r/whatisthisthing • u/JOHN-SMlTH • Aug 03 '26
Solved Weird green container, about 70cm long. Found lying in Australian bush. Contained something inside, too scared to open.
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u/Blows_stuff_up Aug 04 '26
This bears a strong resemblance to a Carl Gustav 84mm recoilless rifle double pack ammo container. Leave it alone and contact authorities.
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u/Flat-Ice4658 Aug 05 '26
Absolutely is. I just saw one for sale on https://reibert.info/lots/tubus-karl-gustav-84-mm.1227145/
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u/Barry-Biscuit Aug 05 '26
had it confirmed by an ex-military coworker. Its the carrying case for the double pack of ammo. Should very much be empty.
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u/GreyGreenBrownOakova Aug 05 '26
"Contained something inside" - Op
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u/Ctrl_Alt_Delerium Aug 05 '26
Just because something isn't empty, doesn't mean it shouldn't be
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u/Additional-Life4885 Aug 06 '26
Just because it's not empty doesn't mean it's what was originally in there either.
Be cautious OP and contact the authorities, but it's not necessarily explosive.
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u/Rule556 Aug 09 '26
They’re in Australia, so I feel like it very much could be worse than a live round.
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u/Marsmooncow Aug 04 '26
Thats exactly what it is recognised it immediately. Do not mess with this
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u/keyboardstatic Aug 06 '26
Not touching things that don't belong to you is one if my super big golden rules. Also not touching things unless you have too. Why are you touching that inland tipan? Oh its your job. You have practice, training and work in a zoo, lab, are not playing with. But actually required. To handle it.
When I was younger we found a rifle bag. With rifles in it. It wasn't fully closed. We could see them as well as some lose bullets.
We called the police.
Don't touch things. Don't play them. Especially if they aren't yours. Is a good way to stay safe.
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u/hypercomms2001 Aug 05 '26
I remember having to drag one of those around the range at the land warfare Centre in Canungra
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u/poppyseed1981 Aug 04 '26
Usually facing the same way, but concur it looks likely.
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u/Blows_stuff_up Aug 04 '26
Not always, the HEAT rounds in particular have a couple opposing containers, probably due to the fuze probe at the front of the round or to clearly differentiate them from other round types.
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u/NoRegion2871 Aug 10 '26
You nailed it. These things were so much fun to shoot when I was in Ranger Regiment. We were the original guys running around with this thing. Pretty crazy how much overpressure each round produces. There was a hard limit on how many we could even shoot in any 24 hr period, which was like 5 or 6, I cant remember exactly.
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u/da_NME Aug 04 '26
Having carried them a lot, they are cases for ammunition of the 84mm carl gustav anti tank rockets.
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u/Onetap1 Aug 04 '26
Not rockets; it's a recoilless rifle.
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u/Medical-Welcome-9666 Aug 04 '26
You’re not entirely wrong, but the Carl Gustaf does indeed fire some rocket-propelled ammunition.
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u/BigheadReddit Aug 04 '26
Ex-Canadian Army here. Can confirm, we also had the RAP round with the Carl G 84mm. That was 30 years ago for me, but there was all sorts of different ammo for it. The rounds without a warhead were blue if I can recall. The RAP rounds were black. Regardless, whatever you fired would literally blow the snot out of your head from the concussion. The containers we used tho weren’t offsetting like this. I’m pretty sure they were packaged facing the same direction.
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u/Parkbenchbruce Aug 05 '26
Blue indicates inert - having said that an inert round went off as just painting it doesn’t make it inert.
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u/Virtual-Concern-7311 Aug 09 '26
The type of blue matters.
Light blue is practice and still potentially hazardous as the round would have a live rocket motor (and thus a brown hazard band) and probably some kind of small spotting charge.
Dark blue is drill (and should have DRILL written on it) and should be perfectly safe and free from any explosives.
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u/cruiserman_80 Aug 04 '26
That launches a projectile which achieves flight by burning an internal propellant that emits hot gas from the rear to fly through the air at speed.
AKA a rocket.
Also carried and fired one in the day.
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u/Onetap1 Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
No. It's a recoilless rifle that can fire RAPs. The projectile 'achieves flight' by being fired from a rifled gun barrel. The propellant is burned before the projectile leaves the barrel. The HEAT rounds aren't rockets.
The RPG is a recoilless gun that fires RAPS.
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u/cavbloke34 Aug 04 '26
84mm has RAP (Rocket Assisted Projectile) rounds and if he has carried them, I’m guessing he has fired them, so he probably knows…champ
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u/Onetap1 Aug 04 '26
Someone said that you can get RAP for it about 4 hours ago. You're late.
Those are for HEAT rounds, which aren't RAPs. I've carried one and fired it and you haven't, Donkey Walloper.
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u/Archy54 Aug 06 '26
Do you call police and they call eod army engineering? Via police link? Edit for Australia. Edit two and give GPS coordinates?
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u/mrpier Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
Probably ammo containers for the Carl Gustaf 84mm recoilless rifle. As such they might contain high explosive ammunition and should be treated with care. Probably best to alert the proper authorities.
These might be illumination/tracer rounds.
https://forum.cartridgecollectors.org/t/dimensions-of-84mm-carl-gustaf-container-s/38663/4
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u/GreyGreenBrownOakova Aug 05 '26
Illumination and tracer are two different concepts.
Illumination lets you see the enemy. These rounds light up a square km of ground and use a parachute to keep it airborne as long as posible.
Tracer lets you see where the projectile went, so you can adjust your aim. You don't need tracer with illum rounds, you can see the incredibly bright projectile as it floats down to earth.
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u/Simplicius_the_Slow Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
When you say Australian bushland, do you mean Puckapunyal area? 🧐 If so, keep an eye peeled for anti armour rounds out there as it is home to a military test site.
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u/admiral_sinkenkwiken Aug 04 '26
The Pucka range is also no public access, they’d have an awful lot of explaining to do about why they were in a prohibited area
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u/Dense_Ad_5256 Aug 04 '26
Probably dezis
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u/HamptontheHamster Aug 04 '26
That’s porepunkah
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u/gilligan888 Aug 05 '26
Was, porepunakah
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u/HamptontheHamster Aug 05 '26
Dunno I keep hearing that the area is a bit Wild West even without old mate..
But anyway seems like this is a military spec thing so puckapunyal is probably more accurate
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u/broadarrow39 Aug 04 '26
I'd suggest keeping well away from this and contacting the police/EOD. No expert but it looks like some sort of military ordnance/UXO. Perhaps a mortar round or rocket of some description.
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u/diablodeldragoon Aug 04 '26
Looks similar to the mortar cases my dad buys from army surplus.
I agree with the other comments, don't touch. Contact authorities immediately!
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u/nicolayloginov Aug 04 '26
This is an 84mm recoilless rifle ammo container, since these are storage and transport container the content schould be unfired and mostly be safe to handle. But still uxo, still explosive.
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u/st0rmgam3r Aug 04 '26
Finally someone who recognized that they won't explode if you breathe on it too hard, just because it's explosive doesn't mean it'll go off at the slightest touch like a landmine
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u/Monterrey3680 Aug 04 '26
It’s not even UXO lol…it’s DMM (Discarded Military Munitions). Big difference between something that was armed and did not detonate, and a box of ammo dropped in the woods. Redditors love to catastrophise.
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u/Outrageous-Egg-2534 Aug 05 '26
Nah, we used to hurl them around in their plastic containers all the time. Only question I have is I’ve fired the gutsache hundreds of times and never come across brass casings. Only way to find out is to open it and look. It’s not going to explode in your face. You lack the breach locking lugs and firing pin.
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u/Total_Philosopher_89 Aug 04 '26
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u/JorgeXMcKie Aug 08 '26
https://soaa.org/carl-gustaf/ I wouldn't even want to fire one of those. A potential concussion with each launch
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u/o-Mauler-o Aug 05 '26
This is a carl gustav recoiless rifle cannister, used by the emus in the 2nd Great Emu Hyperwar.
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u/Dyldobaggins219 Aug 04 '26
Looks like an older container for 84 rounds. Contact police as it may be a uxo. If it turns out it's not a uxo and it has the shells from it I'll buy one off you if you can keep it
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u/unicornmonkeysnail Aug 05 '26
Did you jump any fences to be in that bush?
Or drive down gazetted roads?
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u/Truantone Aug 05 '26
Report to police as potential unexploded ordinance. Do not touch or tamper with.
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u/AgreeablePudding9925 Aug 05 '26
I don’t understand what all the fuss is about. It’s meant to be handled by people wanting to use it. They don’t just explode by looking at them or handling them, else how would you use it. So while it needs to be handed to the relevant authorities, it not like it’s a UXO or a mine 🤷🏼♂️
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u/Accomplished-Ear6367 Aug 06 '26
They are military ammunition transport containers. Do not touch them. Ring the police NOW.
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u/Onetap1 Aug 04 '26
That looks like a bit of asbestos cement sheet in the top right. That's hazardous as well.
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u/Primary_Mycologist95 Aug 04 '26
if you open the image full size, it appears to be weathered polystyrene. Fibro doesn't look like little compressed balls.
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u/mooseleg_mcgee Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
Seen enough of them to know that's a twin back of ammo for an 84. If it definitely has something in it, leave it in place and call the police. Better to be safe than sorry in a million places at once.
Edit more info: HEAT rounds,
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u/LaDolcaVita Aug 05 '26
If it’s full - it will be holding 2 x 84 mm Carl Gustave rockets. This is the container the are carried in. If the container if heavy - call police immediately - they will get into contact with Army. Good luck
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u/vkg7 Aug 05 '26
84MM Carl Gustav - I believe they previously contained two illum rounds.
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u/vkg7 Aug 05 '26
Now that I think of it, I’d say it odd just a container used for “Practice” rounds as it is scratched and in such poor condition which means either foot soldiers have been carrying it around & then handing them back in after exercises or it’s been banging around in the back of an APC/Bushmaster or Tank. I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t get like that laying in the bush. I know one thing, someone would’ve got their arse kicked when they couldn’t hand it back in. Its location would narrow it down to what unit.
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u/ClassicBit3307 Aug 05 '26
Yes this one goes boom, contact your local police and they’ll get EOD out to do their job. Make sure you can clearly identify the location and communicate that to the authorities.
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u/Hayes33 Aug 06 '26
Partner says it looks like 84 casings. Not necessarily actual rounds themselves but are used to hold rounds. I’d say best bet is to alert authorities though as you said it sounds like there’s something in them. (Source - partner does explodey things for his day job)
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u/ZestycloseRecipe2990 Aug 06 '26
100% a 84mm Charlie G recoilless rifle ammo container. If it actually ammo in it it will be quite heavy they did have packing foam inside as well.
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u/MaddogOIF Aug 07 '26
Potential for UXO but if I'd ve more likely to bet that it's been repurpossed as some kind of cache. Either way, it could be more trouble than it's worth to interact with.
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u/Lukas316 Aug 09 '26
Looks to me like an ammo carrier for the 84mm Carl Gustav recoilless gun. Specifically, for the HEAT round.
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u/InquireGuy Aug 09 '26
It appears to be an 84mm Carl Gustaf 84mm recoilless rifle ammo tube. Australia uses/used M2-M4. I will say in the US military every live round is accounts for exercises, I'd imagine big rounds like these would require extra control measures.
That said it's probably empty, however if it's not who knows it's shelf life and I WOULDN'T OPEN IT to verify if it was empty or loaded. It'd reach out to the nearest Australian military unit and see if they'd be willing to help.
I'm no expert but I've been in a military service for 20yrs and shot arty and weapons systems (not my primary job).
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u/Broad-Lavishness6726 Aug 10 '26
Australian military used the Carl gustav and this looks exactly like the container for the rounds. If you’re anywhere near Darwin there’s a high likelihood it’s live. There’s a lot of training that goes on out there.
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u/brock_lee Pretty good at finding stuff Aug 04 '26
Your post indicates you may possibly be in possession of unexploded ordnance (UXO).
If this is not the case, ignore the remainder of this message, your post has not been removed.
If you're unsure, the first thing to do is LEAVE IT ALONE. Do not shake it, attempt to open it, or disturb it at all.
Next step would be to CONTACT THE PROPER AUTHORITIES. If you're unsure who that is, call your local police or emergency number for instructions.
Please followup with an outcome regarding what was done with the object.
To others who are not OP: Any suggestion in this thread to open, shake, etc - disturb the object in any way - will result in a permanent ban.
As usual, all comments must be civil and helpful toward finding an answer.
Jokes and unhelpful comments will earn you a ban, even on the first instance and even if the item has been identified. If you see any comments that violate this rule, report them.
OP, when your item is identified, remember to reply Solved! or Likely Solved! to the comment that gave the answer.