What is it? Set 298

[Lloyd E. Sponenburgh]

Rich Grise fired this volley in news: [e-mail]:

Really?

LLoyd

[Rich Grise]

Well, that's what they did with the .50 cals miniguns that they hung under the F-4 phantoms in Southeast Asia.

Hope This Helps! Rich

[Lloyd E. Sponenburgh]

Rich Grise fired this volley in news: [e-mail]:

Rich, I was being just a touch facetious. I spent a long time behind both a single and twin Browing .50 on Swift Boats in RVN.

They extract each round from the belt, and chamber it fully. Think about it... where would the link fit inside the chamber?

Here's the only vid I could find quickly that shows the rounds being ejected onto the roof of the vehicle.

[Rob H.]

Thanks, that didn't take long, I showed this to a lot of tool collectors but we were all stumped by it.

Rob

[Rob H.]

Yes, it's a container for kerosene.

Rob

[Rob H.]

Good guess! They are the controls for a car carrier.

Rob

[Rob H.]

You're on the right track here, it's not for a belt but for something fairly common in the 1800's.

Rob

[Artemus]

Whip holder for a buggy or wagon? Art

[J. Clarke]

FWIW, a Minigun is a very different critter from a Browning.

[Markem]

I never ever loaded a .50 cal pod on a F-4, 20mm yes the ammo brass and links dump out into the air though. The F-4E retain the ammo brass but it was delinked before it was chambered. I was a weapons mechanic at Seymour Johnson AFB and have the Phantom bite scars to prove it.

Mark

[Rob H.]

Nope

[Calif Bill]

But you still have to chamber the round. And there is no reason to reinsert the round in the carrier. AC-47 was armored on the inside to keep the brass from making holes in the fuselage.

[Stuart]

controlling the point and signals on a railway.

I would guess the American ones would be different from the ones in the UK.

[DoN. Nichols]

1699) A link from a chain of ammunition (.30 cal (7.62mm) or .50 cal) designed to be fed into a belt-fed machine gun. on firing, the cartridge is pulled backwards out of the links, the link goes flying off to the right, the cartridge is chambered, fired, and follows the link off to the right while the next cartridge is pulled into position.

I think that it is the larger size, but I don't have any empties to compare it to.

The bullet end would be pointing down as the photo has it oriented. There should be more of them not too far away, unless it was perhaps being fired from an aircraft.

And it was there for some time, as it shows some rusting, after the plating (cadmium perhaps) went away.

Ammo boxes come filled with these all linked together. I've never actually seen one firing, but I believe that you can pull a cartridge from the end of the current chain and link another to it for longer uninterrupted firing -- except that if you fire too long, you get the barrel melting down. :-) For all I know, you might have to change the barrel once per belt of ammo.

1700) This looks to me to be a blacksmithing tool, designed to punch holes in red-hot metal. You place the point where you want the hole, and then strike on the other end, which shows mushrooming from the strikes.

The pivot allows the angle of the handle to be somewhat independent of the angle of the hole.

It looks to be well-rusted wrought iron, based on the grain showing.

1701) At a guess these are hydraulic control levers for something like a "steam shovel" which is seldom steam powered these days.

The groups of two of a given color would be for forward and reverse operations -- such as pivoting on the base and perhaps opening and closing the scoop. The three in a group may be for slow and fast operation of the various joints, depending on what is being attempted. At a guess, The middle and right might be forward fast, middle and the left might be reverse fast, and right and left alone would be forward or reverse slow.

And some of them might be for corner jacks to stabilize the device when under load.

1702) This looks to me like one of the variable loads used in "tractor pull" competitions. It is pulled from the end away from the tires and the small wheel is rotated by friction with the ground, pulling the heavy concrete and iron weight towards the front end making it drag more the greater distance it has been pulled. 1703) looks like a one-way travel restraint for leather -- or possibly web belt if it was made that early. 1704) It is made from dip-galvanized sheet steel.

The drum rotates on its axis.

There is some kind of scoop or spout to the left which rotates with it.

Hmm ... could it be an early design of concrete mixer? If so, the steel is thicker than I thought.

Now to see what others have suggested.

Enjoy, DoN.

[DoN. Nichols]

Nope -- the cartridge has a gentle taper over most of the length, then a steep taper (shoulder) to a cylindrical portion which actually holds the bullet. One ring goes around the main body, part around the neck on one cartridge, and the other large ring goes around the cartridge just back of the steep taper. Note that the small ring starts to flare a bit towards the large ring. This is the part in contact with the shoulder.

Enjoy, DoN.

[LD]

First one looks like something to do with a flag pole. A holder for carrying a flag in a parade? Perhaps on horseback?

[Nahmie]

Yep, 1699 is ammo belt link. Had about 4 .50 cal. shells(no powder) when I was a kid. Dad worked for arms manufacturer in WW2, got them for me. Also gave me a nice hunting knife made from reject bayonet, but it disappeared somewhere over the years.

1701 - I'm going to take a couple guesses here (1) Control handles for a carillon? First glance looked like a keyboard with sharps/flats/etc. (2) Stage lighting controls for spotlights, colored lighting, etc. 1702 - sure looks like an early/primitive/homebuilt tractor pulling weight transfer, missing the "sled" under the front.

Norm

[Gunner Asch]

50 cal maching gun link.

Shrug..no biggie.

Whenever a Liberal utters the term "Common Sense approach"....grab your wallet, your ass, and your guns because the sombitch is about to do something damned nasty to all three of them.

[Rich Grise]

D'OH!!!!

Thanks! Rich

[pyotr filipivich]

Compared to a 30 cal maching gun link? I'd say it is a biggie.

Compared to a 30 mm Vulcan round link - defiantly "no biggie".

pyotr

- pyotr filipivich We will drink no whiskey before its nine. It's eight fifty eight. Close enough!