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Originally Posted by Eddie
Are we talking about "charges" or are we talking about "rounds". The two are different things.
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Mixing and matching a bit I think.
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Originally Posted by Eddie
Are you talking about blasting caps? The silver "detonators" used with M112 C-4 blocks?
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It's been something like 15 years since I laid my hands on them myself, so you're probably right. We weren't using C4 though, so...
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Originally Posted by Eddie
That's a pretty broad statement. I want to specifically address the last sentence, extremely unlikely to be able to aim properly? Define aiming properly for me, please? What necessarily prevents one from aiming properly in combat?
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Movement for one. Chances are the target isn't going to be standing still while you line up for your amazingly accurate shot at their grenade pouch. There's probably a good chance you yourself might be being shot at too, which really tends to reduce the ability for one to zen out and follow everything you might do on the range.
Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, but it'd still be a very, very difficult shot to pull off!
I
believe the prefered method of "disarming" a charge is to simply blow it in place by putting another controlled charge next to it - this avoids the risk of it going off while working to disarm it or move it to a more "convieniant" location. Of course this isn't exactly an option in a built up area or where you want to minimise damage to the surroundings.
There are probably as many different techniques as there are people with opinions, and device configurations - shooting at it, blowing in place, drowning it, etc, etc.
However, EOD is primarily if not solely focused on minimising damage which is most often achievable by removing the ability of the charge to detonate.
The purpose of this thread is to ask the question, can a round be detonated by a gunshot, which I think we can all agree is possible, just highly improbable?
Something else that might need to be kept in mind, particularly from a roleplaying point of view, is the actual effect of the round detonating. In WWII, my grandfather was an engineer with the RAAF working on Beaufort bombers. He was also a "Kings rifle" (later Queens), in other words,
better than excellent marksman. In my younger years before his eyesight failed, I've seen him head shoot a running rabbit from the hip at a hundred paces.
As soldiers with some time on their hands tend to do, he and his aircrew "borrowed" a number of old 40mm Bofors AAA rounds which were past their use by date and had been dumped in a big hole ready for destruction by burning (tropics tend to deteriorate ammo quite fast). These were taken out bush and one set up on a rock about a hundred yards away with base facing them.
One .303 shot later and BOOM! The round was struck in the primer and the projectile launched forward. Simultaneously the casing was launched rearward - it passed within a hairs breath away from them and potentially could have killed either him or one of his crewmates.
Morale to the story - don't do anything STUPID!