Okay - new whazzis?

By The Armorer on June 11, 2006 | | Comments (19)

This'll be a pain.

1. It's an object from the Arsenal.

2. It's about the width of a pencil.

Lessee - if I were to give you a hint, I would look principally to a Frenchman for inspiration, although the object itself is not French.

Update - obviously, some more hints are in order:

Oh, and BCR - flexible - in terms of being all wiggly or something, no.

In terms of multiple uses - not by intent, though soldiers are certainly an inventive group and I could think of alternate purposes to which it could be put... including, in fact, one that *I* put it to... some decades after it ceased to be an artifact in general use.

It was innovative for it's day, but was only transitional to better designs and approaches - like the Gatling or Gardner guns (ignoring the renaissance enjoyed by the Gatling due to the application of electricity!).

And no, it is not related to either of the above.

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19 Comments

By Boquisucio on June 11, 2006 4:47 PM
Could dat be a badly chewed-up remains of a .577 Snider boom-boom thingie?
 
By Bad Cat Robot on June 11, 2006 8:12 PM
Civil-War-era tactical cheese grater!
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 11, 2006 8:24 PM
Hmmm. No. Yer both wrong.
 
By Bad Cat Robot on June 11, 2006 9:51 PM
is it flexible? Does Lavoisier have anything to do with it?
 
By Tim on June 11, 2006 10:17 PM
French, mmm? It's the holder for a white flag!
 
By ry on June 11, 2006 11:22 PM
Having looked in the Arsenal(damn dial up at home!) I'm guessing it's something to do with your Vivien-Brassiere grenades. No idea what, yet(damn dial up!).
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 12, 2006 4:56 AM
Tim, creative, but nope. Ry - clever boy! But, nope. BCR - The frenchman whom you should derive principle inspiration from was born *after* Lavoisier died.
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 12, 2006 5:03 AM
Oh, and BCR - flexible - in terms of being all wiggly or something, no. In terms of multiple uses - not by intent, though soldiers are certainly an inventive group and I could think of alternate purposes to which it coule be put... including, in fact, one that *I* put it to... some decades after it ceased to be an artifact in general use. It was innovative for it's day, but was only transitional to better designs and approaches - like the Gatling or Gardner guns (ignoring the renaissance enjoyed by the Gatling due to the application of electricity!). And no, it is not related to either of the above.
 
By MajMike on June 12, 2006 7:58 AM
kind of like a Confederate Read-Parrott design?? (but a lot smaller)
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 12, 2006 8:16 AM
Greater specificity, please, Major.
 
By brogonzo on June 12, 2006 8:18 AM
I have no idea. It eventually started to look like drug paraphernelia, and now I can't see anything else in that photo. So my guess is "crack pipe."
 
By MajMike on June 12, 2006 8:24 AM
welll..... seeing as the base portion there appears to be of a lighter material (for like sabot action), i was thinking along the lines of this... http://www.civilwarartillery.com/projectiles/rifled/IIIA86and87.htm ..but, that would be for a much larger projo, nothing as skinny as a pencil that i could recall.
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 12, 2006 8:29 AM
Hmmm, Brogonzo. Looks like we've got a little officer/enlisted worldview difference at work here... 8^ D
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 12, 2006 8:31 AM
MajMike scores on Phase 1. The frenchman I was referring to was Captain Minie. The principle... I spelled it that way for a reason, was that of base expansion to engage rifling. The next post will move it to Phase 2.
 
By brogonzo on June 12, 2006 8:58 AM
John -- Could be... but then again, it might be more because I've spent a lot more time looking at police reports than ordnance. Speaking of which, we just had a captain here court-martialed for trafficking crystal meth.
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 12, 2006 9:03 AM
He shoots, he SCORES!
 
By MajMike on June 12, 2006 9:21 AM
i keep thinking Gardner or a Whitworth sniper round... but the froggies also had somekinda triangle base thingie.. stumped.
 
By J.M. Heinrichs on June 13, 2006 7:32 AM
May I suggest "driving band" vice "sabot"? Cheers
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 13, 2006 7:54 AM
You may. And be more accurate, too.