{"id":9902,"date":"2024-05-23T17:49:53","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T05:49:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=9902"},"modified":"2024-05-23T17:49:53","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T05:49:53","slug":"rookie-metal-detectorists-copper-pipe-discovery-turns-out-to-be-guns-ammunition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=9902","title":{"rendered":"Rookie metal detectorist’s copper pipe discovery turns out to be guns, ammunition"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Wellington man thought he was about to dig up an old copper pipe with his metal detector before finding two AK-74s and ammunition.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday Dan O’Donnell was trying out a metal detector for the first time in the suburb of Berhampore when he detected a faint signal, so he started digging he told\u00a0Midday Report.<\/i><\/p>\n

“It got bigger and bigger as I got down deeper in the hole and my curiosity was definitely growing and I just thought I’d be digging up some old copper pipe.”<\/p>\n

O’Donnell said when he hit a bag that turned out contained the gun and ammunition, he thought it was a bit suspicious.<\/p>\n

“To be honest I just had no idea what to expect – like it could have been some old rubbish.”<\/p>\n

\"Metal<\/p>\n

The items were buried deep in the ground.\u00a0<\/span>Photo:\u00a0Supplied \/ Dan Donnell<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

He said the items were buried very deep and had tree roots growing over them, so it was clear they had been there a long time.<\/p>\n

“When I fully uncovered it, I could see that there was newspaper on there dating to 1993 so it had been there for 30 years.”<\/p>\n

He called the police immediately but wasn’t concerned due to the obvious age of the items.<\/p>\n

\"Metal<\/p>\n

Photo:\u00a0Supplied \/ Dan Donnell<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

O’Donnell said he posted the photos to a metal detecting group with people telling him it was “the find of a lifetime”.<\/p>\n

He said he would continue metal detecting but acknowledged his future finds might not be as exciting.<\/p>\n

“The dream is to find a gold coin or something like that, something with a bit of historical significance but it’s going to be a bit of a comedown from here I think.”<\/p>\n

Police have told O’Donnell that the guns are AK-74s.<\/p>\n

\"Metal<\/p>\n

Photo:\u00a0Supplied \/ Dan Donnell<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

According to Britannica, the AK-47, a Soviet assault rifle, is possibly the most widely used shoulder weapon in the world.<\/p>\n

Almost from when it was officially adopted by the Soviet military in 1949, the AK-47 was recognised as being simple to operate, reliable under trying conditions, and amenable to mass production.<\/p>\n

During the 1970s, the AK-74 was adopted. It adapted the basic Kalashnikov design and a later version, the AK-74M, was the main infantry weapon of the Russian army into the 21st century.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Police have told RNZ enquiries are being carried out and a forensic examination of the items will be conducted.<\/p>\n

VIA RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Wellington man thought he was about to dig up an old copper pipe with his metal detector before finding two AK-74s and ammunition. On Wednesday Dan O’Donnell was trying out a metal detector for the first time in the suburb of Berhampore when he detected a faint signal, so he started digging he told\u00a0Midday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9903,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,208,174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-lifestyle","category-nz-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9902"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9904,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9902\/revisions\/9904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}