| Tankrider | 02 May 2008 6:07 p.m. PST |
link "He had already disarmed the shell" she said. "From what I was told there was absolutely nothing he had done wrong" Yea.. except SCREW AROUND WITH ARTILLERY SHELLS FULL OF 140 YEAR OLD EXPLOSIVES THAT YOU KEEP LAYING AROUND YOUR LIVING ROOM!! Mother Nature's natural process of selection thins the herd once again. Yikes. |
 Murphy  | 02 May 2008 7:18 p.m. PST |
It wasn't in his living room. Relax okay. The guys dead. Accidents happen. |
| darthfozzywig | 02 May 2008 7:20 p.m. PST |
The South shall rise again! And git all blowed up in the driveway. Seriously, though, that's really unfortunate. Dangerous hobby. :/ |
| Ivan DBA | 02 May 2008 8:47 p.m. PST |
When riding my bike home from school as a kid, I once found an apparently live 40mm grenade round in a ditch. Excited by this fantastic discovery, I took it home. I roused my dad from his nap by dropping it on his chest… a Vietnam vet, he was unpleasantly surprised! Thankfully, nothing happened. (The local police department came and got it, I was dissappointed.) |
| Tankrider | 02 May 2008 8:58 p.m. PST |
"It wasn't in his living room." Nope.. the one that got him wasn't.. but the ones his wife is looking at in the photos accompanying the article sure are! Hope she doesn't have an accident, too. Yikes. |
| Tom Bryant | 02 May 2008 10:52 p.m. PST |
Not being an explosives expert but having done a fair share of handling firearms I would say this guy violated cardinal rule #1: ALWAYS, REPEAT ALWAYS TREAT ANY FIREARM OR ORDINACE AS "LIVE" UNTIL PROVEN OTHERWISE. |
| bjporter | 03 May 2008 6:48 a.m. PST |
As I understand it he was attempting to disarm it. He was an expert had done it may times before. |
| jgawne | 03 May 2008 7:06 a.m. PST |
San was one of the most knowledgeable guys on disabrming ACW munitions. He used to do it for collectors for something like $25 USD a pop. I had bought some stuff from him and he always seemed a a good guy. I mean the guy has done hundreds of shells. This happened back in Febreuary and I find it odd that it is making the news AGAIN! That's kind of weird. But the word is that it was a very unique type of Naval shell with an odd fuse type that made it look like it was safe to work on. It was not like he was hitting it with a hammer or something. |
| chaos0xomega | 03 May 2008 10:59 a.m. PST |
From the sounds of it, he would still be alive if he WAS hitting it with a hammer. |
| Tankrider | 03 May 2008 5:31 p.m. PST |
Didn't know the guy personally, not trying to dishonor his memory, but I think the learning point here is that any "explosives expert" worth his salt would tell all of us not to collect and jack around with undetonated 140 year old explosive ordnance. RIP Sam. |
| Dn Jackson | 04 May 2008 6:48 a.m. PST |
"Yea.. except SCREW AROUND WITH ARTILLERY SHELLS FULL OF 140 YEAR OLD EXPLOSIVES THAT YOU KEEP LAYING AROUND YOUR LIVING ROOM!!" All the ones pictured in his living room have the fuses removed. Once the fuse is out it is quite easy to get the powder out. Those pictured are nothing more than hollow iron spheres. |
| firstvarty1979 | 04 May 2008 9:14 p.m. PST |
Buttons, belt buckles, and bayonets are one thing. Unexploded ordnance is quite another. The less than 1% chance got him. I suppose the more you work in an area like this, the more likely it is you'll have a problem some day. |
| christot | 05 May 2008 1:56 a.m. PST |
I wonder if his neighbours knew he had a driveway full of live shells? Makes the kids running around next door look pretty tame by comparison. |
