These were designed to be fired by a cannon, the fuze is not sensitive. Live projectiles were shipped to the field with shipping plugs, not fuzes. They were fuzed prior to firing. The large cap (Haube) was removed, the shipping plug unscrewed, the fuze screwed into the projectile, a long wood dowel placed into the fuze, the small tip on the top of the Haube removed and the Haube then fit over the projectile with dowel in place and screwed down. Then it was fired. They were never left fuzed with the Haube in place. It is up to the collector to make sure nothing in his collection is live, for his safety and the safety of his neighbors. EOD and Bomb Squad doctrine is simple, everything is live, blow it up. It is up to us as collectors to be sure every single item in the collection is empty and can be proven empty. Another way to do this if you are afraid to run a piece of welding rod or a thin wood dowel through the projectile is to drop a small light through the hole and visually inspect. I am not talking about a fired dud recovered from a battlefield here, these are projectiles that were emptied by the army decades ago and given to parks and Veterans Halls, for display.
I should probably just bite my tongue and keep silent, but it is a quiet afternoon and I have some rare spare time, so what the hell.
This statement, while no doubt well intentioned, is poorly thought through, misguided, short-sighted and ignorant (I'm being gentle).
To begin with, as you mention these munitions were brought over for testing. To assume that personnel in the US were familiar with all procedures used by Germany - and followed them faithfully while here in the US - is a stretch. Further, to state procedures and follow with a statement that something is "
never" done is simply ignorant. These tests/use/loading were done by the military. I've spent my career cleaning up other people's mistakes, especially in the military, "never" always seems to be used just before the greatest screw-ups.
Second, these items were brought here to be tested. Which means that they were loaded. To advise over the internet to people that you have never seen with ordnance that you have not inspected, that all were simply "projectiles that were emptied by the army decades ago and given to parks and Veterans Halls, for display" gives credit to these people that they can tell which were emptied and which were not, as well as which were fired and which were not. Regardless, of all of the full rounds that were to be emptied, some got out live - they always do. In addition, of those tested, 1:10 failed to function and sits somewhere on a range, waiting to be found and brought home, months, decades or a century later.
To advise that the way to inspect these same unseen projectiles and look for a fuze with a funnel shaped opening into its firing train is to run a welding rod through the unseen fuze well to the bottom of the projectile is (no longer gentle) simply stupid to the extreme. Further, the part about "fired by cannon and the fuze is not sensitive" is too ignorant to comment on, as is the use of "afraid". If you have no respect for the functioning or hazard of the fuze, why check for it in the first place? I'll have to keep in mind that in the future I don't need to examine items to see if they are live or not, just to see if the military gave any of them to Veteran's halls.
While I am throwing in my two cents here, in regard to the EOD and Bomb Squad personnel that you have so much experience with and seem to regard so highly, their doctrine is to treat everything as live - until/unless it can be positively identified as otherwise. If, in the time that they have available, they are not able to prove this to an acceptable level with the training and resources available to them - then the items may be disposed of.
I realize that the initial intent was to offer helpful information, but it needs to be recognized that many people read this forum, often with very little experience or understanding - not only in regard to the munitions but also to the potential penalties for following misguided advice.