Again, I am ignorant about such things...but, I wouldn't think a
rubber-tired vehicle could crush a, let's say, .45 casing completely
flat.  Sure, it might crush the tubular shell portion somewhat, but I
can't imagine...even driving back and forth purposely...a tire smashing
the thick/dense head portion to 1/16" thk. ??  This shell has been
purposely hammered flat...for...fun?

And, would the primers of shotshells fall out 'naturally' (I wouldn't
think)...or need to be 'coerced'...as by the force of secondary
explosion/prying/playing around with...ala kid prank?

On the 4th of July, we (kids) used to put a small firecracker (smugged
across border) under a Vienna sausage can (under the direction of my
dad)...to watch it pop into the air. Pretty mild fun tho...  I don't
remember having cherry bombs or any large size stuff.

>-----Original Message-----
>From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On 
>Behalf Of Ron May
>Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2007 1:33 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: the Kid Factor influence on artifacts (etc)
>
>Could the flattened ammunition shell casings have simply been 
>crushed by vehicular traffic? As to the kid theory, I recall a 
>friend back in the late 1950s used to place firecrackers in 
>expended 30-.06 shells (aimed the firing pit side at a target) 
>and the explosion shot the shell like a rocket. The other 
>"fun" thing he did was hammer over the opening slightly, fill 
>the shell with black powder and then screw a glow plug to the 
>crimped end, buried the lethal shell in a fox hole in an empty 
>lot, attached a 100-foot long wire and closed his garage door 
>over the wires, to which he attached to a model train 
>transformer. The evil kid then detonated the charge and 
>quickly pulled the wire into the garage and waited for the 
>police, firemen, and other panicked neighbors to come running. 
>He never go caught and was never hurt. Then he collected the  
>debris and eventually dumped it out back. My point here? kids 
>like to play with  old bullet shells, even if a truck squashed them.
> 
>Ron May
>Legacy 106, Inc.
>
>
>
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