How to blow yourself up with a Civil War shell

[smokeythecat]

Actually, I did NOT blow myself up. Never have found an intact artillery shell from the Civil War, and I actually don't own one. Until today, that is.
Was lollygagging around some relic and antique shops and stopped in this one I had been in a few centuries ago.
After asking the owner what he had, he pulled out this really nice looking shell, and gave me a price and I told him I'd take it.
We started discussing the safety of these things, and he proceeded to tell me this one was perfectly safe and had been unloaded.

Then he LOOKED at it. He said it was the type with the wood fuse and water would have found its way inside, so no problem with safety.

To prove it, he (gasp) took a steel screwdriver and a hammer and proceeded to drive it into the top of the shell where the fuse would have been, to demonstrate
how easily it would go all the way through.

Well, it only went 1/2 inch with resistance.

I'll be picking it up next week AFTER it's defused. OMG already!

 

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[favored papa]

Explosives are a very interesting sometimes over time, they go inert, and sometimes they go nuts. Have a shot of good Scotch to celebrate you are still alive. And run like H... from nuts(mean experts )with screwdrivers. Papa

 

[stefen]

If I'd been there with you, that brown patch you see....well it's a burnout...

I'd be doing an imitation of the Roadrunner...

 

[Dr. Syn]

Reminds me of a cartoon I once saw where someone had the dud job. Checking artillery shells by hitting the nose fuse with a hammer to make sure it was a dud.

 

[releventchair]

Reminds me of a cartoon I once saw where someone had the dud job. Checking artillery shells by hitting the nose fuse with a hammer to make sure it was a dud.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Black powder generally isn't unstable (though should be handled with respect) but the primers and fuses used over the years had some interesting fulminates of mercury and iodine and all kinds of things that, when repeatedly damp and dry, make crystals and other neat compounds with the nitrogen from the powder in the shell that ARE unstable.

You don't want to be that 1:1,000,000 rare occurrence that does wake up an old shell.

 

[Msbeepbeep]

OMG!!!!!!
Glad your still here with us!!!!
Ya lose nuts with hammers & screwdrivers around "inert" bombs are not a good thing!

....geeez, and here I'm afraid I may probe the ground and hit the trigger of a loaded gun, and have a mishap!
Your my hero!

 

[fmrUSMC_0844]

Sounds like he likes to live a little dangerously!

 

[smokeythecat]

I guarantee I'd never do it and was glad to get out of there.

 

[Boatlode]

If God only would stop protecting morons they would remove themselves from the gene pool.

 

[Denniss]

Here's a good article on a guy that disarms shells on a regular basis

Civil War Relic Collector | Garden and Gun

 

[hvacker]

A friend told me of a woman he knows that uses a 105mm Howitzer shell for an ash tray.
When he looked on the bottom of the shell he noticed the primer didn't appear to be struck.

 

[pat-tekker-cat]

You don't want to be that 1:1,000,000 rare occurrence that does wake up an old shell.

I have always said, it doesn't matter WHAT the odds are, if you are the ONE (1:......).
Whether lotto, live shells, or whatever......

Glad you still with us smokeycat, how many lives did THAT burn outta ya?

 

[GA_Boy]

HOLD MY BEER AND WATCH THIS.

 

[bill from lachine]

Smokey,

Be careful with that thing.....several years back a so called expert who had disarmed over 200 shells over the years managed to blow himself and his house up.

Not sure where the news story would be but pretty sure someone can track it down.

Regards + HH

Bill

 

[Ammoman]

LOL My first job in the munitions field was Sandblasting the nose and tail fuse wells of Mk-82 and M-117 bombs. On my first day of duty I was given a Hammer and instructed to perform dud checks on all the incoming bombs. Being the good Jeep that i was, i complied and for two days straight, i ran around hitting bombs with a hammer looking for duds!

Reminds me of a cartoon I once saw where someone had the dud job. Checking artillery shells by hitting the nose fusfe with a hammer to make sure it was a dud.

 

[scott9050]

Smokey,

Be careful with that thing.....several years back a so called expert who had disarmed over 200 shells over the years managed to blow himself and his house up.

Not sure where the news story would be but pretty sure someone can track it down.

Regards + HH

Bill

Virginia Man Killed In Civil War Cannonball Blast | Fox News

 

[bill from lachine]

Scott,

That's the story....thanks for the link.

Regards + HH

Bill

 

[smokeythecat]

I didn't buy it, as a matter of fact when I came back the next week the owner had sold it elsewhere.