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I'm not a native English speaker, in Germany "Munition" also encompasses this kind of stuff. Besides you should not deal with "small arms" ammunition either, t

I'm not a native English speaker, in Germany "Munition" also encompasses this kind of stuff. Besides you should not deal with "small arms" ammunition either, the explosive charges are no joke either and can seriously hurt you if you manage to accidentally ignite them, additionally lead is an issue.

lazide 2y ago
In the US Munition covers ‘big stuff’. Like tank shells, artillery, grenades, etc. Small arms ammunition doesn’t have explosive charges? (20mm is about the smallest ammunition that does, with exceptionally rare exceptions, and that is generally considered ‘cannon’ ammunition, not small arms). Or do you mean primers? If so, those are exceptionally unlikely to hurt you or anyone else. Safety glasses are sufficient protection from literally setting small arms ammunition on fire.
- lupusreal 2y ago
  50 BMG had API rounds, I'm not sure how dangerous those might be today but I wouldn't be eager to risk it. Also it wasn't common, but snipers on both sides of the eastern front did have explosive rounds for their rifles and those can apparently do some damage. Probably enough to take off your hand if one went off.
  - lazide 2y ago
    API rounds are generally pretty innocuous except for some minor fire danger, same with tracers in general. Possible to get burned if someone insists on holding it when it’s going off, I guess. Raufoss/Mk211 50BMG should be more dangerous, but that is pretty modern stuff. Exploding sniper rounds yeah could be a danger, but I haven’t found much concrete info on them. Being on the eastern front (or in Finland) though, plenty of really nasty stuff mixed in around them probably. Edit: found something! And damn that does look downright nasty/awesome. [https://forum.cartridgecollectors.org/t/7-62-x-54r-explosive-bullet-identification-needed/48150/7 https://forum.cartridgecollectors.org/t/7-62-x-54r-explosive...]
bluGill 2y ago
Small arms ammunition is a tiny pop if you get it off outside of a gun. Grenades are designed to be dangerous, but small arms ammunition needs a gun barrel otherwise it just pops. The gun barrel confines the charge and forces it to accelerate the bullet to get out. Without a gun barrel the bullet pops of the casing but doesn't have enough energy to be dangerous and then the charge takes the path of least resistance. You can get some nasty burns and lead is still a neurotoxin, but unlikely to do anything more. That doesn't mean I'd pick up small ammo in the field. If it is there there is probably something more around it - grenades, land mines, bombs, explosive artillery shells and so on - all of which can explode and be deadly.
- mschuster91 2y ago
  > You can get some nasty burns and lead is still a neurotoxin, but unlikely to do anything more. Yeah but I was talking about children here, the ones most likely to end up playing around with stray ammo, ordnance and IEDs. Children can be pretty ... let's call it "innovative" or "experimental" in playing (up to and including improvising guns out of pipes), and it's best to teach them that all kinds of stuff associated with weapons should be left very well alone and that they should call in their parents or the police directly if they discover such items. I do not expect a child to be able to make a qualified decision if that's "just" a relatively harmless 9mm round or some sniper munition with a serious explosive charge. Maybe at age 16 or whatnot, the kids get a real gun safety talk and what they can, should and absolutely should not do, but until that all ammo should be considered unsafe to touch, much less play. For reference, I'm half-Croat half German, I got the "don't play with shit" talk, I reasonably know how to deal with guns and I know of more than just one road in the backwaters of Croatia where almost three decades after the war, there are "warning, mines" signs plastered alongside the fields. In 2022, a Redditor created a very illustrative map, a lot of areas are still marked as "suspected mines" [2]. The fighting back in the 90s was very extensive, the only places it didn't hit are the northwest and Istria. And even what has been nominally cleaned up isn't safe for children either, there are a lot of farms, sheds and underground ammo caches from the army where children can pick up instruments of war. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/vt39zf/minefields_in_croatia_by_county_2022_oc/ https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/vt39zf/minefields_...

lazide 2y ago

In the US Munition covers ‘big stuff’. Like tank shells, artillery, grenades, etc. Small arms ammunition doesn’t have explosive charges? (20mm is about the smallest ammunition that does, with exceptionally rare exceptions, and that is generally considered ‘cannon’ ammunition, not small arms). Or do you mean primers? If so, those are exceptionally unlikely to hurt you or anyone else. Safety glasses are sufficient protection from literally setting small arms ammunition on fire.

lupusreal 2y ago
50 BMG had API rounds, I'm not sure how dangerous those might be today but I wouldn't be eager to risk it. Also it wasn't common, but snipers on both sides of the eastern front did have explosive rounds for their rifles and those can apparently do some damage. Probably enough to take off your hand if one went off.
- lazide 2y ago
  API rounds are generally pretty innocuous except for some minor fire danger, same with tracers in general. Possible to get burned if someone insists on holding it when it’s going off, I guess. Raufoss/Mk211 50BMG should be more dangerous, but that is pretty modern stuff. Exploding sniper rounds yeah could be a danger, but I haven’t found much concrete info on them. Being on the eastern front (or in Finland) though, plenty of really nasty stuff mixed in around them probably. Edit: found something! And damn that does look downright nasty/awesome. [https://forum.cartridgecollectors.org/t/7-62-x-54r-explosive-bullet-identification-needed/48150/7 https://forum.cartridgecollectors.org/t/7-62-x-54r-explosive...]

bluGill 2y ago

Small arms ammunition is a tiny pop if you get it off outside of a gun. Grenades are designed to be dangerous, but small arms ammunition needs a gun barrel otherwise it just pops. The gun barrel confines the charge and forces it to accelerate the bullet to get out. Without a gun barrel the bullet pops of the casing but doesn't have enough energy to be dangerous and then the charge takes the path of least resistance. You can get some nasty burns and lead is still a neurotoxin, but unlikely to do anything more. That doesn't mean I'd pick up small ammo in the field. If it is there there is probably something more around it - grenades, land mines, bombs, explosive artillery shells and so on - all of which can explode and be deadly.

mschuster91 2y ago
> You can get some nasty burns and lead is still a neurotoxin, but unlikely to do anything more. Yeah but I was talking about children here, the ones most likely to end up playing around with stray ammo, ordnance and IEDs. Children can be pretty ... let's call it "innovative" or "experimental" in playing (up to and including improvising guns out of pipes), and it's best to teach them that all kinds of stuff associated with weapons should be left very well alone and that they should call in their parents or the police directly if they discover such items. I do not expect a child to be able to make a qualified decision if that's "just" a relatively harmless 9mm round or some sniper munition with a serious explosive charge. Maybe at age 16 or whatnot, the kids get a real gun safety talk and what they can, should and absolutely should not do, but until that all ammo should be considered unsafe to touch, much less play. For reference, I'm half-Croat half German, I got the "don't play with shit" talk, I reasonably know how to deal with guns and I know of more than just one road in the backwaters of Croatia where almost three decades after the war, there are "warning, mines" signs plastered alongside the fields. In 2022, a Redditor created a very illustrative map, a lot of areas are still marked as "suspected mines" [2]. The fighting back in the 90s was very extensive, the only places it didn't hit are the northwest and Istria. And even what has been nominally cleaned up isn't safe for children either, there are a lot of farms, sheds and underground ammo caches from the army where children can pick up instruments of war. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/vt39zf/minefields_in_croatia_by_county_2022_oc/ https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/vt39zf/minefields_...