ouchie
Part of a teacher’s hand was blown off when a 40 mm round the instructor used as a paperweight on his desk exploded in his classroom.
Robert Colla struck the round with an object Monday afternoon while teaching 20 to 25 students at the Ventura Adult Education Center on Valentine Road.
[snip]
Colla found the 40 mm round while hunting years ago, Huston said. He used it as a paperweight and “obviously he didn’t think the round was live,” Huston said.
Generally, it’s a good idea to leave munitions where you find them.
Update: Head says he should be arrested for illegal possession of a destructive device at a school.
April 5th, 2006 at 12:14 am
I saw a bumpersticker once- “Stupidity should be painful.”
In this case, it was. Good thing nobody else got hurt.
There’s a decent shnce that what did the damage was just the propellant charge, and the round might even have been a training round (the fact that none of the students were wounded by shrapnel from a round witha 5m lethel burst radius is strong evidence for this.)
40mm grenades, HEDP type, have a minimum arming distance, something like 35m, requiringthe round to spin 6 revolutions before it arms.
Training rounds are a bit different. Training rounds for the M203 have a hard shell with orange chalk powder inside, which is released when the round impacts.
Training rounds for the Mk-19 are like small flash bangs-they go bang and make some smoke, but no (or very little) fragmentation.
Without pictures, it’s kind of tough to say what this guy had.
April 5th, 2006 at 12:35 am
Yeah, the story didnt make sense. No way for the grenade to arm (no rifled barrel to start the spinning and not enough room even if there was) and no way everyone would have escaped without harm if it was a live frag grenade that went off.
April 5th, 2006 at 12:42 am
I was hoping someone was going to pick up on that story.
Your caption “Ouchie” is a classic! Thanks
April 5th, 2006 at 1:06 am
I’m sorry but this guy shouldn’t have played with unknown munitions in the first place. The only safe munition piece is one with a drilled casing.
April 5th, 2006 at 8:40 am
If it’s that limited, could it have been a de-powdered 40mm cannon cartridge with a live primer?
The Mk19 “flash-bang” training rounds sound like they could mangle a hand it they go off while *held*…
April 5th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
Science, Politics, and Idiocy
First lets start off with the science.
An arcticle from MSNBC yesterday talks about how scientists and doctors have started basically cloning — I believe they called it regrowing but it is in essence the same thing — complex human organs an…