80 blocks of C4 and Claymores found buried in Arizona desert.

[rotor]

ATF agent says "They are obviously stolen". Wonder how they figured that out?

[Pawpaw]

Because they checked the Fast & Furious records and they weren't listed.

[mrvmax]

I’ve been told C4 works well for small fires since it burns well. You just don’t want any shock on it when it’s burning.

A USMC Nam vet friend of mine told me how they'd burn small pieces. That evidently stopped when one of the guys in his unit stomped it out with his boot.

Makes me shudder just to think about that.
Was there anything left of the foot?

My dad told me that on Iwo Jima, they used burning pinches of C4 to coffee in cups. Apparently, it burns nicely, and fairly safely - requiring a detonator of some kind to make it detonate. Otherwise, a pinch of it burns just like a candle.

Heat, shock and friction are what initiates explosives. It normally takes two out of the three so if it’s burning you have heat. Stomping on it can provide friction or shock.

[crazy2medic]

I’ve been told C4 works well for small fires since it burns well. You just don’t want any shock on it when it’s burning.

A USMC Nam vet friend of mine told me how they'd burn small pieces. That evidently stopped when one of the guys in his unit stomped it out with his boot.

Makes me shudder just to think about that.
Was there anything left of the foot?

My dad told me that on Iwo Jima, they used burning pinches of C4 to coffee in cups. Apparently, it burns nicely, and fairly safely - requiring a detonator of some kind to make it detonate. Otherwise, a pinch of it burns just like a candle.

Heat, shock and friction are what initiates explosives. It normally takes two out of the three so if it’s burning you have heat. Stomping on it can provide friction or shock.

A buddy of mine was stationed up in Washington with the Air Force, told me that if you spill liquid oxygen on the ground it will sizzle and jump around like water drops in a hot skillet, the guys would step on the beads of LOX and they would pop like firecrackers, now stepping on them was against Air Force regulation, but as with any rule they did it anyway, then one of the guys stomped on a bead of LOX that just happened to land in small puddle of jet fuel, my buddy said it sounded like a gun going off, threw the guy several feet and broke his leg in three places, I believe the Air Force court martialed him and threw him out after his stay in the hospital.

[Daddio-on-patio]

The ATF should be ashamed of themselves. This was clearly somebody's party favors and were going to have one heck of a good time.

Okay. Pure greatness!

[E10]

It’s my guess that, 20 years or so ago, some AZ National Guard guys had to get rid of some extra munitions before a big inspection. Then they forgot where they hid it.

[mrvmax]

It’s my guess that, 20 years or so ago, some AZ National Guard guys had to get rid of some extra munitions before a big inspection. Then they forgot where they hid it.

If they are that stupid then they need to go to jail. We had sctrict procedures to keep all of our explosives secure from shipment to the end use. Considering we were the ones called when IEDs were found (in both military and civilian world), it wouldn’t make sense for us to supply the IED makers with explosives for their weapons. The last thing we wanted was to let them fall into the wrong hands.

[WildBill]

Crazy thing is it's relatively safe as long there is no blasting cap.

Yep, had to be pretty safe to handle under most circumstances. Some guys did dumb things with it, one of them being eating small amounts. Supposedly small amounts ingested cause some temporary craziness but I never saw that first hand. I’ve been told C4 works well for small fires since it burns well. You just don’t want any shock on it when it’s burning.
We used more C4 than I can remember, it was our main go-to explosive along with time fuse and igniters. I got to use a variety of stuff - c4, TNT, dynamite. C4 was best for most applications though, I regularly had bits of C4 on my Leatherman blade from cutting those 1 1/4 pound blocks. I still have my blasting cap crimpers and blasting cap box in my office.

During the Vietnam war some [hard-up] soldiers would chip off pieces from ordnance and eat HMX/RDX to get high.
One project I worked on many years ago was a process using HMX in high energy rocket propellants so we had to test it in the lab.
The procedure called for using DMSO as a solvent to suspend the particles. One of the lab techs didn't use his gloves and absorbed some of the material
through his skin. He went home sick that day. He told me that it was not a pleasant feeling. He learned from his mistake and always wore his gloves after that.

[crazy2medic]

I bet, that's like on my current job Never Ever handle pharmaceutical Nitro glycerin with out gloves it'll give you a splitting headache and drop your blood pressure!

[mrvmax]

Crazy thing is it's relatively safe as long there is no blasting cap.

Yep, had to be pretty safe to handle under most circumstances. Some guys did dumb things with it, one of them being eating small amounts. Supposedly small amounts ingested cause some temporary craziness but I never saw that first hand. I’ve been told C4 works well for small fires since it burns well. You just don’t want any shock on it when it’s burning.
We used more C4 than I can remember, it was our main go-to explosive along with time fuse and igniters. I got to use a variety of stuff - c4, TNT, dynamite. C4 was best for most applications though, I regularly had bits of C4 on my Leatherman blade from cutting those 1 1/4 pound blocks. I still have my blasting cap crimpers and blasting cap box in my office.

During the Vietnam war some [hard-up] soldiers would chip off pieces from ordnance and eat HMX/RDX to get high.
One project I worked on many years ago was a process using HMX in high energy rocket propellants so we had to test it in the lab.
The procedure called for using DMSO as a solvent to suspend the particles. One of the lab techs didn't use his gloves and absorbed some of the material
through his skin. He went home sick that day. He told me that it was not a pleasant feeling. He learned from his mistake and always wore his gloves after that.

One of my instructors in EOD school told about one of his teammates who ingested some C4 on a bet, that’s the story I referred to. He said the guy went bonkers i don’t remember the full details but I remembered not to try it myself. Dares to eat c4 seemed to come up frequently but I never saw anyone do it.