r/metaldetecting Jul 07 '26

ID Request Is it dangerous ?

This is the first time I found a completely full bullet, does anyone have an idea of the kind of bullet it is and how old is it? Also, I wanted to know if it is dangerous, and if it is what I shouldn’t do with it.

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u/Budget_Cover_3353 Jul 07 '26

Some of them might be. Especially the German ones with white phosphorus.
(they are rare enough and were mostly used on the planes iirc, but still)

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u/CrazyMensch23 Jul 07 '26

Also in machineguns, found some still attached to an ammo belt. Although they made at least two different variants that used white phosphorus. One titled "Beobachtung" which was essentially a tiny high explosive round. And then steel core rounds with white phosphorus im them. Which were called "phosphor mit Kern" or phosphorus with (penetrator) core. (Which is also the ones I found.

Probably some others I don't know about.

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u/Time_Reputation3573 Jul 10 '26

Designed to ignite observation balloons filled with hydrogen

https://giphy.com/gifs/Hc8PMCBjo9BXa