All might not be what it seems....

[GasMasksUK]

Read this story today and I think its very well worth bringing to the attention of anyone that collects inerts, just incase they have bought one of these...

Teenager blows off his fingertips after buying LIVE BOMB on the internet | Mail Online

Very worrying

Thanks

Danny

[Datrus]

A typical error or result of laziness from people who deac themselves. Never think about the detonators, delay mechanisms and so forth. Sometimes seen with hand grenades. Some just remove the explosives, and they are generally the lesser part to worry about. He got off easy imo.

[Falschirmjager]

A typical error or result of laziness from people who deac themselves. Never think about the detonators, delay mechanisms and so forth. Sometimes seen with hand grenades. Some just remove the explosives, and they are generally the lesser part to worry about. He got off easy imo.

I agree with Datrus there! Just hope that this incident does not affect the responsible sellers and collectors of inert ordnance! Regards, Tim.

[talltom]

I agree with Datrus there! Just hope that this incident does not affect the responsible sellers and collectors of inert ordnance! Regards, Tim.

i think it could have been a lot worse and now that its been spread around the internet some anti gun nut jobs gonna say to ban everything and our "stupid" goverments going to do what they say
if you think he was standing over it its amazing he didn't get shrapnel in his gut which would have been much worse

[m3bobby]

A very lucky young man, this is ware Deactivated guns differ from Deactivated ordnance. Guns are permanently deactivated, ordnance, made safe. I wonder if there is a paper trail leading to the individual concerned with it being made safe?

[Thanatos]

no duty of care,I would not like to be in the shoe's of the seller.One biggg law suit on it's way and serves him/her right for their stupidity.
Cheers
Dave

[davejb]

This is the main problem with ordnance, unless you have a 100% proof of the item being made inert, you never know what your getting especially from an internet seller, and as ive mentioned before you can handle an item of ordnance hundreds of times believing its inert until it decides to go off , many yrs ago a man came into the police station with his dog, the dog had been let off in a local field and came back with a grenade in its mouth, there was no pin nor spoon and the whole thing was crusty, it was moved by me to a car wash area and later taken away by BD , the damn thing was live and could have gone off at any time, yet it had been in the dogs mouth, in the guys van over country roads, but was destroyed by BD and apparently created quite a bang, but there have been other incidents yet very rarely reported unless there has been injury caused, also some items have been bought from local markets that have not been fully deactivated , unfortunately i can see this leading to a lot of bad press for ordnance collectors, it only takes one rotten apple to ruin the crop and i cant see this being the end of discussion on the matter, prepare for a lot of flak and possibly new regulations

[banksy]

I'm not convinced i must say as there have yet too be any arrests at all also most items on the auction site are sold totally striped down AND the kid was I'n some miltery training program so maby he picked up some unexploded muntion ? Just a throught

Alough I'n any case he is a lucky young man and it muct have been horrific !

Kind regards
Alex

[Battery Command Post]

As a small anecdote to this, but definitely relevant... a few years ago I bought a grouping (on eBay) here in Canada: some personal effects of an officer in the Cape Breton Highlanders, who was also the Intelligence Officer on the staff of 5th Canadian Armoured Division in Italy. A nice group of things which included his intelligence notebook, a CODEX encryption machine, his keys, some insignia and memorabilia and finally a live .45 ACP round. Not normally a huge risk, and certainly not a bomb, but it did bump and rattle its way across Canada, and the possibility it could have gone off in the mail is there, however unlikely.

I still have it... the mailman didn't get shot by a parcel... but this story made me think

Rob

[davejb]

Alex, this young lad was in i believe the Air Training corps, which is certainly not an organisation that in anyway teaches its members to dismantle any type of ordnance,therefore i daresay he was doing what most of us have done at some point and that is being curious as to how something is put together, unfortunately he was under the impression, albeit falsely, that it was safe, unless you know what to look for its a dangerous assumption and any ordnance should be treated with respect until proved 100% safe