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2015-09-27 -Short Attention Span Theater-
Tucson Iron & Metal gas axe story and vacancy announcement
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Posted by Besoeker 2015-09-27 03:45|| || Front Page|| [4 views ]  Top

#1 ...Something does not sound right. Let me explain:

*The Mk8X series is filled with Tritonal, a highly stable and heat resistant filler that is engineered to go boom only when we specifically tell it to and then only after a certain series of steps have been performed in a specific fashion.

*Said fashion is thus: When assembling an 8X (BTW, the Mk81 250GP is the smallest of the 8X series, not the 82) you install a booster cup into the fuze well, then install the fuze itself. This is the 'explosive train', a series of progressively larger explosions that will set off the Tritonal filler. Cutting into the bomb body (and I know that we should not speak ill of the dead, but I refuse to believe this guy had no idea what he was looking at) should not have set off the filler - and if it did, and roughly two hundred pounds of filler let go, you wouldn't have anyone around to try and explain what happened. The lethal blast/frag radius for a Mk82 is IIRC two thousand feet, and you don't just get a 'partial' explosion - if any of it goes, it all goes.

* What COLOR was this bomb? If it was green with a yellow band around the nose, that's a live weapon. If it's overall light blue or green with a blue band, that's an inert practice round - but if that was the case, somebody made a horrifying mistake somewhere. I'd also point out that there are stamps on the bomb case indicating what it is (though it's at least understandable that a civilian didn't know to look for those), and it's supposed to be stenciled (at least 1/2" white or yellow letters) as well ('BOMB, MK82 500LB GP'along with two or three more lines indicating where/when it was made). Are we being told that NONE of this was on the bomb in question?

So - what did happen? There's a LOT wrong with this story based on the facts we have, and I will be paying close attention to what comes next.

Mike
Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2015-09-27 09:21||   2015-09-27 09:21|| Front Page Top

#2 I wonder if instead of cutting into a MK82 he was cutting up a gas cylinder to make a bell. Said cylinder still having acetylene in it. There's a guy a coupled of blocks away from me with bellls like that.
Posted by Cheaderhead 2015-09-27 09:47||   2015-09-27 09:47|| Front Page Top

#3 ....I had NOT thought of that - they're about the same size, and it would explain the 'partial' explosion thing.

Mike
Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2015-09-27 10:18||   2015-09-27 10:18|| Front Page Top

#4 And to a reporter, anything cylindrical that goes "boom" is obviously a bomb.
Posted by Bobby 2015-09-27 13:08||   2015-09-27 13:08|| Front Page Top

#5 "Semi-Automatic Assault Bombâ„¢"
Posted by Frank G 2015-09-27 13:15||   2015-09-27 13:15|| Front Page Top

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