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A new Whatziss

By The Armorer on February 22, 2010 | | Comments (26)
whatziss.gif

Something from the last century. Pre-1950 for that matter.   As shown, the item is about twice its actual size.

It was used by a regularly constituted military organization of a Europeanish persuasion.  It was designed in one country, manufactured in another, and used by a third.

That's more than you usually get.  Surf away!

You may commence.

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26 Comments

By Flintlock on February 22, 2010 8:59 AM
This is the magazine spool from a military Mannlicher--Romainan or somewhere Balkanish.
 
By Fishmugger on February 22, 2010 9:05 AM
John...(whining)...it's Monday morning and you make a statement that "the item is twice its actual size". On my screen, it measures 6 1/2 inches...so the item should be divided by 2 and multiplied by 12/17ths, as my screen is 17 inches? And that's only if the "Picture" is twice actual size and the items actual size is the items actual size.

Screw it, I'm going down stairs for another cup of coffee.
 
By Pat on February 22, 2010 9:25 AM
 My guess is that it's for a Greek M1903 in 6.5 x 53 M/S.
 
By KCSteve on February 22, 2010 10:10 AM
Why I'd recognize it anywhere!

That there is a fiddly bit!
 
By og on February 22, 2010 10:41 AM
Well, it's clearly the follower of a rotary. It's too small to be a piece of the Savage 99, too brass to be from the Johnson, which are both US anyway, so it has to be a Mannlicher-Schoenauer of some stripe.
 
By og on February 22, 2010 10:46 AM
(Yes, I understand it's probably not brass and that's the photograph that makes it appear thusly)
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 22, 2010 10:53 AM
Yep, it's not brass (though, in truth, I don't see it that way, but then, I know what it is.)
 
By Blake Kirk on February 22, 2010 11:32 AM
I agree with Flintlock:  it's the magazine spool from a Model 1903 Mannlicher-Schonauer in 6.5 x 54mm, which was adopted by the Greek government as a standrd service arm in both rifle and carbine versions.  Since you say it was built in a different country than where it was designed, it probably came from the contract order of 1927, which was produced by Breda in Italy, possibly due to treaty restrictions on arms exports by Austria..  The weapon stayed in production up into the 1930's.

It was evidently a well-regarded weapon, despite being one of the few rotary-magazine weapons ever adopted as a standard service arm.  (The M1941 Johnson Rifle was never a standard-issue weapon.)   Numerous examples of the Y1903 were in use by partiisans on all sides in the Balkans during and after WW2.  And the current 6.5mm  Grendel cartridge evidently enjoys similar ballistics to the 6.5x54.

My Google-fu is strong today.
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 22, 2010 11:52 AM
And this is precisely why you don't get this kinda clueage - it makes it too easy for the smarty-pantsed among yaz.

We will return to thoroughly obfuscated clueage in the next one.

This one was just throwin' you a bone!
 
By BillT on February 22, 2010 1:31 PM
Well, it's clearly the follower of a rotary.

No, John is a follower of the Rotary -- the fiddly bit is just from one of his toys.

 
By og on February 22, 2010 1:48 PM
"No, John is a follower of the Rotary'

tsk. Language.

John is a follower of the follower of the rotary. Get it right, please.
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 22, 2010 1:53 PM
Ta hell with it - I'm a Rotarian.  And I'm gonna be Prez next year (insert Dr.Evil laugh).
 
By Mike L on February 22, 2010 2:30 PM
Hell with THAT!!!  I'm a Rotarian and I AM the Prez this year! BWAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!!!

ML
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 22, 2010 2:47 PM
Yeah, he treats me like I'm his b*tch.
 
By SezaGeoff on February 22, 2010 2:59 PM
So , Og,
Is it the follower of the follower of the follower of the Rotary that is true?  There seems to be a few Court Jesters here.
 
By Grumpy on February 22, 2010 3:22 PM
You make the point, this thing is  pre-1950. Well, there are alotta good things are pre-1950. Isn't that true, John? I'm from pre -1950. You confirm that it is not brass, is it bronze? I can't figure the Rotary/Rotarian issue and its relationship to this thingmajig. They usually use brass or bronze in water related applications. You confirm this is one of your toys, but not what type. You have every right to play with your toys, your dues are "Paid in Full". Is this the tip of a "Roto-Rooter Snake"? 

I'm just going to sit tight!       8 ^ )
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 22, 2010 3:28 PM
Grumpy - the thread has been hijacked by people riffing off the fact that the item in question is a rotary magazine follower - as in the thing that moves the bullets in a rotary magazine.  Since some of these scamps know that I am a Rotarian, i.e., a member of Rotary International, they are having fun confusing auld artifacts such as yourself...

The item is steel, not bronze or brass.
 
By og on February 22, 2010 4:33 PM
Indeed it is. it is a relatively decent quality medium carbon steel, but in an attempt to obfuscate, John has used lighting techniques(or more accurately, the notable lack of making any effort to use lighting techniques) to make it appear as if it were brass. The mistake he made, (and here, I must twirl my mustache ends in delight) is that many rotary magazine followers are indeed made of brass, the classic being the old Savage 99 (later versions were made of steel) which took me on a trip through the Land of Goog, wherupon I examined the specs for a Johnson and determined that this rotary follower was in fact not the one in question, but it provided many minutes of fine firearms ogling (what do ogs do? they ogle things) and I decided given the hints that it could only be from a Mannlicher-Schoenauer rifle, but those weren't equipped with brass followers, therupon I discovered John's evil plot.

or something.
 
By Justthisguy on February 22, 2010 5:55 PM
Must                  resist                really bad joke involving Johnsons and Mannlichers.
 
By Argent on February 22, 2010 7:04 PM
The colouring is like copper and brass, John's getting more creative all the time.
 
By Justthisguy on February 22, 2010 8:32 PM
Well, he is an arty kind of guy.
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 22, 2010 8:36 PM
What I think I like best is that you guys are attributing Evil Skillz to what is just crappy photography...
 
By Rivrdog on February 22, 2010 11:01 PM
 You're all wrong. It's out of a Dardick handgun, the one which shot polymer "tround" cartridges. 

Or, it could have been out of the mysterious high-volume machinegun found in the wreckage of a light aircraft which crashed in OH in the early 70's, and the wing-mounted weapon was of a an action never seen before, the firing breech being made up of two rotary feed/followers in opposite rotation, and the whole of which was estimated to have been capable of at least 3,000 RPM firing rate out of a single barrel.

The fact that the Armorer owns a piece of said almost-unknown rotary-action machinegun makes him a suspect Armorer from off this world.

More than likely then, he has secured a position as Ron Paul's armorer.... 
 
By Toluca Nole on February 23, 2010 12:49 AM
Strange-looking oven?
 
By BillT on February 23, 2010 2:29 AM
Nup, that was the one with the Jawas standing in formation.

John never repeats a Whatziss until he repeats a Whatziss.
 
By MCart on February 23, 2010 11:59 PM

Never would have guessed the actual weapon from it's appearance, but it's function is obvous from the shape. I would have gone with Og's first guess, as it looks like a mutant cross between the rotary lifter in my Savage .303, and the follower plate in my US model 1917.