The stupid questions thread.

FigBo0T

Puts verniers on his headtube
Would anyone here know what the hell this is?

Looks like a mortar fuse but I'm no expert, it feels quite heavy and solid.

Found it in the middle of the trail in an ex-military training ground.

View attachment 358759View attachment 358761
It's not from a mortar we've used in the last 100 years. Some sort of artillery round? What do the numbers say, and what are the dimensions?

(I was a mortar-man 30 years ago, but far from an ordinance enthusiast ... I did some research .)
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
It's not from a mortar we've used in the last 100 years. Some sort of artillery round? What do the numbers say, and what are the dimensions?

(I was a mortar-man 30 years ago, but far from an ordinance enthusiast ... I did some research .)
I've left at the trails, It's about the size of your thumb.
 

FigBo0T

Puts verniers on his headtube
I've left at the trails, It's about the size of your thumb.
Going by the lug on it, I'd say it was from an inert training round of some kind. The lug doesn't gel with the whole 'projected from a barrel' concept.
I can't find any similar fuses after a bit of googling.

Train detonator. Used by rail line workers to warn on coming trains of their presence
No. Train detonators aren't projectiles. Well, it wasn't the intended purpose.
358784

They've looked like that for a long time, and before that, they were just a flat fire cracker with a magnesium wick
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
Going by the lug on it, I'd say it was from an inert training round of some kind. The lug doesn't gel with the whole 'projected from a barrel' concept.
I can't find any similar fuses after a bit of googling.
It might have had a steel or aluminium shroud around it at one stage, I honestly thought it was an oxy-acetylene cutting tip at first glance and thought WTF have they done out here with any Oxy but once I had picked it up, I found that there's no hole in the tip to be any type of nozzle that I can see.
 

FigBo0T

Puts verniers on his headtube
It might have had a steel or aluminium shroud around it at one stage, I honestly thought it was an oxy-acetylene cutting tip at first glance and thought WTF have they done out here with any Oxy but once I had picked it up, I found that there's no hole in the tip to be any type of nozzle that I can see.
It has the right shape and construction for an artillery fuse, but none I can find across a range of ordinance have any kind of protusion on the head like that. But yeah, I'm not any kind of expert on this stuff. It just interested me, so I dug a bit.
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
It has the right shape and construction for an artillery fuse, but none I can find across a range of ordinance have any kind of protusion on the head like that. But yeah, I'm not any kind of expert on this stuff. It just interested me, so I dug a bit.
Definitely a mortar fuse, went back today and had a good look around the area then found the rest of it. Somebody has already taken the fuse I left on the rock too.



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FigBo0T

Puts verniers on his headtube

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