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Hi there, a friend's father found some ammo near Cassino, Italy.
We think it may be some artillery shell, but if anyone has some idea what it would actually be, it would be highly appreciated

There's a scale at the tip, with a "safe" setting, but no clue what that would be used for... Any knowledgable persons out there?

The shell itself

The tip

Um, fuck, that looks suspiciously like it might still be live...

The depending on the bomb(HE, Smoke Flam ect) the det might or might not be still live or it might be rotted through. My advice, call you local bomb disposal squad and ask them to check it over.

Mr Bean wrote:The depending on the bomb(HE, Smoke Flam ect) the det might or might not be still live or it might be rotted through. My advice, call you local bomb disposal squad and ask them to check it over.

Well, it's not mine, and safely away several hundred klicks, but I will forward the concern.

Do you happen to know the diameter? It looks like approximately a 155mm shell, but I'm not positive on that, mind you...

The scale thing looks like a way to make sure the detonator won't go off in transit. It wouldn't be much use in firing, but possibly its being on 'safe' would be the reason it didn't go off on impact-- don't trust it.

And yes. Tell your friends to get the bomb disposal team on that, stat. UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) is BAD shit.

Elheru Aran wrote:Do you happen to know the diameter? It looks like approximately a 155mm shell, but I'm not positive on that, mind you...

It would fit roughly in that size bracket according to descriptions.

Cassino... hmm... any information on where exactly they found it? I'm thinking it might possibly be left over from the Allied assault upon the German stronghold in St. Bernard's Monastery on Monte Cassino, but I'm not firm on that...

Elheru Aran wrote:Cassino... hmm... any information on where exactly they found it? I'm thinking it might possibly be left over from the Allied assault upon the German stronghold in St. Bernard's Monastery on Monte Cassino, but I'm not firm on that...

Yes, that's the rough region they found it.

Okay... well, aside from that I really can't say much. IIRC the bombardment of Cassino was primarily from air, not so much artillery; it may be from a training mission in the area, but in that case they'd have used a specific training round.

In conclusion? All we can do is tell you what it is, not the circumstances thereof, unless we know a bit more... but don't sweat it, I think your question's been answered

Have you told your friend to contact the authority yet?

Offhand it might be from a pack 105mm just looking at the size of the base though I'm entirely unfamilair with the Cassino operation beyond playing the map in BF 1942 . Anyway just looking at the size I would guess 105mm because they'd eb the easiest to get and use onshore thus the most likely to be used early and often with the correspondingly higher likelyhood of finding matching shells.

Actually El, I'm pretty sure there was some very heavy artillery bombardment on Monte Cassino during the assault, not just air attacks. *goes to check*

Bah, stupid me. It was just heavy air bombardment then. Move along now, no need to see my mistake.

I think the tip is a time delay fuse.

Shoot it and see what happens!

...

No, seriously, call someone who can take care of it.