This is in my shed, for unknown reasons.
I have no idea where it came from, I have no idea what its for, but someone must know?

It’s solid brass & it seems to be quite a heavily sprung piston type valve, with two stages of ‘open’, I really am at a loss as there is no means of fitting a pipe to it, so what is it, and what’s it for?

Cheers.

It’s for sexing baby robins, obviously.

Some kind of firing pin thingy?

Looks like a locksmiths tool for picking/removing a lock for a forced entry.

Captain, I’m lost for words, really!

Id agree with Rudeboy.

It’s a type of demo firing device.
Possibly military but could be industry, maybe for quarry blasts perhaps….

Retracting knob looks restored or not original

so……

the pin withdraws and is locked in place by the thin round disc with the nick out of it. there is a second hole in the little disc i presume to hold a piece of string to allow for remote firing. The pin could be some kind of safety device (is there a hole in the shaft of the slidey bit?)

the bracket would allow it to attach to some kind of wooden handle.

the front looks about the right size to hold a shotgun cartridge

i reckon it’s either a livestock killing device of some kind or a bird/mole scarer

that’s my guess

looks like an alarm mine.
it’s not a captive bolt gun for dispatching livestock.
“mole scarer” psml

I think it looks like an alarm mine.
a modern version that uses blank cartridges:

D’oh Mr Smith beat me.

doh – too slow

So who is thinking of fitting one to their bike shed then?

i think the brass one may be illegal if there is no way of stopping you fitting a 2-1/2 or 2-3/4 cartridge. the modern ones can only take a short blank not a full length loaded with shot.

Under the bike seat and leave the bike where a chav will find it.

Well I never, I bow to the infinite wisdom that is STW.

The hole measures 20.9mm, or 8/10’th of an inch, so it looks like it could take a cartridge.
What would happen if said cartridge was placed in it, would it fire for real? I thought the lip of a cartridge was supposed to stop the thing from taking flight, what happens when there is no way of stopping it & no barrel to aim it?

I bet it would be messy 🙂

well that’s too big to be 12 gauge and is between 10 and 8 gauge.
it’s made of brass which makes me think it might be for marine use?

Stoner – Member
D’oh Mr Smith beat me.

Ha ha! You fail!

possiby a second (missing) piece that held the cartrige?

Sexing baby robins is my favourite, but scaring moles is a very good effort. 🙂

Your shed wasn’t originally owned by the Mardi Gras Bomber? Famed for home made improvised devices using shotgun cartridges? 😯

Could be used to start Yacht/sailing races perhaps

It’s for fitting an Albert ring to your tadger

thisisnotaspoon – Member
possiby a second (missing) piece that held the cartrige?

I think the reason it unscrews is so the cartridge can sit inside, it looks like it anyway.
Cheers.

the cartridge wouldn’t take flight when fired. the bang would shoot out from the cartridge and in doing so, push the cartridge itself backwards into the holder.

remember, its meant to fire blanks which just have the powder in them and not any real shot. Its for noise and not shooting.

I reckon it’s just a starting pistol for use at regattas

No evidence or a spring so assume it can’t be some sort of alarm thats set off when a pin is pulled. I reckon that plunger end looks a bit small to be the sort of things that is hit by hand if you want to set of a cartridge. Having said that maybe something nautical and following the theme for firing flares. the plunger end looks just like a primus stove pump though

it’s used by pheasant keeper’s.they stick them on tree’s around the feeding cage’s so when a fox comes along at night(or poacher)they kick the trip wire tied to the chain which fire’s the cartridge and scares the s#it out of the fox(or poacher)and alearts the keeper’s.and yes it takes a full cartridge and if the keeper’s are really evil they didn’t point it down at the ground.or atleast the one i’ve seen did that.