any ideas and is it dangerous?

[saxman]

Guys

I have found this and it looks like a bullet of some sort. Because of the shape and weight of it I was wondering whether or not it was live. It is about 5 cm long and weighs in at about 45 grams. I may be completely off target and it is something else, but better to ask and be wrong than stay silent and have a potential problem later. Thoughts?

Saxman

[King cnut]

its a armor piercing round with i believe thats its got something dangerous inside so best take it to the cops

[frogeye]

Yes looks like the head off the .50cal shell case you found and silver tip are armor piercing like king cnut says

[saxman]

So are we all agreed that it needs to go into the police then?

Saxman

[Fusion]

.50 cal Browning, and I think you'll find silver tip indicates armour-piercing incendiary, that is: steel-core (look for the rust spot on the back end, if a magnet sticks, it's steel) and 1 gram of high-explosive. So not legal to possess, though 'probably' safe if handled carefully, don't drop it.

[frogeye]

I found a hoard of these at the side of a field many years ago , I think they were put there by the airman from the base, they were all silver tip , me and a mate didnt have a clue then we thought they were safe he kept them all in collection . Dont think I would keep them now though , would be best to hand that one over to be on the safe side

well done on your finds Saxman you had a good days hunting there and must be a good site

[RRPG]

As has been pointed out, 50cal API (Armour piercing incendiary) and illegal to possess I'm afraid to say.

RRPG

[saxman]

Not sure what's going on there chaps, but that aside I have taken it into the Police station just now and they were very friendly and cheerfully took it from me.

Job done!

Cheers

Saxman

[52747]

My posts aren't going on here for some reason, but guys please stop arguing. Oliver I think zippy was upset as he was trying to help but you said he didn't have a clue. I don't think it was meant nastily but obviously it could appear that way when he was only trying to help.

Maybe we all just need to word things a bit more carefully and correct people without saying things that could possibly be seen as negative :-). I'm sure we all have knowledge strengths and weaknesses after all :-). In general the people on the forum are very helpful and friendly. Hopefully we can keep it that way :-)

[RRPG]

Oh dear .........

Let me just clarify something here for the benefit of all. A 50cal API round is far from safe. Get it too hot, it'll go off. Crack the jacket and expose the core to the air, it'll go off. Drop it on a hard surface......prepare to duck. We get back to the same thing I bang on about from time to time, (some may say too often but this is precisely why), if you are not 100% certain what you have is safe, get advice and take the correct action, which Saxman has done. What we don't need is incorrect or ill judged advice. Whilst I appreciate everyone is trying to help, please don't advise on something you have limited knowledge of. It can put people in unnecessary danger and may not be correct from a legal perspective.

That little 'safe' looking 50cal has enough incendiary compound in it to take your house out. And no, if it starts burning you won't be able to put it out.

No relic is worth a finger, hand, arm, leg or life !

[kopparberg]

Oh dear .........

Let me just clarify something here for the benefit of all. A 50cal API round is far from safe. Get it too hot, it'll go off. Crack the jacket and expose the core to the air, it'll go off. Drop it on a hard surface......prepare to duck. We get back to the same thing I bang on about from time to time, (some may say too often but this is precisely why), if you are not 100% certain what you have is safe, get advice and take the correct action, which Saxman has done. What we don't need is incorrect or ill judged advice. Whilst I appreciate everyone is trying to help, please don't advise on something you have limited knowledge of. It can put people in unnecessary danger and may not be correct from a legal perspective.

That little 'safe' looking 50cal has enough incendiary compound in it to take your house out. And no, if it starts burning you won't be able to put it out.

No relic is worth a finger, hand, arm, leg or life !

here here its is one thing to make a wrong id on say a hammered coin .but another thing if the said item is dangerous as in this case . a little knowledge is worse than none at all

[oliver]

Oh dear .........

Let me just clarify something here for the benefit of all. A 50cal API round is far from safe. Get it too hot, it'll go off. Crack the jacket and expose the core to the air, it'll go off. Drop it on a hard surface......prepare to duck. We get back to the same thing I bang on about from time to time, (some may say too often but this is precisely why), if you are not 100% certain what you have is safe, get advice and take the correct action, which Saxman has done. What we don't need is incorrect or ill judged advice. Whilst I appreciate everyone is trying to help, please don't advise on something you have limited knowledge of. It can put people in unnecessary danger and may not be correct from a legal perspective.

That little 'safe' looking 50cal has enough incendiary compound in it to take your house out. And no, if it starts burning you won't be able to put it out.

No relic is worth a finger, hand, arm, leg or life !

Now we have some good advice here i have seen what explosives can do one of my crew lots half his hand from a bit of ordnance that we had brought up in a trawl so years ago.I am very keen to see people given good advice about these items as for me i leave them well alone.

[tim66]

Thanks for putting it simply RPG just goes to show you can't be too carefull, but now I'm worried

What size (length x diameter) are these rounds just out of interest?

Got a horrible feeling I may have a few of these stashed away over the years somewhere amongst my trash boxes. Assumed that they were harmless as they'd all ready been fired!

Who knew

Cheers Tim

[Dave8472]

Hi everyone, I have tried to clear the thread up as best as possible, without deleting or editing most of the replies. I am not going to take sides as what has been said or done has already been posted.

Within the whole topic the right advice has been given and the item correctly disposed of

Can I ask anyone who has a problem with a post/reply or topic to pm forum staff rather than each other as thing can get out of hand very quickly. Thanks everyone for there concern for the OP safety

Dave

[oliver]

Job done