I vaguely remember an incident that happened in the last 5 years in I think Virginia. Someone found an old Civil War cannon or mortar shell and tried to salvage the BP out of it. In the process of this, the shell exploded killing the individual trying to salvage the powder and destroyed his house. I thought I read about this in American Rifleman but can't find the article. Anyone remember this? The only thing I can find is over 15 years old and did not fit what I remember from the article.
I am trying to provide some proof to a couple of individuals who wrongly claim that any BP found in a Civil War era shell will just be black mush and will not explode. They claim to have found an area where they think there are some shells buried, and they want to demil them so they can sell them. I think their idea is the height of stupidity myself as neither one is especially careful about anything and also playing with anything that did not go boom the first time is a very bad idea in my experience. I am not saying it can't be done, just that it is a job for experts or the extremely lucky.