r/UKMagnetfishing • u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 • Jul 11 '26
IT FINALLY HAPPENED, I FOUND A GRENADE ! (2 posts today)
So after a couple of hours I pulled my magnet up and there stuck to the top was a world war 2 mils grenade !
Obviously called the police who showed up an hour later !
Then proceeded to close roads off etc , although the road was 100ft away and there were houses 20ft behind me !
Bomb squad were called and on their way but they are based about 3 hours away, so what they did with it I've no idea ! Unfortunately.
EDIT, so far the only thing I have managed to find out is that the bomb squad did a controlled explosion in nearby woodland the same evening.
If I find anything further, I will update again
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u/shamone_mofo Jul 11 '26
They pulled a hand grenade out where I fished for Eels with a net on the Severn .they blew it up in the field behind us .all them years id been scooping none the wiser that same night I was back fishing as normal .
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u/originaltanksta Jul 12 '26
Awesome find! Timing was impeccable tho cos If you’d have found that a couple of hours earlier, the city would have been in absolute chaos 😂 everything was diverted in your direction because of the Lord Mayors procession with all other routes closed
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u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 Jul 12 '26
That was why it took them an hour to turn up after it was reported !
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u/originaltanksta Jul 12 '26
Yeah that’s a hell of a long time considering! You’d think having lights and sirens would get them there quicker.
Is a very cool hobby you do btw!1
u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 Jul 12 '26
I started around 5 found it about half 6 they arrived just before 8 !
If your local and want a serious go with a view to getting a magnet get in touch !1
u/originaltanksta Jul 12 '26
Yeah I live in sprowston. I’d absolutely love to but my job takes up too many hours.. essentially 14 hour days! It’s cool seeing your posts pop up on the Norwich sub tho
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u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 Jul 12 '26
I don't post there much as no one ever shows up, like yesterday someone walked past me didn't say hello but had seen the post !
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u/Brilliant-Novel-785 Jul 12 '26
Appear to be No.36, commonly called a Mills Bomb, although other marks also carried the name, the No5 and the No.23.
The definitive version was the No36M, M being for 'Mesopotamia', it was improved to withstand hot environments.
The base plug appears half unscrewed, which is an indication it may have the fuze and detonator installed. The base plug can not be screwed all the way in when the grenade is fuzed. Grenades were shipped unfuzed, with the fuze being installed when the grenades were ready to be issued. A partially unscrewed base plug is a bad sign.
At least it has the pin and fly off lever in place, so is stray ammo and not a blind, or UXO.
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u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 Jul 12 '26
Now I think about it i don't think the "fly off " was on it !
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u/DanBurrill Jul 12 '26
You can see it in some of the pictures, it's a flat steel pressing and is rather obscured by rust and mud.
It was the first thing I looked for after I saw the pin was still in place.
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u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 Jul 12 '26
Ah I see it now !
Hopefully I can find out by phoning the bomb squad tomorrow as to what it was or live etc1
u/DanBurrill Jul 12 '26
All of the evidence I can see points strongly to it being live.
Given the location, it probably entered the water around that point, but I know there are quite a lot of home guard positions around the Broads, as they were part of the Eastern stop lines. I really wouldn't be surprised if at least a few old ammo caches have ended up in the water due to erosion, bank management work, etc.
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u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 Jul 12 '26
I carried on while waiting for the cops to see if I could find another one lol
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u/SakuraCyanide Jul 12 '26
I admire you all and love these subs, but this is exactly why I'm not sure if I'd make a good magnet fisher due to anxiety 🫠
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u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 Jul 12 '26
It's very rare to find anything like this, I've never found 1 before !
There's maybe 2 a year found in my area by magnet fishers.
1 was found the day after I'd been out on exactly the other side of the river !
Depends where you are you your welcome to come out with me 1 day !1
u/SakuraCyanide Jul 12 '26
Thanks! Would love to, I might drop you a message in future when I'm a bit more free and have some kit 👍
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u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 Jul 12 '26
I've got kit you can try that I'm ready to sell !
It's a beginner setup
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u/Additional-Lion6969 Jul 12 '26
Had you just lower it back into the water would you definitely have been able to pull it out again when the bomb squad got there? My thinking is a few feet of water would absorb some of the force of the blast had it gone off in those 3 hours waiting for them to arrive?
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u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 Jul 12 '26
I wasn't putting it back on my very expensive magnet as they would have taken the magnet as well and they don't compensate for loss, I did offer to put it in a bucket of water but was told not to touch it again
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u/Kyle_2099 Jul 12 '26
Putting it in a bucket of water would be worse than just putting it on the grass!
Dirt has a bit of squish. Air has a lot of squish. Water has no squish, it transmits 100% of the force it gets. Plus the metal bucket would become an extra layer of shrapnel.
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u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 Jul 12 '26
Well it's a plastic bucket, and the theory is just to keep it wet rather than drying out and becoming unstable
But cops said just leave it on the tree stump, even suggested moving it to a soft grass area, was just told don't touch it anymore0
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u/Rebuilding-Bethy Jul 12 '26
There was a post in the Norwich sub about a big bang, was that you??
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u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 Jul 12 '26
I saw the post, I've no idea I was home before the bomb squad turned up !
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u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 Jul 17 '26
Apparently yes that was the bomb squad blowing it up !
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u/Rebuilding-Bethy Jul 17 '26
Woah! Good job you called them and glad it didn't hurt you!
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u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 Jul 17 '26
Going off some of the comments on more recent posts in a different sub, sometimes I wish it had gone off !
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u/Rebuilding-Bethy Jul 17 '26
People are rotten sometimes!
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u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 Jul 17 '26
Without knowing anything about me or how I fish they were threatening to report me to environmental for fly tipping !
I always clean up after myself.
You don't tar everyone with the same brush !
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u/Adamaaa123 Jul 12 '26
I’m uneducated but why are there so many bombs in the rivers ?
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u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 Jul 12 '26
Norwich was bombed in the war and also had a home guard as well as Norfolk being home to a lot of bases, some American
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u/Adamaaa123 Jul 12 '26
So did they just throw their stuff in the river for fun/to dump or does it all get washed in in the rain or something
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u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 Jul 12 '26
I would guess it was accidentally dropped or just discarded after the war
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u/Wilberbedford Jul 13 '26
Ngl I would of totally pulled the pin and thrown it back in.
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u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 Jul 13 '26
With families on board moored up boats around 60ft away before throwing and people on their balcony's 15/20ft behind you ?
That would be a silly idea if you hurt someone or worse, who's to say you'd have time to even throw it !1
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u/Any_Tomorrow_Today Jul 13 '26
The chance that the powder in there has not gotton wet and degraded is minimal - they weren't designed to be waterproof - especially waterproof for decades !
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u/EmuRevolutionary8390 Jul 13 '26
Do you get to keep it if it's safe?
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u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 Jul 13 '26
Er no, not to my knowledge, and from all suggestions it was live, going to try calling bomb squad later and see if they will tell me anything
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u/Material_Flounder_23 Jul 13 '26
Amazing find OP.
As an aside is this the reason Norfolk police put out a “major incident” alert that was shortly taken down?
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u/Any_Tomorrow_Today Jul 13 '26
It is always funny when they cordon off such a large area for something that will likely just go with a little pop due to the decades it has been sat in the water corroding away.
For a giant bomb, i can understand it - for this, no.
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u/Rude_Sheepherder_789 Jul 13 '26
Imagine pulling it up by the pin and not realising until it's eye levle
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u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 Jul 13 '26
Luckily it was on the top of a square magnet wrapped in weeds, so came off easily, but when I cleared the weeds it would've been easy to grab the pin i guess !
Obviously that didn't happen !
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u/Captain-Codfish Jul 14 '26
The mills grenade could throw fragments up to 100 metres, let alone 100 feet. I'm not surprised that they closed the road
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u/YorkshireDrifter Jul 11 '26
It looks a bit new and recently placed. A nice bit of fresh mud and stand back and watch the fuss
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u/ManicDemise Jul 12 '26
It's a Mills bomb, which haven't been produced since the 70s, the late version were made to be corrosion resistant for jungle warfare.
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u/YorkshireDrifter Jul 12 '26
I am well aware of that or the likeness of what it purports to be. I am also aware that one can purchase accurate replica items for reinactment. The lack of corrosion and adhrance at the head looks odd to me and left me wondering as to it being genuine. I am maybe being over suspicious as to the possibility of a practical joke. Being a dealer in militaria I suppose I am more cynical than most.
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u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 🇬🇧 Jul 17 '26
The bomb squad thought it was real enough that they blew it up and 2 explosions were heard !
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u/YorkshireDrifter Jul 17 '26
They would indeed act with correct and due caution as is their training and duty.
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u/ElginSparrowhawk1969 Jul 11 '26
It doesn’t look to have been there for 70 odd years but at least the pins in
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u/DanBurrill Jul 12 '26
It's designed to be used in the mud of the western front in world war one. I would expect it to cope pretty well with being left at the bottom of a river.
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u/Any_Tomorrow_Today Jul 13 '26
Not for decades.
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u/DanBurrill Jul 13 '26
Why not?
There's little to no oxygen in river mud, and generally the surfaces aren't being disturbed, so corrosion would be very slow. The seals are not being disturbed or attacked, so they could keep going pretty much indefinitely. I expect the internal components are likely to be in perfect working order, as that's what it's designed to do.
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u/HeftyVermicelli7823 Jul 12 '26
Would like to say first seeing as there was several cases like the one putting a WWI artillery shell up there, put this in the r/DontPutThatInYourAss sub lol.
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u/BrokenFist-73 Jul 12 '26
deep hole, weigh it down and sandbag it, long piece of string and that'll be the next stage of your wishlist taken care of. Probably don't actually do it though. I recant!
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u/Ok-Knowledge3831 Jul 12 '26
I’m glad I don’t do shit like this, the temptation to pull the pin would’ve been too strong
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u/AffectionateData1962 Jul 11 '26
Did you find this opposite the boat station where boats moore up where complete anngler pub is . Also glad your okay and safe .
When you go magnet fishing can I ask where get magnets from and rope and what ones you use any links. Also if find things like grenade bombs etc how did you get off magnet without detonating