Anyone know?

[sthrngold07]

To tell you a lil story in behind this.I was probably 10yrs old and was guiding an old hand plow behind my Papa which was on the tractor when we hit something hard,he got off the tractor to get it(which he though was a big rock) and this is what he came up outta the dirt with.He had put it up from me thinking it was a mortar head and may not've been fired yet.He passed away in Nov.,but a coupla yrs ago when we went to the nursing home to see him,I asked if he could still remember where he'd put it,if was even still there,OF COurse he knew,he had sucha awesome mind and memory.Anyway he told me exactly where he had hidden it,so now I have it with me and plan on making a display for it,one for it always keeping me in suspense what it was and the main reason is for how much I loved him and respected him!OK.....sorry for that short long story,but I will say that we know the Civil War came through this way and I'm thinking maybe a Parrot Shell or something,but I'd like to fin out what is for sure though.They lived up on a pretty big hill and was where it was found,it weighs appr. 6 1/4lbs.,the base is 2 1/8" wide,and it's 6 5/8" long,Also the grayish looking 'ring' that you see near the bottom seems to be brass maybe copper ....hope this helped.PLEASE,someone know what this is! Thanks for ANY opinions,guesses,info,help,and or whatever you can give me!

 

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[BioProfessor]

HELLO? Weigh it? You want him to pick it up and put in on a scale?

Death wish?

Daryl

 

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[Montana Jim]

This is all very exciting...

 

[Montana Jim]

http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/cepa/pubs/apr01/story6.htm

Also: http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2006/07/post_1.html

Shell explodes, Civil War relic collector injured
Lawrence Christopher, a 64-year-old Civil War relic collector from Dalton, Ga., is in serious condition with injuries suffered when a 140- to 150-year old "Parrott shell" exploded at his home, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

The AJC, somewhat oddly, calls Christopher "the latest casualty of the Civil War." It also goes on to report that the U.S. Army has sent an ordnance team to Christopher's home to destroy the dozens of other explosive relics he has collected. That's caused "dismay and anger" among Civil war buffs and historians, according to the newspaper.

 

[Angelo]

Montana. I was referring to EDDE's suggestions.

I know that you know better.

Tony

 

[EDDE]

we have a winner
http://www.campsiteartifacts.com/longcsread.html

 

[Angelo]

Maybe not.

 

[dg39]

I live very near to a large area that has been used since WW-2 for practice. All types of cannons and bombing.. (Camp Claibourne, La.) You can see it on the Google map, near Alexandria, La.At least two to three times a year some yahoo goes into the area and starts digging. Hands, arms and legs litter the place because of it.
Very nice shell, but not worth the risk. Hopefully it is not live.
DG

 

[EDDE]

http://www.civilwarartillery.com/
this is a cool page !!
check out the disarming page they got some cool pictures of these shell with x rays

 

[BioProfessor]

Icon says his computer is still on and viewing TN. Maybe not good.

Daryl

 

[newbieprospector]

Any news from sthrngold yet?

 

[sthrngold07]

I'm still here and still kicking.Had to go fix a roof and got back home,started going through some cons i've got from a closeby creek and sitting having a beer now...lol........Thought I'd let ya know,going to eat now...lol

 

[BioProfessor]

Oh man. Now he's drinking. Remember most things that don't turn out well involve alcohol and the phrase "Hey, watch this."

Daryl

 

[nhbenz]

"Hang on tight!... I saw this once in a cartoon, but I'm pretty sure I can pull it off!"

 

[BioProfessor]

Road Runner cartoon if memory serves me.

Daryl

 

[nappy]

hey sthrngold07 , Hope ya don't mind, but I cleaned up your pic some. Tried to get it a little clearer to help with an id so ya didn't have to fondle it any trying to get different pics.
nappy

 

[sthrngold07]

This was written by Harry Ridgway who has been doing this for quite some time......I have disarmed a few hundred shells. It can be done safely. The process of disarming a shell is to remove any powder from the shell. This is not "defusing a shell", meaning removing the fuse . Defusing a shell is not safe, it destroys a historic resource, and it usually is not effective. The only safe way to disarm a shell is to penetrate into the chamber of a shell and flush the old black powder out of the shell. This is done by drilling.

Ironically the safest thing to do with a shell is to do nothing to the shell. Civil War shells do not become "unstable" with time, do not blow up on their own, do not blow up by handling. Many shells have been dropped on the floor, thrown from windows, involved in automobile accidents and the like. I cannot site one single incidence of a shell detonating from simply being handled. All cases I have heard involve external stimulus and the most dangerous stimulus is the process of disarming. However shells do need to be disarmed.

Thank you and Good day,
Steven

 

[BioProfessor]

Nice to hear from somebody with experience and knowledge. It may calm the nerves a bit. However, things are not always as they seem. If the shell was not assembled properly, it could pose danger. The chances are very remote but it does, hopefully, remind us that things can be different and things can go wrong. We just need to be careful.

From: http://www.aeragon.com/o/me/index.html in an article on "Military Explosives" says:

"Low-order explosives are materials that burn very rapidly, a process also known as deflagration. These materials burn at subsonic speeds; therefore, no shock wave occurs. The speed of combustion is less than the speed of sound as measured in that particular material. When heated, the constituent fuel and oxidizer in the material combine to produce heat, light, gaseous and some solid materials. Most low-order explosives must be confined to create an explosion and some of them burn at about the same speed in the open as they do when contained. Some burn much faster and hotter under pressure. Under certain conditions, low-order explosives can be caused to detonate. This probably happens more often by accident than intentionally and can have disastrous results. Extremely fine black powder packed too tightly has been known to do this."

So it looks like the shell is OK to handle and take it somewhere to somebody who knows how to disarm it (remove the black powder) and be able to keep a nice relic.

Glad we got the information first and not later.

Daryl

 

[Grandpa Pettybone]

Grandpa Pettybone here, I may have identified this item. I work at the Naval EOD Technology Division and our EOD techs identified this as a 57mm Target Practice round possibly fired from a early model tank. It appears to be solid with NO explosive charge. The hole in the rear is where the tracer trail came from. BUT since we don't have the shell to examine, we would like for Steve to contact the local police and have a local EOD unit positively ID this round.

Things to look for: 1) There is no detonator in the nose, indicating it's solid. 2) Hole in rear is smooth indicating tracer charge. A threaded hole would mean possible tail fuze. 3) Groove on rear indicates it was attached to a brass housing providing the firing charge. 4) Rifle grooves near rear of shell indicates a rifled barrel.

Please fellow MD users, when you come across a shell and you are not 100% positive of it's ID, DO NOT touch it, but call your local police to have it identified. If they can't ID it, then they will call us to help (their EOD unit has our number).

I personnally am not an EOD Tech, but in electronics trying to counter the IDE's used in Iraq, so I can't ID shells or bombs. So always call the local police if they need help they will make a formal request from our EOD Techs. (I jumped the chain of command because I didn't want anyone possibly blown-up.)


Happy Detecting

GP

PS - I just got my first detector this Christmas, and started looking at this site just 3 days ago.

 

[sthrngold07]

Hey David?thanks again man for the info!Ya'll work pretty quick

 

[Paul4x4]

The only safe way to disarm a shell is to penetrate into the chamber of a shell and flush the old black powder out of the shell. This is done by drilling.

By drilling? Sounds extremely dangerous to me. What if static electricity is created by drilling, wouldn't that be enough to ignite the powder inside?