Some people should have been blown up a long time ago....

Was it stuck in something?

The firing pin was disturbed at some point between the grenade being found and its arrival at the police station.

Was the firing pin awakened while it was taking a nap?

Pussies.

I've had to sit on the back of a truck with crates of the little bastards. Hell, I've slept on crates of 'em. One old lady walks in with a grenade and everyone's running for the hills. Simple disposal tip guys; pop the tab, pull the pin and throw the damn thing into a lake.

Who needs to eat prunes when you've got live grenades lying about?

Haha! I am with you on that one Chirping_Cricket, they will probably have to file loads of paperwork and get a 10 man bomb disposal team to come and 'make it safe'.

That is just how they roll in Gunville.

Chirping_Cricket

pop the tab, pull the pin and throw the damn thing into a lake.

Next time I go fishing you are so invited! I'll bring the beer if you bring the grenades.

I dunno, Chirping_Cricket, if I found, say, a WWII-era grenade that had been laying around a derelict house, should I be concerned that the thing had aged to the point that it would take my arm off the instant I released it?

exactly. who's to say the timing mechanism is still functional or if it will blow the second the pin is pulled. You'd be the same people commenting about what a dumbass someone was for trying to dispose of a grenade themselves in a lake and blowing themselves up.

/sunday is for preaching

Predalien
Hell, I've slept on crates of 'em
Nocturnal munitions?

that made my sunday morning...

Best part about this link is that it's from the Yahoo UK & Ireland section, and down below in other stories is one from Florida of a cop making a teenage girl do topless jumping jacks. Even in the UK, they could use a Florida tag!

oh, and the headling "Foreigners gobsmacked by Shanghai cab spittoons."

Luv the gobsmacking.

Predalien
Nocturnal munitions?

What an incredible mind you have. I am impressed.

farkncorey

Chirping_Cricket, what kinda long-gun(s) you got?

Specifically designed for the purpose, a Barrett M82 and Model 99. I also have a Remington Model 700 XCR, but I don't really count it.

Spartan_Manhandler

I dunno, Chirping_Cricket, if I found, say, a WWII-era grenade that had been laying around a derelict house, should I be concerned that the thing had aged to the point that it would take my arm off the instant I released it?

Valid concern, certainly. In that case take it out to a field, clear the area around it and have someone with a rifle blow it up. It's not hard, especially if the explosive is that old.

The over-reaction from a simple explosive is a sad thing to see. Whether the U.K. or the U.S., seeing highly trained police officers run away from something an 18-year old kid fresh out of BCT would handle without batting an eye is just depressing.

Not exactly a "firing pin" either...

grenades have firing pins?

I just wonder how the pin was "dislodged." I've thrown a few training AND live grenades before, and it's a pain in the ass to pull the pin. John Wayne must've had a helluva dentist to pull 'em out with his teeth, 'cause I've nearly pulled something else while trying to pull the pin normally. However, I've only thrown the modern round grenades, not the old-style "pineapple" ones, and with it being that old, something may have just corroded or they were easier to pull the pin on. *Shrug.* My $.02 as it were, I'm just glad nobody was hurt. I DO wonder how the hell a) she found a grenade in her house, and b)why the hell it hadn't been found earlier.

Chirping_Cricket
I've had to sit on the back of a truck with crates of the little bastards. Hell, I've slept on crates of 'em.
Yeah, munitions are pretty stable. Think about it, with all the damage and bumping and banging the crates are gonna take (which are often wooden crates or metal cans), you gotta make sure the stuff inside isn't exactly delicate. Storage, though, gotta be careful. I helped sign out for some pyro for a training exercise about a month ago, and about goggled at the hobbiton-like setup they had for it. No joke, it looked like a cross between the Shire and WWII bunkers. Made of concrete and covered with grass and stuff. Guess it not only provides temperature stabilization, but camoflauge in case of an enemy areial attack. ...Though if I saw something nice and green in Oklahoma, I'd bomb the hell outta it 'cause NOTHING is that nice and green out there...

/Grenades are fun
//No "fireball" like one would expect, though
///But one helluva BANG!

Chirping_Cricket: Pussies.

I've had to sit on the back of a truck with crates of the little bastards. Hell, I've slept on crates of 'em. One old lady walks in with a grenade and everyone's running for the hills. Simple disposal tip guys; pop the tab, pull the pin and throw the damn thing into a lake.

Winner winner, fishy dinner!!!

L33t Squirrel

Yeah, munitions are pretty stable. Think about it, with all the damage and bumping and banging the crates are gonna take (which are often wooden crates or metal cans), you gotta make sure the stuff inside isn't exactly delicate. Storage, though, gotta be careful. I helped sign out for some pyro for a training exercise about a month ago, and about goggled at the hobbiton-like setup they had for it. No joke, it looked like a cross between the Shire and WWII bunkers. Made of concrete and covered with grass and stuff. Guess it not only provides temperature stabilization, but camoflauge in case of an enemy areial attack. ...Though if I saw something nice and green in Oklahoma, I'd bomb the hell outta it 'cause NOTHING is that nice and green out there...

Heh, the ammunition bunkers are always an interesting sight. I grew up on RAF Welford, one of the primary ammunition depots for both the USAF and RAF. They stood out like a sore thumb. After that I was on Dyess AFB, which used similar bunkers and were also rather obvious. They were giant green mounds amidst a sea of brown. I'm guessing you were either at Fort Sill or Tinker AFB, which have the same setups as Dyess. The only installation I've ever been to where the bunkers weren't blatantly obvious was Fort Bragg.

The bunkers are actually steel hats that are designed to armor and deflect the brunt of an explosion. They also serve to prevent a chain reaction from occurring if one bunker receives critical damage. Those things are able to withstand tremendous internal force, keeping the explosion from destroying other bunkers.

If you find live explosives, DON'T TRY TO PICK THEM UP AND BRING THEM TO THE AUTHORITIES. Call the authorities and let them come to you to dispose of it.

/wouldn't touch a live grenade
//wouldn't go within thirty feet of a live grenade

Chirping_Cricket

I'm guessing you were either at Fort Sill or Tinker AFB.

Ft. Sill. Was there from September to November. No offense Oklahoma natives (Oklahomos? :D), but the first phrase that comes to mind when I think of Oklahoma is "post-apocalyptic wasteland." So desolate, so cooooooold. I'm glad I finally finished training out there. I'm pretty sure I pissed off someone pretty bad to be sent out there instead of Ft. Benning. (Not BCT, mind you, officer training. Did BCT out at Ft. Jackson, where I am now again for the second half of schooling.)

The bunkers are actually steel hats that are designed to armor and deflect the brunt of an explosion.

Oooh. I wanna see. Though it reminds me that while the pyro was stored in the Shire-bunkers, the ammo itself was stored in one of the crappy aluminum-and-wood setups. I mean, it was awesome seeing a gigantic warehouse full of ammo stacked all the way to the ceiling, but the thought of an errant explosive or it getting hot enough in there to cook it all off gave me the giggles. But then again, I was about giddy when I got to go out to the firing ranges and throw grenades for the first time, so my opinion may be a BIT skewed. Where are you stationed, anyway, Cricket? Or are ya a military brat? :)

"Pin, what pin sir".

/Sometimes it's harder to protect us from ourselves that it is a terrorist.

I think we should let senior citizens- with no criminal record by age 65- to have hand grenades. "Grenades for the Grandfolks" or something... yeah, they'd be issued free. There's probably a flaw in this idea somewhere though.

Your local police station would like to remind you that should you find explosives, ammunition, or weapons that need to be turned in, to please not trouble yourself to bring it to the police station directly. We understand you're busy, and doing so would be unsafe.

Instead, you should use your telephone to call it in, either to the police non-emergency line or in the case of explosives, to your 911 dispatcher. A constable will be pleased to stop by and pick it up for you. It's part of the service.

Thank you. This has been a message from the Department of Not Doing Incredibly Stupid Things, and Religious Affairs.

I think we should let senior citizens- with no criminal record by age 65- to have hand grenades. "Grenades for the Grandfolks" or something... yeah, they'd be issued free. There's probably a flaw in this idea somewhere though.

I'm with you on this. Gotta be cheaper than healthcare for the elderly and Kervorkian is only one man. Let the befuddled blow themselves to doll rags in their own time.

sunlion

I think we should let senior citizens- with no criminal record by age 65- to have hand grenades. "Grenades for the Grandfolks" or something... yeah, they'd be issued free. There's probably a flaw in this idea somewhere though.

'Cause you KNOW they'd bring them along on their rampages through Farmer's Markets. Killing spree?

I see the flaw in this. Dick Cheney with grenades. I can see him now, tossing a few to the Gardener with the instructions, "get those kids off my lawn."

l33t Squirrel

Where are you stationed, anyway, Cricket? Or are ya a military brat? :)

Grew up a military brat, my father was an ammunition specialist for the Air Force and my step-father is was a security police officer. My mother is one of the high mucky-mucks for AAFES.

I'm retired from the Army now, took a few too many rounds to the hip and back in Afghanistan. I was based out of Ft. Bragg, did my initial training at Ft. Sill.

Chirping_Cricket

Based out of Fort Bragg? ;-) You'll have to kill everyone if you say any more, right?

InsideTheKillBox

Heh, hardly. I was deployed so often that it's easier to just say "based out of Fort Bragg" rather then go over the laundry list of countries I was sent to. I was assigned to the 18th FA brigade then went through SF training, pretty common transition.

Now the Delta guys, they'd have to kill you. Just drive down Longstreet to their compound with a camera and see how long it takes someone to show up. :-D

I once took care of a woman, who in an upstairs closet had some grenades, and ammo rounds, on some sort of a belt. She also had a cannon, in her drivway that had about a 2 foot barrel on it.

It really fired too.

Not sur what happened to it all after she died.

Did anyone else have trouble with the headline's ambiguity of the "it" in "dislodges it"?