Jump to content
SASS Wire Forum

Nasty surprise averted


Utah Bob #35998

Recommended Posts

I belong to several military equipment collectors groups on Facebook. A lady who was selling some of her grandfather’s WWII items contacted me because someone had told her this might be explosive. I assured her that it was simply radiotelephone parts and harmless. 
 

3BFACBBE-C52A-4C74-A120-DE89749FE930.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So she shared picks of some of the other stuff including a nice Postal Meter Carbine, some random cartridges, a few gew  jaws and this.
 

DD48540D-221F-49A8-B027-ADF2BA66A07C.jpeg
 

Yolks! I told her that it was an M2 hand grenade fuse and could very well be a live one. Which could ruin her whole day! I told her to contact her friendly neighborhood EOD folks at the police or fire department right now and let me know how it turned out. 
She contacted me about an hour later, said the bomb squad guys were there and yeah the fuse was live. The looked over the rest of the collection and made sure everything was clear. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd like to take it out in a pasture and rig it up with a long cord and see if it still worked.  A lot of WWII treasures are starting to show up now since the greatest generation is passing on.  An M2 grenade is not something I'd want laying around the house for 75 years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, Michigan Slim said:

Holy crap! Nice job UB!

 

17 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Holy Cow! Good job UB! :)

Giant thumbs up to you, Sir. 
 

Nifty radio phone parts. 

 

16 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said:

Well done UB, I salute you.:FlagAm::D

 

Pretty funny there Texas Joker!:D

 

16 hours ago, Four-Eyed Buck,SASS #14795 said:

Kudos, UB!!!!!!!!!!;):blush:

 

13 hours ago, Tom Bullweed said:

Great job!

Gotta wonder how long that thing had laid around like that.

Probably decades...

 

12 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

Well done, sir. 

 

5a70e9e7ea53f_ThankYouIcon.JPG.07ab2382c5cac00aa77186532a060cf9.JPG

 

2021_01_16_12_05_43.thumb.png.d0c0e7c81d99c9c61636752a740ccf24.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It’s surprising what some vets bring home . When I lived in Ca we had a local widow bring all of her husbands guns into the shop to find out what they were worth. He had your normal hunting guns and allot of WWII war trophies. No explosives but he did have a MP 40 and a MG 42 . She turned them in to the local sherrifs dept . Don’t know what would happen in modern day CA 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Is it a problem if nobody pulls the pin?

It was a WW2 vintage fuse. You never know with 75 year old ordnance. 
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Badlands Bob #61228 said:

I'd like to take it out in a pasture and rig it up with a long cord and see if it still worked.  A lot of WWII treasures are starting to show up now since the greatest generation is passing on.  An M2 grenade is not something I'd want laying around the house for 75 years.

Illegal to have. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Tom Bullweed said:

Great job!

Gotta wonder how long that thing had laid around like that.

Probably decades...

It was in a wood box with a German marked Polish Radom, miscellaneous ammo, a trench art artillery shell, and other doodads from her granddad’s service. Nobody left me anything that cool. 

83CBCD34-DD99-4228-976B-503E414068BD.jpeg

DEDB644B-5B8E-4847-93E6-A1DB99AFA955.jpeg

E38194A8-8A6F-4E85-8B37-720045630A47.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

Illegal to have. 

 

You got me wondering, if someone did take it out to the back 40 and "pull the pin" setting off the fuse, is it still illegal to own?  If it's been fired.  Isn't it kind of like the casing from a fired artillery shell or LAWS tube?  What about the dead fuse system in dummy grenades?  What about smoke grenades?  I seem to recall seeing smoke grenades for sale at gun shows some years ago.  I know re-enactment groups still use smoke grenades.  I have no idea where they get them.  Are the fuses for fragmentation grenades different from the fuse for a smoke grenade?

 

I understand how a live fragmentation or concussion grenade would be illegal even with the fuse removed.

 

Angus

I may be ignorant, but I'm trying to fix that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Four-Eyed Buck,SASS #14795 said:

Looks like that NPM carbine is missing a screw there, UB.:rolleyes::lol::blush:

Yup. She knows that.

 

5 hours ago, Black Angus McPherson said:

 

You got me wondering, if someone did take it out to the back 40 and "pull the pin" setting off the fuse, is it still illegal to own?  If it's been fired.  Isn't it kind of like the casing from a fired artillery shell or LAWS tube?  What about the dead fuse system in dummy grenades?  What about smoke grenades?  I seem to recall seeing smoke grenades for sale at gun shows some years ago.  I know re-enactment groups still use smoke grenades.  I have no idea where they get them.  Are the fuses for fragmentation grenades different from the fuse for a smoke grenade?

 

I understand how a live fragmentation or concussion grenade would be illegal even with the fuse removed.

 

Angus

I may be ignorant, but I'm trying to fix that.

Live is a no no. (Without a federal explosives license)

Inert is okay. Like a dewat MP40

Yes the fuses are different. A smoke fuse ignites the smoke generating chemical and  the frag fuse is five-ten second timed with a detonator at the end. Bang. 
https://www.inetres.com/gp/military/infantry/grenade/hand.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, watab kid said:

my M1carbine was a national postal meter , they were well respected items in the collecting world 

Yes. They only accounted for about 6% of the total carbine production.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bob has no job! 
and he loves it. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, Black Angus McPherson said:

 

You got me wondering, if someone did take it out to the back 40 and "pull the pin" setting off the fuse, is it still illegal to own?  If it's been fired.  Isn't it kind of like the casing from a fired artillery shell or LAWS tube?  What about the dead fuse system in dummy grenades?  What about smoke grenades?  I seem to recall seeing smoke grenades for sale at gun shows some years ago.  I know re-enactment groups still use smoke grenades.  I have no idea where they get them.  Are the fuses for fragmentation grenades different from the fuse for a smoke grenade?

 

I understand how a live fragmentation or concussion grenade would be illegal even with the fuse removed.

 

Angus

I may be ignorant, but I'm trying to fix that.

If it works the evidence is destroyed. :P If not pitch it in a creek sos you don't get caught with it.

JHC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This post is very timely.  In the news last week there was a public announcement, radio & TV, warning people about about M2 grenades bought at an antique store on the Jersey shore.  The store owner believed they were inert paper weights.  That is until a 12 year old was killed by one.  The NJ authorities were able to recover all the sold grenades.  In VN I used an inerted M67 as a paper weight.  I inerted it by removing the fuse.  Pulling the pin and tossing it 20 ft.  Picked up the spoon, pin & what was left of the fuse.  While having a BSEE from UC Berzerkly indicates some intelligence, it doesn't necessarily mean you are safety conscious.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There was a incident long ago of an ejection seat maintenance shop that had an expended seat rocket motor converted into an ash receiver. 
 

Was there several years until one day a still lit cigarette was dropped into it and the rocket motor decided out of the blue that it stil had enough propellant left to make a few laps around the shop, severely injuring a couple sailors. 
 

 Navy put out a directive that all expended ordinance had to be destroyed and could no longer be kept as a souvenir. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WW2 bomb found here out in a cow pasture.. It was a live one. Boom!

BombCrater2.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/15/2021 at 4:01 PM, Utah Bob #35998 said:

So she shared picks of some of the other stuff including a nice Postal Meter Carbine, some random cartridges, a few gew  jaws and this.
 

DD48540D-221F-49A8-B027-ADF2BA66A07C.jpeg
 

Yolks! I told her that it was an M2 hand grenade fuse and could very well be a live one. Which could ruin her whole day! I told her to contact her friendly neighborhood EOD folks at the police or fire department right now and let me know how it turned out. 
She contacted me about an hour later, said the bomb squad guys were there and yeah the fuse was live. The looked over the rest of the collection and made sure everything was clear. 

Good gookamunga!!!

Glad she took your advice.

It is kinda like snakes....don't mess with 'em if you don't know what it is!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/18/2021 at 3:23 PM, Sedalia Dave said:

There was a incident long ago of an ejection seat maintenance shop that had an expended seat rocket motor converted into an ash receiver. 
 

Was there several years until one day a still lit cigarette was dropped into it and the rocket motor decided out of the blue that it stil had enough propellant left to make a few laps around the shop, severely injuring a couple sailors. 
 

 Navy put out a directive that all expended ordinance had to be destroyed and could no longer be kept as a souvenir. 

The grenade was left in VN.  I forget how I disposed of it.  When I was stationed at Benning the artillery unit I was assigned supported the IOCS & IOB schools.  We trained the candidates & 2LT's on the use of artillery.  One of the exercises was to use a howitzer simulator, which is a single shot small caliber gun that a howitzer gunsite is mounted on.  The range used was also used for firing LAWS & 90mm recoiless rifles.  Walking downrange one day I picked up a couple of spent LAWS rocket motors.  There was no residue remaining.  The solid rocket fuel behaved more like an explosive; since, it burned out before the rocket left the launch tube.  I adapted them to replace the muffler extensions of a  VW type 3.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.