Quote:
Originally Posted by markids77
Is this the guy who blew himself up in his driveway a few years back while "defusing" one of his specimens?
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No. This is Tom Dickey. He was a well known authority on civil war projectiles. Also, brother to James Dickey of Deliverance fame.
There was one dealer that killed himself a few years ago in VA. Another local to me, friend, dealer, etc...that was defusing one and it blew up. Didn't kill him, but he was lucky. Got hit in the head with fragments and nearly killed him and his grandson. Another friend of mine stopped doing the work because of all the accidents. He even had a remote, underground drill rig setup to do it.
I didn't even bring mine in the house until it was defused. Only an intense fire could have possibly made it explode. But, I still felt leery about it being live.
After my friends accident the .gov went into his shop and removed every shell in there. He had thousands and thousands of dollars invested in them. They blew them all up at a remote location. Solid shot, defused, it didn't matter. And they still do the same today when they find one. It's still out there from Chatt. to Atl. and anywhere else battles or skirmishes were fought.
I thought mine was an old piece of rusted pipe when I dug it. I looked in the hole and could only see some rusted iron. I got my shovel/pick into the hole and flipped it out beside of me! I buried it in the back yard until I could carry it to my friend to defuse it.