What is it?

[GunnyGene]

I know what these are. Do you? :mrgreen:

 

[graygun]

ladles ?

 

[BearBio]

molds for fishing weights?

 

[Coop]

Turning boy calves into steers?

 

[Dan in MI]

Steering wheel for bulls.

 

[GunnyGene]

None of y'all are even close. This is a gun forum, right? :wink: :lol: That's a hint, btw.

 

[graygun]

very crude hearing protection

 

[DA_TriggR4Ruger]

Black powder ball molds?

 

[Dan in MI]

Open one up.

Doesn't appear to be copper for a pendulum.

 

[GunnyGene]

Open one up.

Doesn't appear to be copper for a pendulum.

Since it seems y'all are well & truly stumped, ok.

 

[Cholo]

A ball maker for politicians? :mrgreen:

 

[pruger45]

A lead hardness tester?

 

[powder smoke]

Swinging targets. ps

 

[Coop]

Early model Chronograph. Pendulum displacement used to measure bullet velocity?

 

[GunnyGene]

Here's another hint: Old Ironsides.

 

[Ballplayer]

Kinda a cannon ball chained together...can't remember what it's called right now, they swing around after being fired causing massive damage....used alot in the Civil War.

 

[Dan in MI]

I had to cheat and came back to the answers.

here's the various definitions

Chain-shot – Two iron balls joined together with a chain. This type of shot was particularly effective against rigging, boarding netting, and sails, since the balls and chain would whirl like bolas when fired.
Bar shot – Two balls or hemispheres joined by a solid bar. Their effect was similar to chain shot.
Expanding bar shot – Bar shot connected by a telescoping bar which extended upon firing.
Link shot – A series of long chain links which unfolded and extended upon firing.

 

[Ballplayer]

It just came to me but not sure, I think they're called buck & ball.

 

[GunnyGene]

Kinda a cannon ball chained together...can't remember what it's called right now, they swing around after being fired causing massive damage....used alot in the Civil War.

Bingo!! You & Dixie boy win the brownie points!! Congratulations! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

These are called bar shot. There were several different designs in use even in the early 1700's. This particular one in the pic is a reproduction by my Texas buddy Zulu. It's a 3" diameter lead ball (total weight just over 10lbs including the bars) for a 10 pounder naval cannon, and is about 30" long when opened up. They were also made for larger deck cannon up to about 24 pounders. These type rounds were used primarily to target sails and rigging on opposing vessels, although they would also be effective as anti-personel or light fortifications on land. Pretty short range tho and not terribly accurate.

Here's the first one, extended.

Here's a couple other designs he's reproducing to go with the cannons he makes:

and a chain shot:

 

[powder smoke]

Devastating for sure good one gunny. ps

 

[GunnyGene]

Devastating for sure good one gunny. ps

One of my ancestors would have been very familiar with these. Good old Capt. Zach was a merchant man that was inclined to running British blockades and dealing with pirates back in the day. Apparently I inherited some of his DNA, which would account for my attitude on certain subjects. :wink:

https://archive.org/details/autobiocaptzach00lamsrich

 

[graygun]

Took balls to invent those!

 

[JPGLSG]

If any tall enemy sailing ships get any close to M, we can sleep easy knowing you've got that covered. You my friend have got some neat stuff.......

 

[737tdi]

I knew the answer when I saw it but I just saw the post. Only reason I knew is that I love the history of weapons and ammo. This stuff could give you nightmares if you were on a sailing vessel then. Can you imagine the carnage on the wooden decks of these ships. Even if it didn't kill you death would come soon due to gangrene/infections. Arghhh. Granted it was designed to destroy rigging and sails but it was also used to clear the decks of the enemy.


Semper Fi:

Karl

 

[Colonialgirl]

Are they possible a type of round for a cannon designed to whirl around as it passes through rigging or people; Kind of like Chain Shot?

 

[volshooter]

Ain't been around neither but I did know what it was. I have a friend who builds cannons as his primary job, his interest is civil war era reproductions.
Today's weapons are soft/humane measured against those from earlier times.

 

[Jeepnik]

Cannon ball mold

 

[lipofsky]

Cannon Fuse snuffer

 

[GunnyGene]

Are they possible a type of round for a cannon designed to whirl around as it passes through rigging or people; Kind of like Chain Shot?

They were fired from a smooth bore cannon so no spin was imparted by the barrel, but simple aerodynamics would cause some tumbling, etc. in flight. Try to picture one of these coming your way at around 400fps. :shock:

To give some numbers we're all familiar with; 10lbs(70,000grains) at 400fps= 24,865ftlbs of energy.

 

[737tdi]

Are they possible a type of round for a cannon designed to whirl around as it passes through rigging or people; Kind of like Chain Shot?

They were fired from a smooth bore cannon so no spin was imparted by the barrel, but simple aerodynamics would cause some tumbling, etc. in flight. Try to picture one of these coming your way at around 400fps. :shock:

To give some numbers we're all familiar with; 10lbs(70,000grains) at 400fps= 24,865ftlbs of energy.

Gunny, they were also fired from rifled canons later on. Mostly smaller bore but the effect was horrible. Remember the grape gun? They used a smaller version of this. Two balls attached and fired straight down the rifled bore. The rifling imparted a devastating shot. We are some very ingenious but horrible folks.

Semper Fi:

Karl