How does this even happen?

[[UMC]Boron]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/04/paperweight.explosion.ap/index.html

Exploding paperweight costs teacher his hand

Tuesday, April 4, 2006; Posted: 5:47 p.m. EDT (21:47 GMT)VENTURA, California (AP) -- A teacher who kept a 40 mm shell on his desk as a paperweight blew off part of his hand when he apparently used the object to try to squash a bug, authorities say.

The 5-inch-long shell exploded Monday while Robert Colla was teaching 20 to 25 students at an adult education class.

Part of Colla's right hand was severed and he suffered severe burns and minor shrapnel wounds to his forearms and torso, fire Capt. Tom Weinell said. No one else was injured. He was reported in stable condition at a hospital.

The teacher slammed the shell down in an attempt to kill something that was buzzing or crawling across the desk, said Fire Marshal Glen Albright.

Colla found the 40 mm round while hunting years ago and "obviously he didn't think the round was live," said Dennis Huston, who teaches computer design alongside Colla.

Man, that would suck.

 

[Lemon.fr]

lol...looks like someone hunts rabbits with 40mm, maybe an Inf player under crack...

 

[Keganator]

...brilliant.

 

[tomcat ha]

lol...looks like someone hunts rabbits with 40mm, maybe an Inf player under crack...

You mean you dont hunt with 40mm? I thought every inf player did it!

 

[Hadmar]

I only hunt with my trusty howitzer.

 

[geogob]

I only hunt with my trusty howitzer.

Oh deer!

 

[geogob]

I'm having a reflexion here. Lets assume that this was a HE 40mm.

I would guess that only the propellant charge exploded. Thank god for the safety fuze in the HE charge... and good thing the fuze didn't have a self-destruct timer like the russian ones or the 20mm/25mm grenades.

I can't imagine what the story would have been if the actual grenade charge had exploded! Of course I'm assuming it was a HE round. Might have been something. Something worse (airbust ?)...

-----

On basic rule everyone should know... find ammunition, unexploded ordinance, what ever... report it to the local authorities. Do not touch it, do not play with it, and especially do not use it too hit things. Saying that "he didn't know the round was live" is not an excuse. You don't fool around with your safety and that of others. You have no second chance with safety when it concern ammuniton and explosives.

 

[Crowze]

Preaching to the choir, geo?

 

[geogob]

Preaching to the choir, geo?

The nail has to go through the knot at some point...

 

[Hadmar]

Oh deer!

Indeed.

The only problem is collecting the price. It can get quite messy and tedious picking up all the

.

 

[chuckus]

As for HOW this happened. I'm guessing the guy went hunting on a military base. Sometimes they issue special permits to hunters when they have a population problem. Normally the hunting area ISN"T the grenade range but I'm assuming some soldier dropped it at some point or another.

Reminds me of that story of the school that had a WW2 Artillery round in their display case and then a vet went on a tour and noticed it wasn't disarmed. The schools pride and joy was subsequently blown up in an open field lol.

 

[Harrm]

I wish it was an mortar round.

--Harrm

 

[BTH]

it wouldve been more impressive if he had shot the 40mm round thinking it was a pidgeon or an elk (or a hamster inside a tee-pee-roll).
As to how it blew up in his hand... hell, for those of you who have seen a 40mm round you might have noticed how tough the primer looks. It seems as though you wouldnt be able to detonate it with a hammer, so it mustve been a very rusty and unstable to blow in his hand.

 

[Cap'n Beeb]

Something must've been wrong with the internals, the primer on a 40mm needs some serious pressure to detonate it.

Also, I think this is a great time to post these images:

That's a 30mm round next to a .50BMG.

 

[BTH]

is it one of the uranium filled ones ?
btw, i like the pepper shaped kitchen clock you got there