A hoarder was found with 100 rounds of ammunition and a knuckleduster when police raided his home.
Mechanic Andrew Haines claimed he found the .22 bullets on a fishing trip and took them home and kept them because his local police station as closed and he could not hand them in.
He later found a knuckleduster in a car which he was working on and moved it to his tool kit for safe keeping.
Haines, aged 45, was found with the items after police raided his home in Elm Road, Brixham, where they also recovered a small amount of cannabis which he used to treat backache.
He admitted possessing ammunition, an offensive weapon and a class B drug and was jailed for 16 months, suspended for two years and ordered to do 240 hour unpaid community work by Judge Phillip Wassall at Exeter Crown Court.
The judge told him:"If there had been just one item which you claimed to have found and forgotten about, that explanation might have been acceptable, but it is different with two together. I have to treat that as unexplained.
"The courts have to take this seriously because the bullets could easily have got back into circulation, for instance if someone had burgled your house."
Mr Scott Horner, prosecuting, said police raided Haines' home in June and found the 100 bullets and 33 shotgun cartridges. They also searched his workplace and vehicle and found the knuckleduster.
He also had around £50 worth of herbal cannabis mixed with tobacco which he said he used for pain relief.
Mr James Taghdissian, defending, said Haines is the main carer for his wife, who has an illness, and works a couple of hours a day restoring motor cycles.
He said he found the ammunition in a school satchel during a fishing trip and the knuckleduster in a customer's car.
He said:"When he found the ammunition he drove past the police station but it was closed and so he went home and hid the bag away. He is a man who clearly hoards things that he might find useful in due course. He did not have these things for any nefarious purpose."
