To all the civil war hunters..

[tymber79]

Be careful with any found explosives from civil war. A few civil war "bombs" washed up locally on the Hudson River. They were used as training for local law enforcement, surprisingly still live. They detonated 3 and the blasts were felt and heard across three counties. Just an FYI.

 

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[Doc Arey]

Wow

 

[mirage83]

Totally unnecessary, destroying pieces of history out of ignorance and misinformation.

 

[mustangpalmer1911]

Worked EOD in the military. The reason the blast was heard so far away was we pack 10x more explosive than the ordance we are taking out around it.

 

[danimal03]

what a shame to destroy history. Look at what happened to the Lawrence Christopher collection. His multi-hundred thousand dollar collection was destroyed by the EOD. Most if not all was inert. They even blew up things like solid shot. He had one of the most advanced and historical collections on American Civil War artillery in the world. All gone. forever.

 

[slowwevo]

Destroying history one blast at a time

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Although there's plenty of evidence that 20th Century artillery shells can be dangerous to handle, there seems to be absolutely NO evidence that EXCAVATED (dug) civil war (and earlier) artillery shells are dangerous to drop, or even to strike with your shovel. We relic-hunters have dug up more than 100,000 civil war (and earlier) shells, typically hitting the shell with the shovel several times during the digging-up process. But out of those 100,000+ occasions, there doesn't seem to be even ONE newspaper report saying "Relic-digger injured/killed by civil war artillery shell he was digging up." Sure seems like such an event would have made it into a newspaper.

My extensive internet-research of newspaper archives has turned up two reports where an explosion was INCORRECTLY blamed on a civil war shell... but later investigation proved the shell was from the 20th Century.

The very-few people who've managed to make a civil war (or earlier) artillery shell explode either put it into an extremely hot fire or were using a power-tool (such a drill) on it. If you can avoid doing either of those two "extremely provocative" things to a civil war (or earlier) shell, dropping it on your foot is about the only way it will hurt you.

As my post's first sentence indicated, 20th Century munitions can still explode from rough handling. The problem is that most people (even including police and soldiers) can't tell a 20th century artillery shell from a comparatively harmless civil war (or earlier) one. I should mention, all cannonBALLS (except collector reproductions) are pre-20th-Century. The bullet-shaped artillery shells can be difficult to tell the time-period of. So, here's a rule-of-thumb: No civil war (or earlier) shells had a copperbrass band encircling them about 1/2" (or higher) ABOVE their iron base. (Or, a WIDE groove at that location which held a copperbrass band that is now missing.) Ones which do have a copperbrass band at that location on the shell are from the 1880s through today. The photos below show what I'm talking about. Be careful with that kind. But you don't need to worry about digging or dropping an excavated civil war (or earlier) one.

Because somebody will probably ask why y'all should believe what I've said... here are my professional qualifications for the statements made above:
1- Co-author of the 552-page reference book "Field Artillery Projectiles Of The American Civil War."
2- US Government-certified expert on the subject of civil war (and earlier) artillery projectiles, and their fuzes.
3- Repeatedly paid by the US National Park Service to deactivate civil war shells found at their battlefield parks.
4- By-invitation "guest lecturer" to US Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) units, and to Police Bomb Squads in Virginia and Maryland.

If you aren't sure whether or not an artillery shell you've found is from the civil war era (or earlier), please post several close-up photos of it in TreasureNet's "What Is It?" forum, and I'll tell you its time-period.

Here's a link to an excellent website to help diggers and collectors correctly identify 20th Century artillery projectiles:
http://cartridgecollectors.org/index.php?page=introduction-to-artillery-shells-and-shell-casings

In the photos below, showing typical examples of 20th Century artillery projectiles, note the copperbrass band located a bit ABOVE the projectile's iron/steel base, and the wide groove showing at that location when the copperbrass band is missing. I should mention, the one in the photo with the copperbrass band shows rifling-ridges on the band, because it has been fired -- unfired ones have a smooth band.

 

[CSA2K]

Why is this thread even in this forum and not general discussion? Or better yet not here at all.

 

[shawninNY]

http://m.poststar.com/news/local/bl...11e4-9c63-001a4bcf887a.html?mobile_touch=true don't bother with minor details such as any facts! They didn't wash up , and apparently where part of a museums wharehoused collection , what a waste!