My father has an 8" practice howizter round that was given to him as a battery commander while in the military. (10" wide and close to 2 feet tall) As a kid, we had to Polish it every time we got in trouble. Apparently, my parents agreed that whomever had to polish it the most, inherited it. I got in trouble a lot. The round is apparently mine to continue polishing. LOL
It's surprising the number of people who look at it, and immediately state (even after being TOLD what it is), "I'd never have that thing in my house, it's too dangerous." Just baffles us. It's 250 pounds of brass in the shape of a bullet. People look at it and immediately assume it could "go off" any minute. The only danger it poses is if it tips over on your foot.
It's like saying keeping a gun in the house is dangerous, even if there are no bullets for it. Silly... just emotional response... just SILLY. It's brass in the shape of a large round. That's it! Even when explained, people will comment that they think it's "unsafe." Just boggles my mind.
Education is important folks. And when you get the facts, don't ignore them. Bullets don't magically "explode" simply due to time. The odds of that primer even WORKING in that condition is remote to start with. And even when they're intentionally ignited outside of the gun/rifle chamber, they're really not that dangerous. Some of you are going to call BS on this. I'm going to now offer you a bit of an education. Believe or don't. Reality is not affected by the number of people who refuse to accept it.
If you believe that cooked off bullets shoot out from every direction, as from a gun, you've been watching HOLLYWOOD. You may also believe that being shot by a 9mm round will lift you off the ground and throw you backwards by 5-10 feet. You also may believe that you can hear the gunshot and "Duck" out of the way of a bullet from 300 yards away. These are all movie "facts" not based in reality.
If you have ANY doubts about the validity of the claim that ammunition that "explodes" poses little to no danger, please watch the following video (Start at 2:20 to start seeing what happens).
A 12-guage shotgun shell fired when it is not chambered... it doesn't even penetrate 200lb fiberboard (standard CARDBOARD) at 7"! It just superficially marks it. This means that shotgun round that you drop and under the rare rare rare possibility where it magically drops directly onto a firing pin, and accidentally goes off isn't even going to penetrate your JEANS.
[video=youtube;3SlOXowwC4c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SlOXowwC