Bob Neyland with Naval History and Heritage Command here. You need to have someone qualified as  EOD look at it and determine if it is inert or presents a danger. As Bill, says it is likely that it still has material inside that could be a hazard. In the US, only Marine Corp EOD is allowed to inert these without destroying the piece. Other police and military EOD units are required to explode them. If you have a local Marine Corps base, they should have an EOD person who should be able to advise.


If you want a Marine Corp contact, you can email me at [log in to unmask]   If you are able to get it certified as inert, you will want to keep paperwork showing that it has been inspected and certified or made inert.


Best Regards


Bob Neyland

________________________________
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Moss, William <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2017 6:01 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Question regarding cannon ball

Since the fuse is still in the bomb (not ball!), or grenade, there is still powder. If the powder is dry, it is still volatile and highly explosive. You should contact UXO specialists (US colleagues can probably suggest who, either local or state police, maybe National Guard) to have this taken care of.

We contact the Canadian Army who disarms them for us and returns them for our collections. Police will simply show up with a bomb unit and explode it later on. Check out how authorities will proceed and see if you can get it back.


William Moss PhD, FSA, RPA
Chef d'équipe - Archéologue
Division de l'architecture et du patrimoine  |  Service de l'aménagement et du développement urbain  |  Ville de Québec  |  295, boulevard Charest Est  |  Québec  (Québec) Canada, G1K 3G8  |  Téléphone : 418.641.6411, poste 2149  |  Télécopie : 418.641.6455  |   [log in to unmask]  |  www.ville.quebec.qc.ca  |  www.ovpm.org/fr/canada/quebec



-----Message d'origine-----
De : HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] De la part de Chris Garst
Envoyé : 15 mars 2017 10:56
À : [log in to unmask]
Objet : Question regarding cannon ball

Good Morning all:
In our collections we have a 6#  cannon ball that still has its fuse.
We suspect it is still filled with gunpowder also. It was recovered during a metal detector survey last fall and may date to the Civil War era.  We have been getting mixed messages regarding the safety of having such an item in our collection.  Does anyone know about the safety and stability of such an item?
Thank you
Chris Garst
Kansas Historical Society