Bombs and Bullets UXO

Prospecting Australia

Help Support Prospecting Australia:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Jul 26, 2016
Messages
8,761
Reaction score
13,319
Location
NSW
People please read and understand what is written in this post one of the most dangerous things you can do is remove or play with UXO
If you should find a suspicious item, that may be UXO, do not touch or disturb it. It's been there for many years, it won't hurt you if you don't disturb it.

Unexploded ordnance (UXO, sometimes abbreviated as UO), unexploded bombs (UXBs), or explosive remnants of war (ERW) are explosive weapons (bombs, shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines, cluster munition, etc.) that did not explode when they were employed and still pose a risk of detonation, sometimes many decades after they were used or discarded. World War I munitions filled with poisonous gas continue to be a hazard. Munitions found are often destroyed in controlled explosions, but accidental detonation, sometimes fatal, of very old explosives occurs.
Unexploded ordnance, however old, may explode. Recovery, particularly of deeply-buried projectiles, is difficult and hazardousjarring may detonate the charge. Once recovered, explosives must either be detonated in place or transported safely to a site where they can be destroyed.

Unexploded ordnance both in current and former combat areas and on military firing ranges. A major problem with unexploded ordnance is that over the years the detonator and main charge deteriorate, frequently making them more sensitive to disturbance, and therefore more dangerous to handle. Construction work or detecting may disturb unsuspected unexploded bombs, which may then explode. There are countless examples of people tampering with unexploded ordnance that is many years old, often with fatal results. Believing it to be harmless they handle the device and it explodes, causing deaths, injuries. For this reason it is universally recommended that unexploded ordnance should not be touched or handled by unqualified persons. Instead, the location should be reported to the local police or military so that bomb disposal or Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) professionals can render it safe.

Actions on finding a suspicious item:

If a suspect UXO item is found - DO NOT TOUCH, disturb or tamper with the item in any way. This includes making any attempt to move the item to a 'safe' location.
Carefully note the appearance of the item and the location. Take a photograph if it is possible to do so without further approaching or disturbing the item.
If possible, mark the location so that it can be found later. Coloured tape or paint make easily recognised marker material. Note the route to the item.
Inform the property owner.
Inform the Police that a possible ammunition item has been found. They will instigate a request for Defence personnel to attend and dispose of the item.
Unless the UXO was deliberately disturbed (picked up, played with, kicked, thrown, etc), there are no known instances in Australia where an item of UXO has injured a member of the public.
 
They found 2 In London a month or so back, One was a 500 pounder and the other was a 1000 pounder Compliments of Adolf and friends, WWII,

John.

Heres a WWII Bomb map of London,

1497997459_birdseyeblitz.jpg
 
The most dangerous munition you can come across if you venture into live fire areas

High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT/751) and High Explosive Anti-Tank - Rocket Assisted
Projectile (HEAT-RAP/551) - May be fuzed for point detonation, delay or airburst. Some are
composed of tandem charges. RAP has a rocket booster motor.

This one when a misfire or non explosion at the other end is very much sort after to be destroyed they are very dangerous
most of my work was destroying these
The problem is a shadow from you or even the clouds covering the sun or vibrations from walking can set them off
I am not trying to scare anyone but just trying to say stay out of live fire ranges its not worth the risk for a few grams of gold
 
Rockhunter62 said:
Piezoelectric, don't you just love those little suckers. ]:D I found that a lot of the cluster munitions that we had to deal with in Iraq were our pet hate. :mad:

Cheers

Doug
very much a pet hate for all of us mate and there is still a lot out on the ranges that could not be found to destroy
i couldn't find maybe 6 over the years but thankfully they are still on an active range so unless someone strays onto the range then all is well
 
Not many places in Oz where you need to worry about this, and they are all fenced off on military bases.
The exception would be the top end where Jap raids during WW2 happened in lots more places than people are aware of.
 
Then there are the hidden Japanese dumps all along the Far South Coast. :eek: :eek:
Nice salty environment. 8)
 
Occasional_panner said:
Not many places in Oz where you need to worry about this, and they are all fenced off on military bases.
The exception would be the top end where Jap raids during WW2 happened in lots more places than people are aware of.

There are a lot of old military training areas in Qld & NT that are on private property that are not fenced off. Hillsborough Station just outside of Ravenswood just to name one. I have found heaps of frag from munitions on this property. Where you find frag there is a high chance that you will find uxo.

I have spent a lot of time disposing of uxo's so I know what I have been digging up.

Cheers

Doug
 
I usually find old bullet shells or casings, but yesterday @ dunolly I found an actual unfired bullet, about 1 1/2 feet deep too so I was pretty pissed because it took me ages to dig it up and it was all clay, was about an inch long, I have nfi about guns or bullets because this country is retarded when it comes to gun stuff, but I remembered this thread so I just stuck it in a hidey hole in a tree stump as I didn't want to carry it around in my trash bag.
 

Latest posts

Top