Ammunition chemical aspects

Firearms and their associated ammunition, spent bullets, and spent cartridge cases provide useful information for identifying suspects, terrorist groups, and the criminal history of a weapon. Unfortunately, despite the numerous detailed books on the physical aspects of firearms, very little has been published on the chemical aspects, and what has been published is sparse and fragmented. 

N.E.C. is the major manufacturer with a complete range of explosives and accessories, with factories in Scotland, Wales and England. Explosives and Chemical Products Ltd., with factories in England, is the other manufacturer of explosives for sale. The major commercial manufacturer of ammunition is Imperial Metal Industries (Kynoch) Ltd. at Witton near Birmingham. The British Government has of course a number of Royal Ordnance Factories and establishments to cover all aspects of military explosives. 

Today, DDESB is concerned with the same explosives safety aspects of munitions manufacture, storage, transportation, and disposal as was recommended by Congress in 1928. An additional functional area added in 1968 by the Secretary of Defense is the establishment of chemical safety standards and a chemical safety program for chemical agents and components of chemical ammunition. 

About the danger these sea-dumped CW poses to fisheries there are several reports and papers published during the last few years. This aspect will be not discussed in this paper here. See Krohn, A. W. The challenge of dumped chemical ammunition in the Baltic Sea, Security Dialogue vol. 25, no.l, (1994,) pp. 93—103. 

Although the chemical mortar battalions were activated by the Army Ground Forces and remained under AGF jurisdiction, the Chemical Warfare Service, as indicated above, retained a considerable interest in them. The CWS supplied most of their officers and cadres, procured their mortars and ammunition, and was responsible for the technical aspects of their training. The chemical mortar battalions were accepted in the theaters as stemming from the CWS, even though their early growth was nurtured by the AGF. 

Andrulewicz, E., 1996. War gases and ammunition in the Polish economic zone of the Baltic Sea. In Kaffka, A.V. (Ed.), Sea-Dumped Chemical Weapons Aspects, Problems and Solutions. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. 9-15. 

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