Really, really - live ordnance of ANY kind should only be 'tampered' with by qualified persons eg gunsmiths.

Live rifle rounds are generally fairly stable and can be deactivated by drilling a small hole in the side - out comes the filling.
BUT the heat needs to be controlled when drilling and tracer rounds can be unstable !

Just one, true, sad cautionary tale. John Pimlott was a respected British military historian. While walking a battlefield three or four years ago, he picked up a live 20mm shell. Back home in the UK, he started fiddling with the fuze using a small screwdriver.

And it killed him.

[ 16 September 2002, 06:14 AM: Message edited by: Martin Bull ]

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