Kind soul donates Claymore mine to charity

A kind soul who donated a Claymore mine to charity prompted the evacuation of a Colorado shopping centre earlier this week. The anonymous benefactor left the explosive device at a Goodwill store in Arvada on Tuesday, according to news reports. An employee discovered the "suspicious" object while sorting through other less- …

[Ihre Papiere Bitte!!]

Instructions for GIs...

I saw a US Army combat knife some time ago. It had instructions too.

"Hold blunt end.

Stick pointy end in baddie"

<-the instructions on the grenade were more complex.

‘First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it.’

[Anonymous Coward]

Its Friday, Suggestions Please

'Font toward enemy' is exactly the type of boring drab institutionalised phrase to come out of an army weapons manufacturor.

I've always thought it should be replaced by something Bumper sticker-esque possibly beginning 'If you can read this'

best example wins a free (imaginary) pint :)

[Jan 7]

Actually, it says

"THIS SIDE FACE TO ENEMY" on the Claymore.

Grenade, obviously.

[Chris Bradshaw]

Sorry in advance

Not much Goodwill, more like Good Will Hunting...

Outta here...

[SuperTim]

Accurate description....

As any fule no.... The Claymore is not just a mine, but also a remote detonatable device. The description of "mine or explosive device" is actually far more accurate that calling it anything elso....though anyone who has seen any vietnam war film would instantly recognise it as a claymore.

One wonders how old the person was who found it, because in my experience, they are always over 60!

Grenade...Natch!

[Yorkshirepudding]

Planting claymore!

worst noise you can hear entering a room in COD4

*Click*

oh sh****

grenade obviously

[Chris 67]

@ Its Friday, Suggestions Please

Garamond, do you speak it motherf**ker!!

[SuperTim]

@ Jan7....No it doesnt....

At least not on the official ones. I think you may have purchased a "replica mine designed to evoke the passion and distance killing of the classic claymore".

[Tom Cooke]

Charity shop donations

That would really scare the kindly old ladies in our local Oxfam shop - they treat the chip and pin machine as though it might very well explode, poor things, never mind real ordnance.

[E-ver]

@Jan7

What about googling for claymore mine and reading what it says by yourself?

[Thomas Whipp]

Oh the memories

Reminds me of an email that used to be on my tutors wall back at Uni (circa 98) - it was from one of his students on gap year working with a large company that had a range of goverment contracts.

It read something like:

I think I've found the weapons division - its a lab labled "Extreme deformation of buildings and materials"

just a bit more british really :)

[Anonymous Coward]

@Its Friday, Suggestions Please

How about: "WARNING: MANUFACTURED IN A PLANT THAT PROCESSES PEANUTS"

[Richard Morris]

@SuperTim

SuperTim - In answer to your question, Claymore's have been about since the late 1950's.

An 18 year old Marine could have used them in 1965 and now be old enough to work in a charity shop.............. To them, it might quite literally be a blast from the past.

[Jan 7]

@SuperTim

Oh, I don´t have any clamores lying around here, but I was absolutely sure it read other on the "interesting" side (Though all sides of the claymore are, to some extent, "interesting").

But I´ll take your word if you checked.

[I didn't do IT.]

And 'ere we 'ave the Claymore, in iz natchural 'abitat...

http://basic-weapons-and-tactics.com/claymore_mines_images.htm

As with all US Army munitions... more than three words and you lose the attention of your audience...

[Giddy Kipper]

Seems clear enough to me

http://www.army.mil/-images/2008/09/24/22697/army.mil-2008-09-25-065314.jpg

Paris. 'Cos she goes with a bang. Apparently.

[Brian Miller]

Learned Claymores in 1983, Richard

When I went through basic training in 1983, we were taught the "subtle" points of using Claymore mines. (Of course one of the guys in my squad did fail the test, though. The "FRONT TOWARDS ENEMY" in front of his face just didn't register...)

[Anonymous Coward]

Ahhh yes...

I am convinced that the Claymore was designed in much the following process:

Boffin #1... mildly sloshed on some form of ethanol: "So... shotguns... In combat. could be a good time!"

Boffin #2... equally sloshed: "no.. too large and cumbersome. Ammunition is a pain in the arse. And well. They don't have that great of range...

Weapons Procurement Officer... Totally sloshed, as the Boffins are buying: "WHARTEEF WE MADE A SHOTGUNMINE!!"

Boffin #1: "hmm.. I think we are on to something..."

[Anonymous Coward]

Hur hur...

"How can you deploy a claymore where there are women and children?!?"

"Well, you just aim it a little lower, that's all."

[Bacon]

@AC 13:18 GMT - PEANUTS

Spark of genius that.... I vote you for the imaginary pint

[dr_forrester]

@Ihre Papiere Bitte!!

Civilian here, but one time I got a US Army survival guide in a book sale. I kid you not, there was a bit on improvised weapons (which makes some sense), but in that section, there were DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS on how to tie a rock to a stick. WITH DIAGRAMS!!! Plus, in the section on survival at sea, there was a line about how "when lost at sea, floating in a raft the approximate size of a coffin, one concern you may have is sharks" (not an exact quote at all, but the idea is there). No kidding.

As to a better line for the front of the claymore, I think I, too, have to go with "If you can read this, you're too close." Or how about "CAUTION: Standing in front of a claymore mine may be hazardous to your health. Severe injury or death may result." Of course, since (IIRC) claymores have a 2m(ish) backblast, standing behind one can also be somewhat unhealthy.

[GrantK]

Claymore blues

There is a reason this is one of those enduring weapons... Effective and really hard to get wrong.

Many fond memories of training with these things, though ours were a sandy colour rather than green.

Murphy's laws of combat - "never forget your weapon was made by the lowest bidder"

[Maty]

Ever seen a claymore?

It looks like a green paperback book that someone has curved across its length. And the little sods can be really vicious. There's a steel backing plate on the concave side, a layer of explosive, and on the convex side a set of ball-bearings poured in according to the 'chocolate-box principle' (everyone gets a piece).

Thing is, its not obvious that the ball-bearings are on the convex side. There's an apocryphal story that the warning was printed on the things after a squad in Africa set them up around their camp in case of being ambushed at night. With the convex part facing inward. The sentry thought they were being snuck up on in the night, hit the dets, and ...

[petebog]

@Richard Morris

"Blast from the past".

Bravo sir, bravo.

[Dave Bell]

After a quick Google...

There are fake claymore mines used by the people who play with airsoft guns.

(Think paintball with weapons which look frightningly real, and are likely illegal in the UK)

So it's possible that this wasn't real, but I'm sure that Lewis will confirm that EOD types would rather be called to a fake than have somebody make the mistake of treating a real one like a toy.

[Geoff Kennedy]

WARNING!!

WARNING: This weapon contains ingredients known to the State of California to cause cancer. Pregnant or nursing women should consult their doctor prior to using this weapon.

[wengelke]

Probably a cruel joke

This "claymore mine" was probably an inert training device left there by some cruel practical jokester. I have seen these in flea markets; they look just like the real thing. Whoever did it will have major legal problems if they are caught, as the police take this sort of thing very seriously.

[Petrea Mitchell]

Suspicious-looking object fround to be suspicious

I have to think back some ways for the last time I read a story where someone spotted a strange-looking object, called the police, and it actually turned out to be dangerous, instead of being a prop, a toy, an ad, someone's lunch, etc...

[Anonymous Coward]

Other markings

I have heard, from old college chums who were active duty military at one time, that the back said

BACK

TOWARD

FRIENDLY

and due to the resemblance of the M18A1 to the standard MRE (meal, ready to eat) package

DO NOT EAT.

[SirTainleyBarking]

Working at Oxfam

Is a blast

Sorry,

Coat

Hat

Door

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe airsoft?

http://steelhawkairsoft.com/asc7-cd.html

has a airsoft claymore mine. Looks authentic but safe, well nonlethal but might poke a eye out. Wait a week and we might get embarrasing looking bomb squad.

Maybe we even get to hear about 80's hairstyles from the suspect's.

[YouStupidBoy]

Device was inert, much like the neural pathways of the tosser that left it there.

Living quite literally a stones throw from where this thing was deposited, I can say firsthand that it's caused quite a stir in the local community. Thankfully it didn't turn out to be anything with the potential to inflict injury (not sure if it was a fake or whether it had been previously disarmed). I fervently hope they catch the tosser(s) that left it.

Just to add that the police response was exceptional, they cleared the immediate area of probably a couple of hundred people VERY quickly using no more manpower than it apparently takes to break up a west-country 'rave' back in Blighty.

[Anonymous Coward]

Airsoft in the UK

Realistic Imitation Firearms (RiF) are not illegal in the UK, but you now need to be a member of a registered club and played more than three games over not less than two months but not normally more than 12 months before you can legally buy or sell (or even give away) a RiF. Note, AT THIS TIME it is still legal for anyone over the age of 18 to purchase one of those ghastly two-tone plastic Imitation Firearms (ie ones that are identical to RiFs but have a large proportion of external parts made of bright-colored plastic - pink, blue, green, yellow etc... basically any color that "real" guns don't normally come in).

Of course, if you owned some before the change in the law (October 2006, IIRC) and you aren't a member of a club, you're kinda buggered when Plod comes calling since it is ILLEGAL to give 'em to ANYONE who is not a fully-accredited member of such a club...

Good luck finding a copper who gets his jollies running around the woods with other 'normal' people while dressed in camo rather than beating up civvies on the streets of London or falling victim to too-tall photographers in the well-known global trouble spot of Chatham...

Mine's the one made from dayglo green plastic so I don't get done for carrying a RiF without a licence...

[Alex Davidson]

Warning

Warning on an explosive device in /The Atrocity Archive/ by Charles Stross:

THIS SIDE TOWARDS LIFE INSURANCE CLAIMANT

In the same book, a wall of filing cabinets in a government building bore a post-it note:

THE TRUTH IS IN HERE, SOMEWHERE

[A 20]

That reminds me...

...of the time I was offered some surplus books at work.

It was a heavy box, so I borrowed a trolley. Unfortunately the staff car park was up a flight of stairs, so moved the car around front to the visitor parking. Told the receptionist about the box and drove around front, I guess I was away a minute or so.

I return to find a huddle of receptionists with a long wooden rod poking at it. So I asked them what they were doing...

Apparently they thought it might be a bomb, so they were poking it with a stick to find out.

*sigh*

Had they called the police? No. Had they set off the alarm? No. They just stood around and prodded it with sticks.

[alien anthropologist]

Just remember,,,

..despite the jokes and the humour, a claymore is one nasty piece of work. A slab of explosive with loads of little metal balls.

And no, despite the THIS SIDE FACE TO ENEMY, it does not mean that you want to take cover behind it. You want to be at 45 degree angle to the side of it, safely out of range, with your "clicker" (assuming manual detonation).

As for a mine - yes you can use it as a mine against soft skin vehicles. You bury it in the (dirt) road, top side facing up. And detonate it as the vehicle passes over it. Does a lot of damage. Can wound and kill vehicle occupants.

Next lesson - how to place an anti-tank mine on a tar road... (yep, that can be done too).

[phil 27]

The meaning of life (and death)

It should simply say "42" on the business side.

There might be a few less hhgttg fans around but its a small price to pay for coolness..

[Andy Enderby 1]

military instructions.....

As reported by astronaut Michael Colllins in his autobiography, found during his time as a test pilot - An aircraft where the checklist for ejection seat operation (potentially lethal if done incorrectly) mounted to the metal part of the cockpit canopy - Step 1 - jettison canopy. Ok done that.....errrr where's my list gone ?

Of course ejection seat operation is a good thing to know before climbing aboard one suspects.