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Originally Posted by nikimcbee
I'm surprised the powder was still good.
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As we learned in EOD school. Black Powder never desensitizes.
In the 1950's and 1960's there were several cases in the US of Civil War cannon balls "spontaneously" detonating.
What had happened was that these cannon balls were wet inside. People found them, shined them up and put them up on display above their fireplace. In some cases it can take 100 years for it to dry out and then the powder is just as powerful as the day it was made.
So please, if you ever find any type of live ordnance, please have it inspected by competent military or civilian EOD.
As previous posters have written, these pieces of ordnance were specifically designed to explode and kill people.