Unexploded artillery round?

Soldato
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Op :D
4-ED2294-A-358-D-4831-B774-4972-E4364447.gif

J7TP
 
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Soldato
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Looks a bit like a very old oil filter from a tractor.

I think it was too heavy to be an oil filter, I mean it felt like it was solid metal. But there are a lot of tractors around here so possible.

Unless I hear an explosion at 3 o'clock in the morning I doubt we will ever hear anything more.

The MOD guy isn't here yet the police car is still sat there, Colchester is a good hour and 45 from here.
 
Soldato
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I always wonder why anyone thinks that a bomb from either 100yrs ago or like 80years ago won't have degraded so badly that they would still explode. I appreciate being sensible and cautious but is it entirely necessary?

Anyone with a chemistry degree like to enlighten me on how nearly a century of degradation doesn't make these things more useless than the time they failed to go off?

Does ammonium nitrate or TNT somehow remain explosive?
 
Caporegime
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I always wonder why anyone thinks that a bomb from either 100yrs ago or like 80years ago won't have degraded so badly that they would still explode. I appreciate being sensible and cautious but is it entirely necessary?

Anyone with a chemistry degree like to enlighten me on how nearly a century of degradation doesn't make these things more useless than the time they failed to go off?

Does ammonium nitrate or TNT somehow remain explosive?

Someone with GCSE chemistry could explain it to you.

Look up the Iron Harvest.
 
Man of Honour
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I always wonder why anyone thinks that a bomb from either 100yrs ago or like 80years ago won't have degraded so badly that they would still explode. I appreciate being sensible and cautious but is it entirely necessary?

Anyone with a chemistry degree like to enlighten me on how nearly a century of degradation doesn't make these things more useless than the time they failed to go off?

Does ammonium nitrate or TNT somehow remain explosive?

They didn't necessarily fail to go off - it might be stored munitions which got buried, etc. and later turn up. The explosives and primer, fuze and whatever are generally fairly protected from the elements, etc. so take a long while to degrade. Stuff which failed to go off can be more dangerous as they could be one knock away from not failing to go off and even degraded munitions like the state this object is in have been known to still pack enough punch to blow someone's hand off.

The science is beyond my working knowledge but people regularly test 100 odd year old ammunition with mixed results but a lot of it still works fine or works with reduced performance.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
39,945
I always wonder why anyone thinks that a bomb from either 100yrs ago or like 80years ago won't have degraded so badly that they would still explode. I appreciate being sensible and cautious but is it entirely necessary?

Anyone with a chemistry degree like to enlighten me on how nearly a century of degradation doesn't make these things more useless than the time they failed to go off?

Does ammonium nitrate or TNT somehow remain explosive?

They didn't necessarily fail to go off - it might be stored munitions which got buried, etc. and later turn up. The explosives and primer, fuze and whatever are generally fairly protected from the elements, etc. so take a long while to degrade. Stuff which failed to go off can be more dangerous as they could be one knock away from not failing to go off and even degraded munitions like the state this object is in have been known to still pack enough punch to blow someone's hand off.

The science is beyond my working knowledge but people regularly test 100 odd year old ammunition with mixed results but a lot of it still works fine or works with reduced performance.

Yup.. I used to use .303 rounds with production date codes on the headstamp of 1942. Was as reliable as much of the modern .303 as well. Just had to clean the gun a lot more thoroughly as it was corrosive to the barrels. Got strange looks pouting boiling water into a funnel and down the barrel. :D
 
Soldato
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Yup.. I used to use .303 rounds with production date codes on the headstamp of 1942. Was as reliable as much of the modern .303 as well. Just had to clean the gun a lot more thoroughly as it was corrosive to the barrels. Got strange looks pouting boiling water into a funnel and down the barrel. :D

Yeah but that was probably stored efficiently, not buried in the ground and allowed to get wet and rust.

Look up the Iron Harvest.

That just kinda strengthens my resolve on this point, that a farmer can literally plow the crap out of tons of u exploded stuff and it doesn't go off, obviously cause it basically becomes useless after so much time in the ground..

Don't get me wrong, I understand that it only takes 1 to survive and blow something up to mean that we all treat them the same, not suggesting we don't, but I just feel that it's definitely a 99/100 scenario.
 
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Caporegime
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I always wonder why anyone thinks that a bomb from either 100yrs ago or like 80years ago won't have degraded so badly that they would still explode. I appreciate being sensible and cautious but is it entirely necessary?

Well the bomb disposal experts seem to think you ought to be cautious with these things, if you've not seen any previous news stories covering recently discovered WW2 munitions etc.. evacuating nearby houses etc.. is a common feature and then carrying out a controlled explosion rather than simply moving the thing.

For example:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-56226798
A controlled detonation has been carried out on an unexploded World War Two bomb found in Exeter.

More than 2,600 households and University of Exeter halls of residence were evacuated after the device was found on Glenthorne Road on Friday.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_bomb_disposal_in_Europe
Every year, an estimated 2,000 tons of World War II munitions are found in Germany, at times requiring the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents from their homes.
 
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