the bug to get out there!

 

[viper771]

Ah you are talking about the 2 brown things by the bullet heads, and the full bullet right? Those are mine detonators, with pins still in them. They are Heavily rusted. I soaked them in water for a few days just to be sure. they are hollow inside. you don't see those too much at all. The shafts are made of bakelite (something like plastic). I know where a bunch more are, i just decided to dig up those 2, since I didn't know what they were. Plenty of stuff out here. My back is about to give out lol! thats why a lot of shrapnel is still sitting on tree stumps waiting for me.

the rusty pieces at the top, are parts off something. I have a lot to clean up. I am getting a bunch of stuff, and I will clean it during winter when we can't metal detect anymore. I hope that answered your question

 

[Night Stalker]

WOW Viper! Those are some fantastic old relics! I sure like the shells, I'd be careful with the live rounds though. How on earth are you lugging all that stuff home Hope you find a nice stash of weapons!!!

Thanks for posting .... HH/NS....be careful

 

[civilman1]

That's some cool stuff Viper....It was a nasty war.Sometime's I would walk from the barrack's in K-Town up to our communication's site..couple mile's and see these HUGE cratar hole's in the side of the hill,overgrown with fern's.....Unmistakable....Excelllent find's!!Let me know if you want to know where they are....They aren't going anywhere!!

 

[Jagdpanther]

Viper,

Great finds but please be careful. I have spent the last 30 years working ammunition for the U.S. military and I know of too many incidents where "Inert" munitions have detonated.

Fuzes and detonators are not always on the nose of a projectile. Some are fuzed on the base and others under a windshield that may appear to be solid. Some of these fuzes are very small having been made by companies that in peace-time made watches. When explosives are exposed to the elements (water, heat, soil, etc.) they change and more often than not become more sensitive. Old WWII munitions used intiating compounds like Mercury fulminate, Lead styphnate and Lead azide. All of which are very sensitive and become unstable over time. Filler compounds consisted of mostly TNT which also doesn't hold up well as it ages. Most of the propellents from the 40s (WWII used a nitro-glycerine base) get pretty nasty having spent the last 60 years out in the weather.

Have a great time out there and take advantage of being able to detect in Europe but please think "Safety First"!!!

HH

 

[Nana40]

You are making me nervous Viper! PLEASE, PLEASE, be careful!

Nana