.50 cal shell casing - Redondo Beach

MountainGoat · Mar 4, 2008

Dug a .50 cal brass casing with my Garrett Ace 250 from an ice-plant-covered bluff in the south part of Redondo Beach, CA. It's about 4 inches long. Pretty crusted over but still intact. How did it get there, I wonder? Has anyone else found a large shell casing like this one at Redondo?

crazyjarhead · Mar 4, 2008

Being a military veteran, I have had many of opportunities to collect brass and live ammo from 29 palms, as well as Camp Pendleton. It doesn't supprise me that it found it's way there.... by accident or who knows how. I even picked up some 30mm rounds just laying on the desert floor. There is plenty of ordanace lying all over California ranges. You did say it was just the brass cassing, didn't you?

Brian93436 · Mar 4, 2008

The California Coast had many civil defense sites during WW II and up here on the Central Coast there are still many intact. I know Donald Douglas had a major aircraft manufacturing plant near the coast in Santa Monica during WW II which was totally blacked out and camouflaged to deter enemy bombings. Jack Northrop had an aircraft plant in Redondo Beach and Howard Hughes had an aircraft plant in El Segundo. Maybe there was a machine gun emplacement in the area you found the .50 or maybe a pilot had tested one of the new aircraft's machine guns? The area was not quite as populated back then as it is now.

Brian

Rob66 · Mar 4, 2008

I lot of those casings were worn or made into; believe it or not wristbands...just a guess.I too hunt California beaches and have never-ed found one on the beach.
Welcome. 8)
RD

Admiral de Salee · Mar 6, 2008

If you've got a skinny pinky finger, .50 brass makes a good guitar slide. The sound is thinner than I get with the thick 330 brass ones I had made, but sometimes you want that sound.

I didn't bring any home from overseas, but a nice woman Sgt. up at Camp Grayling sent me about 30 spent brass casings 10 years ago.

I would guess either the aircraft test-firing, as someone said, or else a jeep with a .50 mount on the back doing the same sort of thing. I can see either happening during WW2.

goldenapples · Mar 6, 2008

Ive also find a 50mm round on the cliff bluff a few miles south of where you found yours (man did it sound sweet

) I put mine up on another forum and some replies gave me an idea of why there's so many along the cliff's in S.Cal here's a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Los_Angeles pretty cool when you think about it.

Here's a pic of the one I found.

and the area it was found.