Practice Bombs

[igs942]

Hi all,

May sound like a bit of a strange question but do practice bombs always have tail fins to aid flight???

Cheers

Ian

[Hagar]

Why do you ask? Did you find one without tail fins?

I assume it would depend on which type of bomb it is.

[igs942]

Hi Doug,

I found this on a beach in Somerset and I dunno if it's a practice bomb or mortar round or what...

It has an Eley-Kynoch cap on top so it must have gone bang once. Any ideas???

[Craig.]

looks more like a mortar round to me. Although what its doing on a beach in somerset I have no idea. Looks old too.

[Katahu]

Hey, you found my voodoo cup!

[Woodlouse2002]

Can you get some pictures from other angles? Something makes me think that it's not a piece of ordanence at all.

[igs942]

Hey Woodlouse.

2 more angles for ya. Something that looks like it could have once been wadding is still in the middle of it.

Top

Bottom

What ya think???

[Woodlouse2002]

Well thats definitely a percussion cap on the top in that second picture.

Craigs probably right with his morter bomb round.

Though I am perplexed by the male thread around the top.

[Hagar]

What are those holes for? Could it be some sort of signal flare? Or maybe a fuse? All sorts of strange stuff gets washed up on the Channel coast.

[igs942]

Haven't a clue. There seem to be two sets of holes: the mail ones in the center that are clearly visible and another 4 around the base which can just be seen as they have been filled by rust or something like it. You can see them quite well in the second shot in this thread.
The reason I first thought it was some sort of practice bomb was that I found it on the beach in St Audrie's Bay, just east of Minehead in the Bristol Channel and we used to see F-111's bombing buoys in the channel near here when I was young.
Looking at it though I agree with Craig it's looking rather old, having been really eroded by the sea and wonder if it's too old to come from the '80s.

[Hagar]

Looking at it though I agree with Craig it's looking rather old, having been really eroded by the sea and wonder if it's too old to come from the '80s.

I think that would depend on what materials it's made of & how long it's been in the sea. It could be any time in the last century as Kynoch has been manufacturing percussion caps since 1862, mainly for sporting ammunition like shotgun cartidges. It's difficult to judge the size without anything to compare it with but a shotgun cartridge could possibly be used as a detonator for a sea mine or something like that. I can't find a drawing or photo of the detonator used on those horned mines. They used to get washed up on the beaches regularly when I was a boy.

[igs942]

From end to end it measures around 4 inches. I'll take another shot with a scale on it when I get home so you can get an idea of its size. As for the thread on the top, I was wondering if it once had a hollow cone screwed on with a pin in the centre. Hitting the ground nose first would cave the cone in and set it off.

[Craig.]

If you have a TV remote or something simmilar to put it next to, thats usually a good way to do it. Most TV remotes are of simmilar size.

[Hagar]

As for the thread on the top, I was wondering if it once had a hollow cone screwed on with a pin in the centre. Hitting the ground nose first would cave the cone in and set it off.

Hence my suggestion of a detonator of some sort. I'm not sure they use detonators on practice bombs. I think they're usually solid concrete, the same weight as the real thing.

[Woodlouse2002]

I'm confused by the bronze thing on the other end. Not the sort of thing you have on anything that you want to fire through the air.