How to spike a gun?
Doug Fritz
From dgf...@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Doug Fritz)
Spiking a gun such as a cannon or artillery piece disables the
gun, but how does a foot soldier spike a gun?
Lou Montgomery (214+464-1049)
From lm8...@tnessd.sbc.com (Lou Montgomery (214+464-1049))
One might pull the bullet, and remove the propellant. This
could be followed by the insertion of a blasting cap, or possibly
a small amount of C-4 explosive. The round would then be reassembled
and placed back into the magazine (several rounds down,
preferrably). The rifle would then be returned to it's original
place, ready for the enemy to use.
Actually, I'd rather take it out of the enemy's hand by adding
it to my collection, however, surprises like this could be "fun".
Later...
...Lou #0083
Thomas Schoene
From w...@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (Thomas Schoene)
In article <BsKCn...@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM>,
It is possible to temporarily disable the gun by driving a nail or bayonet into
the touchhole of the gun. To do it properly you need special spikes. One
first rams a ball in under the vent and drive a spike down through the vent
until it bends over on the ball. To get the gun back into action you have to
drill out the spike and draw the ball (not an easy operation).
--
Tom Schoene
w...@cornella.cit.cornell.edu -or- w...@vax5.cit.cornell.edu
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"Whenever you're holding all the cards why does everyone else turn
out to be playing chess?"
Tom Oates
From th2_...@csd.brispoly.ac.uk (Tom Oates)
In article <BsKCn...@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM> dgf...@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Doug Fritz) writes:
>
* Pull the pin from a thermite grenade and quickly insert it into the
breech of an artillery piece. Close the breech and the molten steel
produced will weld the breech shut.
* Fill the fuze pocket of an artillery shell with plastic explosive.
Insert a pencil detonator and initiate it. Load the artillery piece
with the shell. Leave one spiked shell among those in the ammunition
store. Leave the area before detonation.
Both of the previous methods are quick to perform in a hurry. If you have
more time and no explosives:-
* Remove firing pin from the artillery piece. Mix several buckets of
concrete. With the breech closed, pour the concrete down the muzzle.
Use a pole to ram the concrete down tightly towards the breech.
Allow to set.
Small Arms:-
* Remove internal 'organs' from the weapons ie. firing pins or rifle bolts
etc. Take these items miles from the scene and dispose of in the sea,
a river, a deep hole.
* Drop a white hot plug of steel down the barrel and allow to cool.
* Use an oxy-acetylene cutter to distort/weld parts.
Ammunition:-
* Use demolition charges/thermite.
* Alternatively open the crates/boxes of ammunition and douse with oil.
Any kind will do ie. motor-oil. This will 'kill' the primers unless they
have been sealed with lacquer.
* Take in ammunition which has already been spiked and 'seed' the
ammunition with it. To spike ammunition, use a bullet puller to
disassemble the bullet from the cartridge. Remove propellant. Ram a
small amount of plastic explosive down onto the primer. Add enough
propellant so that the spiked bullet weighs the same as a normal
bullet. When the bullet is chambered and fired, it will cause the
gun to explode.
--
*************************************************************************
* Tom Oates (Bristol Poly, England) * DISCLAIMER:- *
* JANET: th2_...@csd.brispoly.ac.uk * I speak only for myself. *
*************************************************************************
Charles Rollhauser
From roll...@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Charles Rollhauser)
Spiking the cannon was a quick and easy way to render the weapon
temporally inoperable. It simply consisted of driving an object into the
weapon's vent hole, and breaking it off flush with the top of the hole.
Many things could be used to spike a cannon, including actual spikes or
nails.
Artillerymen kept a pike with slow match (fuse) burning near the gun
in case there was a malfunction with the flint or friction igniter system.
The pike had a long sharp spike on its end. This could be used to disable
their own gun if there was a danger of being overrun by the enemy. A good
armorer could remove the spike (with some work.) The idea was deny the
enemy the use of the weapon in the present battle, and to be able to use
it oneself in the next battle.
To really destroy a cannon, one blew off a trunnion, or burst the
barrel. Both procedures took more talent and more time, not to mention
more guts.
Chuck
William Blighglover
From wx...@po.CWRU.Edu (William Blighglover)
I believe that when cannon were fired through a fuze/
flintlock/percussion lock type of arrangement (i.e. up to the U.S.
Civil war, spiking the guns involved driving a heated spike into
touch hole and hammering it home. If the metal was hot enough,
the spike has just been welded into the barrel, and it can't be
gotten out without redrilling the hole, and I'd hate to be the
first to fire the gun after such an operation, it might blow up
in your face. Not only that, other operations such as taking the
barrels off their carriages, tossing the guns into a river, and
even plugging the barrels might have been tried, to keep the enemy
from getting the guns in working order until you are well out of
range.
--
William Zeus Bligh-Glover Prospero on IRC wx...@po.cwru.edu
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Pathology Poison Centre
Basic research is what I do when I don't know what I'm doing. WvB
Charles Roten
From ro...@cuba.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles Roten)
In article <BsKCn...@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM> dgf...@rodan.acs.syr.edu
(Doug Fritz) writes:
>Spiking a gun such as a cannon or artillery piece disables the
>gun, but how does a foot soldier spike a gun?
The term comes from the days when muzzle-loading cannon were fired by
applying a flame to a touch-hole near the breech, igniting the black
powder propellent charge inside.
To disable such a gun in a way that cannot be reversed easily in the
field, just drive a spike through the touch-hole. Thus, the origin of
the term.
This was typically done when a battery of such cannon was about to be
overrun by an opposing force.
These days, you loose/disable the breechblock.
--
Charles Roten | Hughes-STX, Incorporated |
ro...@cuba.gsfc.nasa.gov | 'Use the Source, Luke!'
7601 Ora-Glen Dr., Greenbelt, MD 20706 |
301-513-7805 (w), 301-317-0872 (h) | Obi-Wan Stallman
Doug Fritz
MR KR COMAN
From ba...@giraffe.ru.ac.za (MR KR COMAN)
From ba...@giraffe.ru.ac.za (MR KR COMAN)
In article <BsKCn...@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM> dgf...@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Doug Fritz) writes:
>From: dgf...@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Doug Fritz)
>Subject: How to spike a gun?
>Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1992 13:11:49 GMT
>From dgf...@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Doug Fritz)
>Spiking a gun such as a cannon or artillery piece disables the
>gun, but how does a foot soldier spike a gun?
Guess it depends on the scenario:
1.
Muzzle-loader: temporary -- grab a cannon ball and ram it down to the bottom
of the bore. Gotta use a screw extractor to pull it back out.
2.
Muzzle-loader: bit more than temp -- any suitable metal object (bayonet,
nail, ram-rod) rammed into the touch hole, twisted and broken off, then
pounded down with musket-butt. Need to drill that out later.
3.
Breech-loader: Smash the sights, remove breech block, insert shell into
muzzle - load breech - attach *long* string to firing assmbly and fire,
grenade in half-open breech -- I guess whatever comes to mind in the heat of
the moment!!
BTW is it not on record that officers in the muzzleloading era used those
funny little decorative dingle-dangles on strings (aiguiettes?) to spike
cannon? Seem to remember reading about that happening somewhere!!
Cheers,
Keith Coman
Deep Six
From sl...@cc.usu.edu (Deep Six)
From sl...@cc.usu.edu (Deep Six)
In article <BsKCn...@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM>,
dgf...@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Doug Fritz) writes:
> Spiking a gun such as a cannon or artillery piece disables the
> gun, but how does a foot soldier spike a gun?
I don't think a foot soldier would be called on to spike a cannon,
unless the cannon's crew was dead and the foot soldier was the only
one at hand. Cannon were usually spiked (or otherwise disabled) by
their own crews in the face of retreat so that the guns could not
be used by the enemy (or at least not until the crew was safely
withdrawn).
The way I understand it, a cannon is spiked by first putting a ball
in the chamber (under the touch hole). A spike is then pounded into
the touch hole so that the tip of the spike is bent over inside the
tube. Make sense? The spike hits the ball and the tip bends so that
the spike cannot be pried out of the hole (you'd probably have to
drill it out). And because the tip of the spike wedges the ball into
the chamber, the ball must extracted with some special tool.
I think I read that most units had spikes that were specifically
designed (diameter and length) to disable a cannon.
-- __ __ ______ __ __
Chadd L. VanZanten SL...@CC.USU.EDU + /\ \/\ \ /\ ___\ /\ \/\ \
``Gentlemen! You can't fight in here, + \ \ \_\ \\ \___ \\ \ \_\ \
this is the War Room!'' + \ \_____\\/\_____\\ \_____\
--Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove + \/_____/ \/_____/ \/_____/
Tuomas Viljanen
From c34...@saha.hut.fi (Tuomas Viljanen)
From c34...@saha.hut.fi (Tuomas Viljanen)
In article <BsKCn...@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM> dgf...@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Doug Fritz) writes:
>
For example by filling the barrel with earth. "Spiking" originally meant
striking a wooden spike into the fuse hole of a bombard in order to sabotage
it and thus prevent the enemy of using the piece if captured.
++ Tuomas Viljanen ++ For a battle like Crecy, you do ++
++ Lahderanta 20 A 19 ++ not need a military genius like ++
++ SF-02720 Espoo 72 FINLAND ++ Edward III. All you need is an ++
++ 358-0-592175 or c34...@saha.hut.fi ++ idiot like the Duke of Alencon. ++
Ed Devinney
From pism...@well.sf.ca.us (Ed Devinney)
From pism...@well.sf.ca.us (Ed Devinney)
In article <BsKCn...@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM> dgf...@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Doug Fritz) writes:
>
>Spiking a gun such as a cannon or artillery piece disables the
>gun, but how does a foot soldier spike a gun?
From field Manual 23-9, _M16A1 and M16A2 Rifle Marksmanship_, p. 2-18:
Means of Destruction:
- Mechanical (axe, pick, sledge, crowbar)
- Burning (gasoline, oil, incendiary grenades, torch)
- Demolition (explosives or ammunition, hand grenades)
- Disposal (burning, dumping in stream/marsh, wide scattering)
"It is important that the same parts be destroyed on all like materiel ...
so that the enemy cannot rebuild one complete unit from several damaged
units..."
Field-Expedient Methods:
Key operational parts are separated from the rifle or damaged beyond repair.
Priority is given in the following order:
First: Bolt carrier group: removed and discarded or hidden
Second: Upper receiver group: separated and discarded or hidden
Third: Lower receiver group: Spearated and discarded or hidden
Hope this is helpful.
--
ed devinney pism...@well.sf.ca.us
"I don't know what the world may need,
but a V8 engine's a good start for me..." - Cracker
Doc Benzene
From w...@well.sf.ca.us (Doc Benzene)
From w...@well.sf.ca.us (Doc Benzene)
In article <BsKCn...@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM> dgf...@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Doug Fritz) writes:
>
Aha, I knew reading all those Hornblower books would come in
handy one day...
Usually, foot soldiers didn't spike guns; it was a job left
some sort of armory specialist. Basically, you "spiked" a gun
by driving a metal cone into the touch hole, blocking the hole
so that you couldn't ignite a loaded charge. Spiking only
disabled a gun temporarily; another armorer could clear the
spike with drill in less than a couple of hours. Blowing off the
trunions, the lugs on the gun that seated it into the truck,
would permanently disable the piece. Or you could burst it
with an overcharge, but that was rather dangerous.
Actually, I've never heard a description of how the trunions
were blown off artillery pieces. Seems a rather tricky job of
demo. work to do with just black powder.
Thomas Schoene
From w...@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (Thomas Schoene)
From w...@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (Thomas Schoene)
In article <BsKCn...@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM>,
dgf...@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Doug Fritz) writes:
>
Lou Montgomery (214+464-1049)
From lm8...@tnessd.sbc.com (Lou Montgomery (214+464-1049))
From lm8...@tnessd.sbc.com (Lou Montgomery (214+464-1049))
In article <BsKCn...@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM> dgf...@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Doug Fritz) writes:
>
One might pull the bullet, and remove the propellant. This
Tom Oates
From th2_...@csd.brispoly.ac.uk (Tom Oates)
From th2_...@csd.brispoly.ac.uk (Tom Oates)
In article <BsKCn...@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM> dgf...@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Doug Fritz) writes:
>
* Pull the pin from a thermite grenade and quickly insert it into the
William Blighglover
From wx...@po.CWRU.Edu (William Blighglover)
From wx...@po.CWRU.Edu (William Blighglover)
Basic research is what I do when I don't know what I'm doing. WvB
Charles Rollhauser
From roll...@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Charles Rollhauser)
From roll...@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Charles Rollhauser)
In sci.military, dgf...@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Doug Fritz) writes:
Spiking the cannon was a quick and easy way to render the weapon
Charles Roten
From ro...@cuba.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles Roten)
From ro...@cuba.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles Roten)
In article <BsKCn...@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM> dgf...@rodan.acs.syr.edu
(Doug Fritz) writes:
>Spiking a gun such as a cannon or artillery piece disables the
>gun, but how does a foot soldier spike a gun?
The term comes from the days when muzzle-loading cannon were fired by
Iskandar Taib
From nt...@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Iskandar Taib)
In article <Bsw1...@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM> ba...@giraffe.ru.ac.za (MR KR COMAN) writes:
>Muzzle-loader: temporary -- grab a cannon ball and ram it down to the bottom
>of the bore. Gotta use a screw extractor to pull it back out.
Hmmm... weren't cannon ball made of iron and a loose fit in the
bore? A screw extractor wouldn't quite work, but I have seen mo-
vies where a piece was unloaded by tipping the barrel down. The
projectile slid out.
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iskandar Taib | The only thing worse than Peach ala
Internet: NT...@SILVER.UCS.INDIANA.EDU | Frog is Frog ala Peach
Bitnet: NTAIB@IUBACS !
Bob McCormick
From bob...@tcsi.tcs.com (Bob McCormick)
In article <BtHwy...@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM>, ba...@giraffe.ru.ac.za (MR KR
COMAN) writes:
|> I was trying out some inductive logic based upon: (1) what an ordinary
|> infantryman might have done in the heat of the moment at Cuidad Rodrigo to
|> spike a cannon derived from; (2) a distinctly remembered military exhibit on
|> Napoleonic-era artillery. One of the items was a rammer-like stave with a *
|> flared* cork-screw (*not* like a pointed winebottle job -- imagine a large,
|> normal c-screw but with the point absent and the diameter of the whole a
|> comfortable fit in the bore) on the end. Presumably if you had a charge
|> that didn't go off or in the excitement of the moment a chap had rammed home
|> a ball without the charge (see that happen with a black-powder muzzle-
|> loading musket!) the drill would be to: (1) depress the muzzle as far as you
|> can, and (2) seize yon handy implement and work it around -- I guess the
|> idea is to just get enough of a grip on the ball to assist gravity to work
|> it loose from the back of the barrel and so down the bore.
I just got back from a small (US) Civil War Reenactment.....
The implement you describe is called a worm, from the shape of the screw-like
piece. Its purpose is to clean the barrel. Some charges are packed in cloth
cases, and the worm is placed down the barrel and turned to grab onto any loose
pieces of cloth. The end of the coiled metal is sharp.
I was delighted when one of the soldiers started discussing spiking the gun. On
thing that he did not mention directly is that spiking keeps the gun from being
turned on you directly as you retreat, but it can eventually be restored to
service, by the enemy or by you if you can recapture it.
BTW, these reenactments are good placed to learn about these things, IMHO.
=-=-=-=-=-
Bob McCormick, Systems Engineer | bob...@tcs.com +1-510-649-3881
Teknekron Communications Systems, Inc. | bob...@tcsi.tcs.com
2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, 94704 USA | uunet!tcs!bobmcc
MR KR COMAN
From ba...@giraffe.ru.ac.za (MR KR COMAN)
In article <BtLC5...@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM> bob...@tcsi.tcs.com (Bob McCormick) writes:
>From: bob...@tcsi.tcs.com (Bob McCormick)
>Subject: Re: How to spike a gun?
>Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 12:32:20 GMT
>
>From bob...@tcsi.tcs.com (Bob McCormick)
>
>In article <BtHwy...@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM>, ba...@giraffe.ru.ac.za (MR KR
>COMAN) writes:
>
>I just got back from a small (US) Civil War Reenactment.....
>
>The implement you describe is called a worm, from the shape of the screw-like
>piece. Its purpose is to clean the barrel. Some charges are packed in cloth
>cases, and the worm is placed down the barrel and turned to grab onto any loose
>pieces of cloth. The end of the coiled metal is sharp.
>
>
Thanks for straighting this one out, Bob. Wish we had this type of re-
enactment to visit!!
Cheers,
Keith Coman
Iskandar Taib
From nt...@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Iskandar Taib)
In article <BtHwy...@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM> ba...@giraffe.ru.ac.za (MR KR COMAN) writes:
2>
>From ba...@giraffe.ru.ac.za (MR KR COMAN)
>
|In article <BtAJC...@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM| nt...@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Iskandar Taib) writes:
||Hmmm... weren't cannon ball made of iron and a loose fit in the
||bore? A screw extractor wouldn't quite work, but I have seen mo-
||vies where a piece was unloaded by tipping the barrel down. The
||projectile slid out.
|
|Aye....... you're probably right. (Hollywood might be onto something
|here!)
T'wasn't Hollywood.. this was the BBC series set during the (English)
Civil War (forget what it was called). The scene occured when two of
the inhabitants of the Royalist castle was getting married and the
Roundhead captain saluted them with his cannon. They had to unload it
first.
|(2) a distinctly remembered military exhibit on
|Napoleonic-era artillery. One of the items was a rammer-like stave with a *
|flared* cork-screw (*not* like a pointed winebottle job -- imagine a large,
|normal c-screw but with the point absent and the diameter of the whole a
|comfortable fit in the bore) on the end.
There was another post about _sabots_ being something that fitted behind
the ball (even in muzzleloading times) and something else fit in _front_
of the ball to keep it from rolling out. Perhaps said corkscrew was for
removing the front wadding.
|BTW in black-powder shooting: the trick is to try to dribble a bit of powder
|through the touch hole behind the ball. Set it off and if you're lucky it
|pops out like a champagne cork, hitting the ground maybe 25 yards away.
Yup.. Use FFFFG powder after unscrewing the cap nipple. I saw someone do
this to a stuck ramrod.. apparently he forgot to take it out since shooting
it last the previous year.. forgot to clean it too. Oops!