Live round

[Montauk3]

I worked the water today. A few pieces of trash and a few .50 cal casings. A couple of .50 bullets and then the best of the day. A live .50. How do I know it was live? A 3/16th drill bit near the bottom of the case allowed me to empty the powder and do an ignition test on the powder. I am assuming that the primer is also viable. It is now soaking in WD40 for a few days to give it a chance to kill the primer. ( not a surefire way to deactivate primers but we'll see.) Just think, about 63 or so years in the water and still ready to go bang.

The reason that it was unfired is because it is what we called a "short round". The bullet was pushed deeper into the case and would have caused a malfunction and therefore ejected and discarded.

I at this time don't know the date on the head stamp because it is still pretty encrusted. I'll clean it up in a few day to get the year.

HH

 

[Narthoniel]

I would have had to take that to a military base and hand it to the guard on duty. Just say, "You guys left this on the beach. I thought you might want it back" and leave .

 

[Montauk3]

Well, I'm a bit of a gun nut and enjoy finding things like this.

After I have cleaned it up a little I'll take a pic of it next to a standard .50 so the OAL will be more obvious.

The year is 1942.

 

[ClonedSIM]

Hey, I've found a couple of those "short rounds" in the past, but had no idea what their story was. Thanks for sharing!!