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Old September 9, 2013, 06:11 AM   #1
Departed402
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What is this thing? (obviously not a firearm)

My Great-Uncle, who was a Sergeant in the USAF and served in Korea, recently passed away. My father came across this oddity while going through his things. My father says my uncle had mentioned this item, but it wasn't discussed too much. My father seems to recall my Great-Uncle telling him that it was an explosive devise dropped from planes.

Much of the item has been painted blue, which certainly supports the idea that it is a [now inert] piece of military ordinance. It has many small "dots" all over it's surface which appear to be metal. The metallic looking "hemisphere" appears to be 4 separate parts that look like they can be slid back and forth out of slots and then pulled out. Also, it would almost look like that if someone were to slide the 4 hemisphere pieces our of their slots the item could be pulled apart into two pieces. Does anyone know what this thing is called, and how it was used?





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Old September 9, 2013, 06:34 AM   #2
Mike Irwin
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It appears to be a BLU-26B or a BLU-59 cluster bomblet.

The small "dots" are actually anti-personnel shrapnel.
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Old September 9, 2013, 07:03 AM   #3
Grizz12
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how do you know it is inert or deactivated?
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Old September 9, 2013, 07:07 AM   #4
kayakersteve
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You keep playing with that thing and...

Your handle (name) may be your fate!
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Old September 9, 2013, 10:00 AM   #5
PetahW
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The ball-type submunitions are APERS - They are very small and are delivered on known concentrations of enemy personnel, scattered across an area.

Like a land mine, it will not blow up until pressure is put on it.

Saturation of unexploded submunitions has become a characteristic of the modern battlefield.

Studies that show 40 percent of the duds on the ground are hazardous and for each encounter with an unexploded submunition there is a 13 percent probability of detonation.
Thus, even though an unexploded submunition is run over, kicked, stepped on, or otherwise disturbed, and did not detonate, it is not safe.
Handling the unexploded submunition may eventually result in arming and subsequent detonation.



The one in your hand doesn't look exploded.......................




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Old September 9, 2013, 10:26 AM   #6
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You really should get that thing out of your house and call your local police/national guard bomb squad to dispose of it.

Some things are just too dangerous to be heirlooms! Unless you know for certain it is deactivated or just an inert demonstration piece.
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Old September 9, 2013, 10:33 AM   #7
Mike Irwin
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May or may not be true, depending on the specific munition type, Pete.

A huge variety of muntions, all quite similiar, are in that class.

If that is what I think it is (as noted in my previous), it can be delivered either as a time delay detonation, an air burst, or impact detonation, but it doesn't come in a pressure-sensitive landmine configuration, which as far as I can tell, don't have an outer casing studded with shrapnel.

Most of the CBU delivered landmines seem to follow the BLU-92/B pattern.
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Old September 9, 2013, 10:36 AM   #8
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Practice, cluster bomblet ???

Quote:
It appears to be a BLU-26B or a BLU-59 cluster bomblet.
Might be a "practice" cluster bomb. Surprisingly yours isn't cracked or damaged. I recently sold six of these to a dealer and he liked having them on his table as they were a source of many conversations. ..

Confirm and;
Be Safe !!!
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Last edited by Pahoo; September 9, 2013 at 12:48 PM.
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Old September 9, 2013, 11:25 AM   #9
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"it's a "practice" cluster bomb."

One would hope...
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Old September 9, 2013, 12:45 PM   #10
Pahoo
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Now Suspect !!!

Quote:
"it's a "practice" cluster bomb." ... One would hope...
Mike, you encouraged me to go back and take a second look and now suspect that it might not be a "practice" cluster bomb. The reason I now say this, is that the ones I had, did not have metal strips and BB's, that I see on the second look.
Thanks Mike..

Departed402
Strongly suggest you get this checked out by and ordinance expert as opposed to a GS Groupie. .....


Confirm and;
Be Safe !!!
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Old September 9, 2013, 01:27 PM   #11
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Thanks for the help everyone. I'll be sure to warn my father about the potential dangers of keeping the thing around.
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Old September 9, 2013, 07:59 PM   #12
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This is a type of anti-personnel cluster bomb. The steel balls are embedded in a pot metal (zinc, aluminum, etc.) type matrix and the metal bands hold the two halves of the bomblet together.

The blue paint, if it is original signifies an inert practice item.

When dropped, the vanes on the live bomblets cause it to spin and this arms the internal fuse which is of the all-ways acting type meaning no matter what attitude the bomblet is in when it hits something solid (earth, tree runway, building, etc.) the fuse will detonate the bomblet. Although very reliable, the firing mechanism inside the fuse can malfunction.

At this point the unexploded bomblet can be detonated by any outside force acting on it in a manner that will release the firing pin and detonate the bomblet. This can happen even if you just pick it up and turn it over.

Explosive loaded bomblets are painted olive drab in the U.S. If you encounter one do not disturb it and call Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD).

This is advice from a former Explosive Ordnance Disposal Officer and Instructor.

Last edited by Two Old Dogs; September 9, 2013 at 08:07 PM.
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Old September 10, 2013, 08:05 AM   #13
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IMHO he finish on that device looks a whole lot darker and a whole lot greener than the powder blue normally used to paint inert munitions. It doesn't look like it's been repainted to me (the brass parts don't have any brush marks or overspray).

Over time, the hue of paint can change - it can become darker or lighter, as well. If I were to match the color of this device to an existing paint color, it would be bronze green.

I don't know of any way to safely inspect this thing to determine whether it is inert or not. Not going to tell anyone what to do, but I wouldn't want to be within 100 yards of it.
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Old September 10, 2013, 08:50 AM   #14
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Here's a reminder of what can happen when you screw around with things that are NOT your friend...

"Tulsa, Okla. — A man is in the hospital after a type of grenade blows up in his hand late Saturday evening."

http://www.krmg.com/news/news/local/...fingers/nZqWg/



The writer gets the wry comment of the year for this line, though...

"Tulsa police say the man was trying to make a non-functional grenade functional again and he succeeded."
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Old September 10, 2013, 08:51 AM   #15
Mike Irwin
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I agree with csmsss...

That is NOT "inert ordnance blue."

I've got a bunch of intert training items, and that color isn't anywhere near the color that has been used for decades. And I don't see "intert ordnance blue" changing to that color, either.
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Old September 11, 2013, 01:33 PM   #16
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If you take such an item to the ordinance disposal people. Will they inspect it and let you have it back? Or do they put in with a load of stuff and a couple lbs of C4 and destroy it?
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Old September 11, 2013, 01:41 PM   #17
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+1 vote for calling the bomb squad. While its cool looking, it's not cool looking with shards & ball bearings inside flesh.
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Old September 11, 2013, 02:15 PM   #18
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How do you feel about crusty jugglers?

j/k
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Old September 13, 2013, 04:01 AM   #19
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Were these similar in power to a typical US grenade in the 60's-70's?
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