Bill,
I am in general agreement with your logic about the split casings ...
My father always told that one of the problems with shooting lots of
SHORTS in old rifles was that you ended up with an eroded firing
chamber and that subsequent use of LONGS or LONG RIFLE cartridges
would result in problems such as overly expanded or even split
cartridges as a result of the expanded firing chamber. I am
extrapolating a little here, but bear with me ...
However, if Paul were recovering both SHORTS and LONGS with split
casings, which seems to be what he is saying, that argument would
appear moot.
Mark
>Like Paul and others, I agree that the creation of such a "cut"
>while removing a casing with a knife is highly unlikely; I suspect
>it is impossible. I, too, have removed stuck casings with a pocket
>or hunting knife (whichever was handy), and I have never seen a
>pierced casing because of it. In any even, the knife scars were at
>the base of the shell, just above the rim.
>
>These .22 bullets were made from relatively soft lead, and pulling
>the bullet from the cartridge case was a very simple operation with
>a pair of pliers, holding the shell end between the thumb and index
>finger. There was no danger of an accidental discharge because the
>fingers were simply not hard enough to cause one. The bullet popped
>out quite easily. As an 11-18 year-old boy, I popped at least
>dozens of .22 bullets out of casings that way. Not a single on
>split, and I never would have tried a knife.
>
>Could the "knife cut" have been just a split in the cartridge head?
>A single defective chamber in a single-action revolver, for example,
>would split the cartridge at the head, yet the ejection mechanism
>(forcing a steel rod in a housing beside the barrel down into the
>cylinder to push the fired shell out the back) would leave no
>external mark on the expended case.
>
>Bill
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Bill Lockhart
>Associate Professor of Sociology
>New Mexico State University
>Alamogordo, NM
>(575) 439-3732
>
>
>>>> "Avery, Paul" <[log in to unmask]> 2/11/2009 5:07 am >>>
>Hello all,
>
>We did some work recently at an 1830s plantation house in North
>Carolina. We recovered a fairly large number of cartridge cases from
>what appears to be an early 20th century deposit. It was located just
>off of the front porch, so it looks like they were sitting on the porch
>and plinking. There were some unusual calibers, including several .32
>Winchester Self-Loading Rifle and .22 Winchester Automatic. The most
>unusual thing though, was that there were more than a dozen .22 short
>and .22 long cases that appear to have been jabbed with a knife. The
>cut goes through one wall of the case and runs lengthwise just above the
>rim.
>
>Is this just random behavior indicative of boredom or is there more to
>it than that?
>
>Someone suggested that the cases were sticking in the person's gun and
>they used the knife to remove the case. That makes some sense, but
>there isn't enough space between the edge of the cut and the mouth of
>the case on the .22 shorts for it to be stuck. I can't imagine how they
>managed to get the things to stay still while they punched the hole in
>them. Risky indeed to hold something that small and stab it with enough
>force to puncture the case!
>
>I plan to try it myself as soon as I have a chance to create some empty
>.22 cases, but in the meantime, I'd like to hear from the group.
>
>Thanks!
>
>Paul G. Avery, RPA
>Senior Archaeologist
>MACTEC Engineering and Consulting
>9725 Cogdill Road
>Knoxville, TN 37932
>Phone: (865) 588-8544x1169
>Fax: (865) 588-8026
--
Mark C. Branstner, RPA
Historic Archaeologist
Illinois Transportation
Archaeological Research Program
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
209 Nuclear Physics Lab, MC-571
23 East Stadium Drive
Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: 217.244.0892
Fax: 217.244.7458
Cell: 517.927.4556
[log in to unmask]
"I hope there's pudding" - Luna Lovegood (HP5)
"If you only have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail"- Anonymous
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