82 mm mortar round, id needed

[Dingodog]

Hi!

This is my first post in this forum. Yesterday I saw this odd looking mortar round, lying on the Danube bank, near the site of a WWII battle in 1944. It's fairly large, probably 82 mm in diameter. Looks like it's missing a fuse, since it has a characteristic nose top with a clearly visible hole. It has faintly visible parallel grooves in the middle section. About the location of the find: riverbank, reinforced with large stones in 1960-ties to prevent river erosion. Luckily, the round didn’t explode then. The water level is slowly rising, so now it’s comletely submerged. I hope the EOD team will be able to reach it before the water gets too deep. I have a few questions:

1. Identification (russian or german?)
2. Is it possible that it's a old disarmed round, left in place?
3. Does it look safe to handle?

[don_kihotis7]

Welcome to the forum.
Great find, unfortunately i can't help you but others will.
Isn't it dangerous to handle? Maybe somebody can give you tips how to make it inert without causing an explosion

[António Fragoeiro]

That is an incredible find, if you have contacted the EOD, then it will be their responsability.
If they dont come, contact the again.
Dot not feel tempted to remove it or touch it.
It would be dangerous to do so.
Cheers,
Nuno

[talltom]

welcome to the forum and a great find but as stated it will be live and dangerous do NOT touch,move or kick make sure the EOD handle it.

[Dingodog]

Thank you for your comments, I'll inform the EOD. I've found a picture of the similar looking 82mm round without a fuse (american). They do look alike, except for the fins.

[davies435]

Hi and welcome,
Looks very much like a Russian M49 mortar round to me(81mm)...and the fuse is very much there! but the detonator is undamaged(81mm)......that hole in the end is for a different type of proximity fuse............so they could be detonated ABOVE the ground in soft conditions (although the fins are a little different from the usual ones)......but I'd say 90% it's a Russian round.
Is it safe?...........depends what your thinking of doing with it. I've ground dug a few of these and disarmed them (first one you do is the one you'll REALLY sweat over!).....a friend of mine has uncovered more than twenty live Panzerfausts and disarmed them in his garage........but you HAVE to know what you're doing.
Explosives that have been in water for 70 years are an unknown quanitity, they're usually OK to handle..........but there again they could scatter your body-parts over a very large area.
Unless you know what you're doing, don't touch it.....but get the Police to it as soon as possible - before somebody else does something stupid with it.
With the fuse off the round, you can reasonably safely remove the expolosives and burn them (they won't go "bang!".....but they will or should burn VERY fiercely with a "fizz" and a super intense flame), but my advice to you is if you are in any doubts....get the Police out.......and let them get the EOD out.

Choice is yours - if you DO decide to take it, protect the nose section until you can dismantle it

mike

[Datrus]

Hey Dingodog. It's not the same rounds. The fin pattern is not the same. I think it looks more like a WW2 mortar round. Welcome to the forum mate.

[Salzburg]

Great pictures. I expect that there is a huge amount of ordnance like that in your country lying around from various conflicts over the years. Welcome to the forum.

[Frundsberg]

It is not German so I quess it is Russian made. If it is dangerous or not? If You do not touch it nothing will happen but my suggestion is still make a call to the police. And please do not try to open it or "deactivate" it. Such deactivated items cost around 30-50 euro - not too much money to get killed or wounded.

[Steve T]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Although well intentioned, the posts advising you to do anything other than report it to the authorities should be ignored. It looks perfectly live to me and is an incredibly dangerous object. Moving it could cause it to go off so please don't even so much as breath on it.

Many highly experienced explosive experts have been injured and killed by these kind of objects, with a great many more amateur disposal 'experts' joining them. People may believe they are 'experts' but trust me on this, they are only calling themselves that because they are still alive ! Any EOD person in the world will blow that round in situ and not risk moving it.

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

Steve T