isn't it dangerous?

[hassiman]

I think my point is that if you are just a collector and NOT a digger you can get into trouble. A friend collects Japanese ordinance. He bought a Jap mortar round and it was in perfect condition... he placed it on the shelf with the rest of his collection. 6 months later he decided to play with it and took the fuse of.... Hmmmm there is a gaine attached to the fuse... great... all the parts.... then he looked ito the shell and saw the TNT filling. Round was 100% live and by all rights it should have gone off when he unscrewed that fuse... and he knew it. He had a real expert steam the TNT out and dewat the round... After he called the seller and reamed then reported him.

[OrangSoldier]

okay...thanks for all the answers.
Crazy stories...

i think I better wont dig too much for I have no experience and knowledge of the shells.
Just collecting is also fine.

Best wishes,
0.S.

[veronasteve]

i left something iron looking in the ground on sunday...an old italian man on a previous hunt told me as a boy he remembered the area had german divisions and the americans came and bombed the area.......i also found and left what looked shell like by a river a couple of yrs back....i should have contacted the police ,,it's still on my mind...

[lee edwards]

rule No.1 dont go hacking at the ground with a pick axe you may get a big suprise

so far ive only found 2 mills bombs that were live, one was laying on the surface of a freshly plowed field and the other was in some bushes near a line of slit trenches. it was the mixed feelings of excitement and dred when i found them (both were reported and delt with ) but youve got to be carefull at all times

[shadowwolf]

veronasteve, contact the police and get it off your mind. What if someone else was to stumble across what you have found. Call the police.
Regards, Simon.

[veronasteve]

veronasteve, contact the police and get it off your mind. What if someone else was to stumble across what you have found. Call the police.
Regards, Simon.

well IF it was a shell....it probably was from an artillery piece not dropped from a plane...it's not that close to me and it's going to be under a lot of weeds etc.....i also doubt anyone would stumble upon it..it's not ploughed land either. when i didn't like the look of it
i put all the soil back so i'm the only person who could locate it.....i will have a trip back there soon i guess.

[RickWG]

All relic hunters are well aware of the risks involved.

The only way to relic hunt safely is to dig SLOWLY and CAREFULLY until you expose the find.
Steve T

& yet there are photos on this site of various things impaled on the end of garden forks or cut in half with shovels...

[Steve T]

Indeed RickWG (and welcome to the forum )

I think you're referring to the pictures of the dig at the US airfield dump. This is slightly different to normal relic hunts as detectors are next to useless as there is so much stuff there. So you have to dig randomly and hope you are on top of something.

It would be extremely unlucky to come across anything bigger than an unexploded small arms cartridge in places like this. It is not like digging a battlefield.

I am sure the guys digging there were being as careful as they could !

Cheers

Steve T

[Zeller]

Before I post my comments on the thread:

1) Hassiman, not sure in which country you live but to detain a live,dug ammo potentially dangerous is not something safe or example to give on the forum. can't be you but my duty is to warn other members NOT to imitate such behaviour. No matter how safe you feel it is, it is something that should be left to professionals and blasted. I knew a couple of guys who felt very confident with what they were digging...one now has few fingers left and he was lucky.

2) Veronasteve - I suggest next time to inform your local Carabinieri station. You were not injuried by what you found but you don't want someone else to run a risk because of what you left behind unreported.

Coming to original question: yes, you'll never know what you are about to dig. You simply can't be sure. You can take some measures to avoid the risks anyway:
1. choose carefully the area where you want to dig, find out the history of the place and all the informations possible
2. never dig in the middle of the target: start from sides carefully, especially if it sounds like a bulk iron target

I am actually more interested in badges and small targets, so I seldom dig out iron and large targets. But nonetheless you may still find something dangerous. In that infortunate case, report it to your local Police station. No reason to put your and other people's life at risk for a piece of rusty iron you could buy for little money at a fair, already deactivated.

[shadowwolf]

Zeller good point you made. I was trying to get the same message across, because someone has found a potentially dangerous object they have a responsibility to report it to the authorities, for the sake of the safety of other people.
Regards to all, Simon.