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Looking for some advice.

Article about: Hi All. I recently got permission to metal detecting on an old RAF Air Base (Used between 1940-1945) and its training/firing range. I would like to know if there is anything I can use to dis

  1. #1
    Piz
    Piz is offline
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    Default Looking for some advice.

    Hi All. I recently got permission to metal detecting on an old RAF Air Base (Used between 1940-1945) and its training/firing range.

    I would like to know if there is anything I can use to distiguish HE shells/bullets from AP shells/bullets. Can you differentiate from the weight/look?

    Obviously won't be picking up anything thats too corroded or concerning but would like to take home some 20mm AP bullets if I find some.

    Cheers!

    -Piz

  2. #2

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    Do not take anything home or touch it.
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  3. #3
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    To reinforce what Ade says.. ANYTHING.
    This is live ordnance. I don’t understand why you were given permission.

  4. #4

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    Quote by Kohima View Post
    To reinforce what Ade says.. ANYTHING.
    This is live ordnance. I don’t understand why you were given permission.
    I agree. As the signs on active military ranges bluntly state "Do not touch anything you might find. It may explode and kill you"

    All disused military ranges etc will have been nominally "cleared" when decommissioned but that can never be 100% certain.

    Bear in mind that, this being a wartime establishment, the current owners (I assume not the MoD?) will be just landowners who do not necessarily have any clue at all of the potential dangers. In law they would be considered partly culpable and therefore liable in the event of any mishap but that will not help you if you have been "dismantled". Even if only smaller natures were fired there rather than shells or aerial bombs etc do not assume that only ball rounds were used. Tracer etc containing unburnt phosphorous could be in the ground and would ignite on contact with air by which time you might find yourself with a very effective "hand warmer".
    DON'T DO IT!

    Regards

    Mark
    "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares more about than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature with no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

  5. #5

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    Piz,

    Don't take this the wrong way, but if you have never had any experience around ordnance and you don't know what you are looking at or looking for you could be risking serious injury to yourself or others by poking around.

    I am a retired firefighter/medic here in the United States as well as a 22 year retired Army infantry veteran and I just so happen to live in a city that has a military base and a population of 1 million plus citizens. These include active military as well as retiree's. I can't tell you how many calls I have gone on and gone into peoples houses to treat illness and injury and we have had to call the bomb squad for live ordnance in these homes,,, not to mention the house and structure fires we have gone to where ordnance was cooking off due to the heat and other elements..

    When I was stationed in Berlin in the 80's with the Army, there was unexploded ordnance all over the city even 40 years after the war, and in several instances kids were killed because they found live grenades that went off because they were handling them, and during one training exercise one of my Soldiers was digging a fighting position and he uncovered a live panzerfaust round. I cleared the area at once and had my commander call the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team to remove the hazard....

    In short, I was trained to identify and react to ordnance when it was discovered, and I knew not to touch it and I let the trained Bomb disposal professionals handle all, even the most innocent looking pieces.

    The laws and regulations may be different in your part of the world, but one mistake on your part could cost you life or limb..

    Leave the Ordnance detecting to the professionals..

    Your foolish choice to handle something you are not familiar with will risk someone else's life further down the road...

    Just keep that in mind when you go trapsing around for live ordnance that still kills and maims...

    Smitty

  6. #6
    Piz
    Piz is offline
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    Thanks lads, duly noted.

  7. #7

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    It really isn't worth the risk when dealing with ordnance.

  8. #8

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    Also Cordite doesn't age well bit like some of us here.seriously it's highly unstable the older it gets"so just don't go anywhere near it".

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