Back Yard Find

[eniksleestack]

So yesterday I was digging a hole for a plant in my backyard and I came across this:

It's not rare or anything but one hardly expects to find a 50 cal. shell casing hanging out with the earth worms.

The bungalow l live in was likely built in the 1940s or early 1950s. I suspect that this land used to be a dump, from some of the other garbage I've exhumed -- mostly 1970s beer cans. This area (Santa Barbara, California), did have it's military bases during WW2 -- a naval flight training center I believe, but that was a few miles away. I have little idea how or why or when this might have been dumped here.

Anyone know why the top might be crimped closed? [huh]

Here's another pic for a better sense of scale. My dog doesn't really seem to care -- he's far more interested in earth worms.

 

[Diamondback]

Blanked round for training, maybe?

----------------
Now playing: John Williams - The Battle Of Endor I
via FoxyTunes

 

[rumblefish]

Looks like it was just squashed. That case couldn't be chambered like that.

 

[DutchIndo]

Check the headstamp on the back for a date. There was newsclip years ago about an area in San Diego. This area was a site for a new Housing complex. The the hills around this complex were filled with unexploded ordinance. It seems they built this complex on an old target range. They had to get the EOD from Camp Pendleton to remove some of the shells. Funny thing was I was talking to this kid at work. His Dad works construction here in So Cal.. He told me his father and co workers came across some Dino bones. I asked him if he was just not mistaken. He was sure since he told me they were bigger than a horses. His Dad and co-workers snatched all they could find. They did not report it because the Archeologists would shut the site down. This site is now a big car dealer on the coast. I am sure there are many situations like this. California has indigenous gravesites being found during construction here. Work is usually held up till tribal leaders are informed. Time is money so who knows what you're living on top of.

 

[eniksleestack]

Check the headstamp on the back for a date...

Here's a better pic of the base. Says "43" -- can i assume this means 1943?

I don't want to explode my house or anything with unexploded ordinance but the twelve-year-old inside me wants to go dig for buried treasure now.

 

[Story]

Anyone know why the top might be crimped closed? [huh]
.

Anything from the bolt crushing it during a misfire to being clipped by someone's lawnmower in 1981. [huh] As mentioned, it's not factory standard.

You're correct in surmising that '43' is the year of production. 'D M' stands for Des Moines Ordnance Plant (Des Moines, IA). They made oodles of cartridges, so that could have been fired decades after it left the arsenal.

Here's what it looked like, when new:
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll189/cabby_06/50DM-2.jpg
and the loaded cartridge
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll189/cabby_06/50DM-1.jpg

If there was an air-to-ground target range nearby (for 'straffing' practice) your relic might have fallen from a passing plane or it could just be range trash.

Sweep your backyard with the metal detector, by all means, but
[Public Safety Announcement] if you find anything large, rusty and odd-ly shaped, leave it alone - back off - keep kids and the dog away - and call the police.

Visual examples of large, rusty things to leave alone:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3127/2473644677_8bedc4ae22.jpg
http://sspaciss.ee.duke.edu/media/uxo_and_landmines.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3392/3182549374_4c100d0fda.jpg
plus an Australian primer on the subject
http://www.defence.gov.au/UXO/UXO_Website/UXO_warning_and_advice.htm
http://www.defence.gov.au/UXO/UXO_Website/types_of_uxo/types_of_uxo.htm

and

 

[Treetopflyer]

Ejected

I agree with Story, it probably came from a plane that ejected it after firing the gun. It would be interesting to see what else you can find.

 

[FinalVestige79]

Great find!

Congrats on the find!! I would suggest getting a cheap metal detector and going at it! I go up to Santa Barbara every other month or so, well actually Goleta. I work on tanks up there. If you went to the Santa Barbara 4th of July Parade last year and saw some WWII Armored Vehics rolling down state street thats us!

When I was about...7 or so I was digging around in my aunts back yard, i was one of those kids that loved digging, rock collecting and prospecting in later years anyway, her house was built in april of 1940 and is really really cool. So i was digging around in the back by the old walnut tree, and I ended up digging up a metal money box! And in inside I found a prince Albert tobacco can, some arrow heads, some skeleton keys, a pocket knife, a pocket watch (didnt run) and a little toy derringer. But the real surprise was in the tobacco can there was a small cache of coins! From the 10s-40s if i remember. My aunt let me keep it all thankfully. I have it somewhere in my room...I'll take some pics when I find it.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Off topic, but your dog looks exactly like my childhood dog, Zeke.

 

[JennyLou]

Thats neat that you found that in your backyard. Many a times I have dug holes in my backyard in hopes of discovering something neat but it never happened.

 

[taggers]

An archaeologist writes...

Just a thought, but, before you get the metal detector out, make a plan of your yard, and mark the finds on it. Things like cartridge disribution paterns can tell you a lot.

Also, make a note of anything above and below the finds. If your 1970s cans are in a higher level than the cartridge, but you turn up a bit of 1930s pottery underneath it, then you start to have your story.

All of which is great as long as there is more stuff down there!

 

[FinalVestige79]

I agree with taggers...flag the spots where the metal signals. And then watch as the little flags start to accumulate.

 

[Haversack]

Back in the early 1940s, a P-38 Lightning crashed on the estate in Montecito where my grandfather had charge of things. Being that this aircraft was still very new, military security closed the place off while the wreck was recovered. (The pilot successfully jumped.) After they left, my dad, who was in high school at the time, started looking around. He told me that there were three holes in the ground from where the two engines and the center nacelle impacted. All the engines, weapons, and structural pieces had been removed but a lot of the .50 caliber ammunition was left scattered around. While he gathered up a lot of it, it is likely that there is still some out there as the terrain at the back of the estate was pretty rugged.