Hand grenade found on Port Charlotte beach

clv

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Hand grenade found on Port Charlotte beach
Posted: Feb 10, 2016 11:55 AM PST
Updated: Feb 10, 2016 9:43 PM PST




There was an unusual midday discovery at the Port Charlotte beach complex on Wednesday.

A man with a metal detector found an active grenade in the shallow water during low tide, prompting a response from law enforcement and Southwest Florida Regional Bomb Squad disposal personnel.
9853515_G.jpg

A bystander said he was told by a bomb squad officer that it was an M67 grenade -- a fragmentation device with an effective radius of nearly 50 feet.

"He said, 'Anybody got a phone? I found a grenade,'" said witness David Green.

Green spends a lot of free time down by the water. But none like Wednesday when just before noon, a man with a metal detector walked up to him and his friends.

Another man said he picked the grenade up and was surprised how heavy it was, and another said he was told by the bomb squad that it had only been in the water a few days.

The discovery sent lifeguard volunteers and law enforcement officers scrambling to fill sandbags in preparation for detonation.

"I knew there was a pin in it, so it was probably OK," said Jack Orze. "It wasn't that old. If it was really rusty I wouldn't have touched it."

"It could have been bad if the wrong person found it," said Green, who also told us it took two hours for the bomb squad to show up.

We're still waiting to hear back from the bomb squad and why it took so long to arrive on scene.

The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office still won't confirm what the device is or why they believe it was in the water.
 

Sheldon J

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Notice that they don't show the bottom...
Looks like the dummy pineapple grenades that they sell at gun shows, open at the bottom.
Same kind are used as a gag, placed on a stand that says "Complaint Department Please take a Number " with the number 1 attached to the pin...
 

ARC

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Another prime example where a metal detecting enthusiast has thwarted the possible accident of a very serious nature.
Children play in the shallow surf... this could have ended very... very badly... had this detectorist not have recovered this.

One word... SHEEESH.
 

ARC

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Notice that they don't show the bottom...
Looks like the dummy pineapple grenades that they sell at gun shows, open at the bottom.
Same kind are used as a gag, placed on a stand that says "Complaint Department Please take a Number " with the number 1 attached to the pin...

I don't think the picture posted by OP actually IS it.
In article has the guy stating "it was very rusty"... the one in photo is not that rusty.
AND...
Anything in salt like that would be much more rusted than that one.
The one pictured IMO looks like dirt found...
And the grass also gives me that impression.
Prolly just a press phot perhaps . ?
 

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Sheldon J

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Yea I assumed that the posted photo was of the found object... a link to the original source would be nice.. ;-)


I don't think the picture posted by OP actually IS it.
In article has the guy stating "it was very rusty"... the one in photo is not that rusty.
AND...
Anything in salt like that would be much more rusted than that one.
The one pictured IMO looks like dirt found...
And the grass also gives me that impression.
Prolly just a press phot perhaps . ?
 

OP
OP
clv

clv

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In the video he said that the grenade was not rusty. The pic was in the original story it came from the local station in that town, but i did not save the link. Sorry.
 

ARC

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Err I saw that... NOT rusty... so it must have been recent drop ?
An obvious misread on my part.
 

Last edited:
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clv

clv

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I think more of a recent throw. In the video he was wadding in the water with the detector, didn't say how deep. I am bumped I only find coins, gold rings and things like that, nothing really cool like a pineapple!
With that I would win the finds of the month for sure.
 

ARC

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What would really suck is...
You scoop and that puppy rolls onto the ground...

You look...And the pin is...
Still in the hole.

DIVE ! ! !
 

Last edited:
OP
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clv

clv

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What would really suck is...
You scoop and that puppy rolls onto the ground...

You look...And the pin is...
Still in the hole.

DIVE ! ! !

I could out run Jesse Owens if that happen.:laughing7:
 

markmopar

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The pic is not an M67 as quoted in the article, it's a Mark IIA1. That model was phased out in Vietnam. The current-use M67 is a smaller baseball-shaped grenade.
It's probably a newer fake, often found at military surplus stores or gun shows as novelty items.

EDIT: An updated story shows it was indeed a replica:
Florida beach cleared after replica grenade found in the water | Fox News
 

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A2coins

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Good way to clear the beach for a while to metal detect !!!!!
 

Icewing

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Round here we call those live bait.
It's probably good he didn't take it to the authorities, he'd have been the psycho detector guy who lost it and walked into a police station with pocket pull of pull tabs and a live hand grenade, just before he tragically became headline news.
 

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