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Just sayin'

By The Armorer on February 18, 2005 | | Comments (35)

This is your collection. (The Arsenal at Castle Argghhh!)

This is your collection on a budget. (The basement at Outpost Neffi)

This is your collection on steroids. (Springfield Arsenal)

Click on the first and third pictures to take virtual tours of the Arsenal at Castle Argghhh! and the Springfield Armory museum.

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35 Comments

By Barb on February 18, 2005 12:05 PM
The tours will have to wait until I get home - but I am intrigued by Neffi's collection! Our last discussion of methods of torture was illuminating - and I find the potential for blade work very enticing ;-)
 
By cw4billt on February 18, 2005 12:34 PM
I note, as James Earl Carter was wont to say, "with hevvuh hot," the conspicuous absence of TOW tube(s). Heh. Heh times six...
 
By Sgt. B. on February 18, 2005 12:45 PM
Hmmm, it's nice to have goals we aspire to... Nice... Pretties...
 
By Neffi on February 18, 2005 12:47 PM
oooooh OW ! My collection of rare, antique and significant bayonets- DISSED ! Keep in mind, gentle reader, that photo is but one corner of the Bayonet Vault... and while it ain't the Imperial War Museum, it's prolly the best blade collection on my street! [sotto voice- Ill get you fer this, howitzerhead] ... Chief, Ida got a TOW tube but they don't have bayonet lugs...
 
By cw4billt on February 18, 2005 12:54 PM
Neffi - I'm college educated--ya doesn't has ta call me "lug"...
 
By cw4billt on February 18, 2005 12:56 PM
By the way, what's up with the trowel in the middle of all the petunia markers?
 
By AFSister on February 18, 2005 1:08 PM
Yeah, Neffi- what is that thing? I hadn't noticed it until Bill pointed it out. Definately looks like a garden trowel. Nice collection!! Puts my Beanie Baby collection to shame.
 
By cw4billt on February 18, 2005 1:16 PM
Beanie Babies! That's what his collection needs! Impaled on the tips, just so folks walking too close to the wall don't get SangerM'd...
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 18, 2005 1:35 PM
The trowel is just that, a trowel bayonet, but I'll let Neffi explain that. And, Nefster, if you'd provided more pics, there'd be more pics... hardly dissed... just used as a "Compare and Contrast" is how I would prefer to put it. (Seriously, though, send me more pics and I'll add 'em to the Virtual Museums I'm building). And, send me yer dingle-dang-darned snailmail address, like I've asked for three times now! Sheesh!
 
By AFSister on February 18, 2005 1:37 PM
Neffi- yes, please explain.
 
By Neffi on February 18, 2005 2:13 PM
As John sez, it is a trowel bayonet- Rice's Patent Entrenching bayonet. First issued on a trial basis in 1869, the idea was to enable an infantryman to quickly scrape a shallow furrow in which to lie prone, lending both cover and concealment... mine is the second model, with an improved locking latch. These were issued with a detachable handle to improve the grip when dismounted from the rifle. The idea was sound- and worked in field trials- but as a bayonet it was deemed to have too little penetration, due to the broad blade and thick edges. Production was cancelled and the trial pieces withdrawn from service... Lt. Rice's design was one of the earlier efforts to supply troops with a multi-functional bayonet, but it failed by sacrificing it's primary function, ie ramming a section of sharp steel into the torso of the Ungodly Foe [ewwwww]. This experiment soon followed by the Ramrod bayonet, which was suitable only for roasting hot dogs...
 
By cw4billt on February 18, 2005 2:27 PM
Looks like that was standard recreation, judging by the curvature on a few of 'em.
 
By AFSister on February 18, 2005 2:28 PM
Thanks Neffi- Cool idea. Too bad it didn't really work out. Sounds like a rare item you have there! My neighbors would like your collection. Their bedroom is decorated with blades of all sorts.
 
By Boquisucio on February 18, 2005 2:28 PM
Certainly, the sight of all three collections makes me weak at the knees. But there is something to be said about the artisanal-craftmanlike pride found in Neffi's toolshoppe Sure; The Armourer and Springfield's tools are a sight to behold, but there is a certain "je-ne-sais-quois" lost amongst all those impersonal, mass produced power tools.
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 18, 2005 2:33 PM
Boz - aren't you conflating *use* with construction? It's not like those bayonets weren't produced with machinery in their gazillions - especially after 1830.
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 18, 2005 2:36 PM
Oh, and Bill - while there may be no TOWs, there is a LAAW, with rocket. And TWO 3.5 inch bazookas. And the Arsenal is in negotiations for a Sagger... on the rail, albeit sans box and sight/controller. Well, actually, this never would have had those, being the rail from a BMP. Of course, that will probably require a fund-raiser. Owner has some idea what it's worth, dang it.
 
By Neffi on February 18, 2005 3:40 PM
Boz is right John- as a miltary weapon, a finely-wrought bayonet is far superior to a generic machine gun. This was repeatedly proven in The Great War. Oh- wait a minute... doh!
 
By cw4billt on February 18, 2005 3:59 PM
Well, let's stand off 3,000 meters apart and see who--. Dang. Six tubes, zero missiles. Okay, then--bayonets at 3,000 meters...
 
By cw4billt on February 18, 2005 4:01 PM
Hey, go for the Bimp, too--make Monteith posilutely viridian...
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 18, 2005 4:15 PM
Well, at $1 a pound shipping... I wonder if Dusty can call in any favors with the C5 guys? And there will definitely have to be a Castle Fund-Raiser...
 
By Sgt. B. on February 18, 2005 6:29 PM
While yer at it... Anyone know where I can find a BTR cheap... I'm serious, dammit... Ya'll can have all the guns in the world, but ya need to transport 'em to the front line... That's where MY collection comes into play...
 
By AFSister on February 18, 2005 6:46 PM
Neffi- What are the three mounted horizontal near the ceiling? I know they're swords, not bayonettes, but what kind? What's the history there?
 
By Neffi on February 18, 2005 7:14 PM
SGT B.- google 'surplus military vehicles', and hang onto yer wallet! But most of the good stuff is in Europe (natch)... AFSis, from left to right is a British Infantry Officer's sword by Wilkinson, embossed on the blade with a family crest of a stag's head and laurel leaves, and the initials LMG in fancy script. Made in 1868, according to Wilkinson records (via the serial number). Next is a French artillery sidearm, made in Paris in first part of 19th century. These were for defense if enemy forces broke through, but were mostly used as machetes to clear brush etc in front of the guns... Patterned after the Roman gladius, the Springfield arsenal copied it for US issue- French weaponry was on the 'cutting edge' then hehe and the last one is a bayonet, the Enfield M1858 cutlass bayonet- probably the bulkiest bayo ever made. It was designed for boarding parties- very intimidating and useful if needed after firing your one shot- by dismounting it and swinging away! Gawd knows what it did to the barrel harmonics but boarding parties weren't concerned with long range accuracy anyhoo...
 
By Neffi on February 18, 2005 8:18 PM
oh, bayonets- don't get me started!!! Too late- Chief, the curvature on some of those blades is called 'yataghan' style- after the Afghan sword blade that was designed to reach around a shield. But the bayonet blades with this shape were mostly those which replaced socket bayonets at a time when rifles were still muzzle-loaders... the off-set blade gave clearance for the ram-rod hand. Things were bad enough for the PBI without ripping up your hand on the reload... the yataghan blades were phased out as cartridge guns became the norm. oooooooooooo don't get me started... ;)
 
By AFSister on February 18, 2005 9:17 PM
Thanks Neffi!
 
By J.M. Heinrichs on February 18, 2005 9:31 PM
Humph! I'm not permitted to put a edge on my parade sword (Wilkinson, natch) so I would have to beat my opponent to death ... http://www.wilkinson-swords.co.uk/uk_swords/army/infantry.html Nice collection of blades! Cheers JMH
 
By Justthisguy on February 18, 2005 9:49 PM
Ach! Those old-fashioned wapp I mean weapons are useless against high-explosives falling upon the Anglo-Saxons from great heights! Hark to the beating of the screws of our Zeppelin airships, and tremble!
 
By CDR Salamander on February 18, 2005 10:41 PM
Is that WD-40 I see???? Eeeekkkkk!!!!!! You gummed up dinosaur. Corrosion X my friend. Corrosion X. Once you use it, you will never go back. http://www.cbhobbies.com/corrosionx/forguns.html
 
By cw4billt on February 18, 2005 11:52 PM
Well, thanks for the info on the yataknitanafghan-style blades, Neff, but I was referring to a couple of 'em in the socket row... BTW, ever aviate into Eagle County and chuckle at the Hueys-on-Skis at the HAATS?
 
By emdfl on February 19, 2005 4:31 AM
Beautiful collection. I may have to bring my wife over to the site and show her just how well off she is with my two little safes,heh, heh, heh...
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 19, 2005 8:35 AM
emdfl - you're welcome. A service we at the Castle are happy to provide. CDR Salamander. Amateur. Amateurs always jump to conclusions. There's cleaning, there's lubrication, there's preservation - long term and short term. Absent demage done during - it's the final coating of whatever that matters. Besides. I like the smell. Many good memories associated with the smell.
 
By Boquisucio on February 19, 2005 8:58 AM
John, I'm with you. Ah, the sweet smell of gun mayo permeating the air.
 
By cw4billt on February 19, 2005 10:58 AM
Knew I had this someplace... From the 2003 Darwin Awards Nomination Pool: Nominee #6 [The Indianapolis Star]: A cigarette lighter may have triggered a fatal explosion in Dunkirk, IN. A Jay County man, using a cigarette lighter to check the barrel of a muzzle loader was killed Monday night when the weapon discharged in his face. Sheriff's investigators said Gregory David Pryor, 19, died in his parents' rural Dunkirk home at about 11:30 PM. Pryor was cleaning a 54-caliber muzzle-loader that had not been firing properly. He was using the lighter to look into the barrel when the gunpowder ignited. Well, if the powder ignited while he was holding a lighter to the muzzle, it's fairly simple to figure out why the smoke-pole wasn't "firing properly"...
 
By Neffi on February 19, 2005 12:58 PM
Chief, those blades in the socket row ain't warped- it's an hoptical allusion, caused by the lighting and the camera flash. And I know the slicks-on-sausages yer talking about, but I try not to chuckle too loud- I may someday be trying to signal one from a mountain-side, eh? 10-4 on the smell of WD40, John- and it's a dang good solvent when cleaning old grease out of the corners and crannies of an old military device (one of my favorite pastimes). Just don't get it in your eyes- trust me on this one...
 
By CDR Salamander on February 21, 2005 9:22 PM
Hopps #9. That and the perfume of a girl I knew in High School.... À la recherche du temps perdu...... A little froggy for you... Very Proustian.
 
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