[LETHAL: The .22 calibre bullet found in Walthamstow High Street on a market day morning (D6W1001)] Posted on 11/14/2006 1:14:26 PM PST by kiriath_jearim
LIVE ammunition has been found lying in the doorway of a busy high street shop.
The .22 calibre short round bullet was found at the entrance of the 99p Stores in Walthamstow High Street on Wednesday morning, November 1.
[LETHAL: The .22 calibre bullet found in Walthamstow High Street on a market day morning (D6W1001)]
Haroon Khan, who has a firearms licence and is a member of a local gun club, was alarmed to discover live ammunition in a Walthamstow doorway.
The bullet, of Swiss origin, was still in its brass casing, complete with enough gunpowder for it to fire itself.
continued... Mr Khan said that if it had been struck hard enough or exposed to heat it could have gone off.
"This sort of thing should not be lying around. It was live, primed and active," he said. "But rather me pick it up than a little kid.
"How can you feel safe when you are finding things like this on the street?
"To get hold of one of these is not easy. You have to go through a scrutinised search, you need a licence and you have to belong to a club."
Ammunition of this kind would ordinarily be used in a small handgun or pistol, and both can be owned legally under licence.
But to leave strictly controlled goods out in the street would be enough for a firearms licence to be revoked.
The bullet has been examined at a Metropolitan Police laboratory and details about it kept for future reference.
A police spokesman said: "Recovering firearms and ammunition is a priority for the police. We take the same view of ammunition as we do of a gun.
"If it goes bang, it is still lethal."
Police are treating the unattended ammunition as a crime. Mr Khan alerted them at 10.16am, and they arrived at his shop to pick up the bullet at 11.32am.
Mark for later read: something says this one is going to be hilarious...
I cannot tell a lie. I flew to London andplaced that .22 bullet in the doorway.
I did it and I'm proud.
"LuCkeee!!!"
Maybe, there was a nutjob a year behind me in high school. He'd walk around with a pocket full of .22s and periodically throw one against the sidewalk. If he got the angle just right, the shell would hit on the rim and "pop". He was pretty good at it and got about half to go off. We generally let him walk downtown by himself.
This kid had been tossed out of Cook County IL by a Youth Judge who gave him the choice of reform school or moving to northern Wisconsin and living with relatives after his third conviction for car theft. He was around 15 and the only sociopath I have ever met personally. He was pretty much an OK kid but we learned never to say "I bet you wouldn't..." when he was around. Thanks Judge, we needed that!
Regards,
GtG
PS I learned a lot about ignition systems from him.
And aim itself and ever'thing!
Who dropped that bullet?
There was a thread up earlier concerning the illegal (Duh...) conversion of "starting pistols" into functioning firearms in the U.K. IIRC, most starter guns are cheap revolver designs that take .22 blank cartridges. The revolving cylinder is "shorter" front-to-back than that of a *real* .22 revolver - ostensibly to prevent use of live .22 ammo. The fact that this just so happens to be one of the shortest variants of .22 ammunition makes me wonder if the two articles are connected.
Got to be careful about where I leave my .22 WMD's from now on.
That's A rim fire .22,a shark stick or nail won't do.
Maybe it has a exploding bullet like they took out of Reagen.
ON THE NET...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1738559/posts
"Gangs turn blank-firing pistols into guns"
Manchester Evening News (UK) ^ | 11/14/06 | John Scheerhout
Posted on 11/14/2006 12:54:54 PM PST by kiriath_jearim
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Blank-firing pistols are being converted into deadly guns by gangsters in Manchester.
Now police have travelled to Germany to try to persuade the company which produces the weapons to change the way they make them.
Officers from Manchester's armed crime unit visited the Cuno Melcher factory in Solingen, which produces legal blank- firing guns, after finding hundreds of the converted weapons in raids in the city."
I thought that.
Will this be the next episode on hit TV show, CSI: East London?
I worked for several years as a professional carpet cleaner. The number of live rounds I found in various customers carpets over the years would make a shortish day at the range. Mostly .22 shorts, but other .22's a few .38's and .357's. One .45 ACP.
the empty brass I found would have kept a reloader busy for a few nights.
The reason I tell this story? The likelihood of a round shooting it's bullet with it's casing not housed in some type of chamber is very, VERY slim... Guy is makin somethin out of nothin IMHO...
Agree? Dis-agree?? What say you??
I threw some 9mm into the woodstove just to see. There was some mild popping, way short of what even modest firecrackers should do on a damp day.
I'm no ballistics expert but I do recall enough high school physics to agree with you.
Can you imagine an American newspaper writing a story about a single .22 short found in a doorway? Ivan, your folks are a bit daft at times, I think you'll have to agree.
Just why do we care that a 22 shell was fond ANYWHERE???
Worse, there was a furnace that ignited itself.
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