Author: Grumpy
Will’s Civil War-era cannonball (above) originated from the guns of a Union gunboat that once plied the waters of the
Mississippi during the War Between the States.
The Bormann time fuse was a simple powder train arranged underneath something like a clock face. The gunner turned
the fuse with a key and punched through the desired time delay with an awl. The train was supposed to ignite upon firing,
but Bormann fuses suffered a 50 percent failure rate in combat.
America, while still the finest place on earth to live, seems awash in a sundry of tribulations these days. Our moral compass spins faster than the federal government’s debt clock, and verifiable examples of sound judgment in Washington seem skimpier than Paris Hilton’s wardrobe. In addition to these oft-lamented ills, there also seems to be a precipitous and unprecedented decline and dearth of Dads.
Mind you, we’ve got scads of fathers. You can’t swing a dead cat in a public venue without striking a male who has fathered a child. But what we are really growing short on is good old-fashioned, share-an-address-with-his-children Dads. The impetus behind this contemporary pestilence is a complex contagion, but I am blessed with such a Dad, and I am proudly one myself. There are some interesting perks a man can expect from the job.
Mine was a fairly rural upbringing, and we Dabbs men have always prided ourselves on being able woodsmen. My own Dad was out squirrel hunting many years ago when he happened upon what looked like a piece of fruit half buried in the mud. This particular strand of Delta forest was on the wet side of the Mississippi River levee and as such had flooded vigorously every spring since the very beginning of time. Being a typical inquisitive American male, my dad acquired a stick and poked it. The incongruous item turned out to be, much to his surprise, a dud Civil War-era cannonball. As he and I share an unfortunate amount of genetic material, he did exactly what I would have done––he innocently picked it up and carried it home.
When this particular cannonball was fired in retaliation in 1862, weapons of war were far simpler. The naval cannon involved
was smoothbore and driven by blackpowder.
Obligatory Disclaimer
Before half the world writes in with colorful observations of what a rank idiot I am, this amusing little tome does indeed have a happy ending. However, never disturb or relocate unexploded ordnance. Your local Law Enforcement officials can put you in contact with the proper agencies for managing such things. The anecdote related herein occurred many years ago. My dad and I are both older and wiser now. The story is related solely for its entertainment value. Testosterone is the most potent poison known to man and many a voyage across the River Styx was indeed launched with the otherwise-innocent question, “I wonder what that does?” Now, back to our tale.
As my dad was walking to his Jeep with the heavy bomb hoisted upon his shoulder, he kept wondering what people would think if it spontaneously detonated. He doubted much would subsequently be discovered of his remains beyond his two smoldering boots. A typical local bait shop discussion might go something like this––“I heard Woody was out squirrel hunting the other day and just blowed slap up. I seem to recall the same thing happened to Billy Ray back in ’73.”
Anyway, he got the thing to the house, aggressively photographed it, and entombed the entire affair in the backyard. On my next free weekend, I made my way home. At the time, I was a mechanical engineer/former Army helicopter pilot grinding his way through medical school. Between the two of us, we had exactly zero useful professional expertise to lend to this unusual undertaking.
At cursory glance, the thing looked like a rusted version of the “Death Star” from the Star Wars movies. It was a typical example of hollow shot fired from the Union gunboats that plied the Mississippi River some nearly 150 years ago during the War Between the States. The iron ball incorporated a Bormann time fuse. This soft metal insert sports something akin to a clock face replete with embossed numbers. Prior to firing, the gunner would punch through the number corresponding to the desired time delay with an awl and load the bomb fuse-forward. Fiery blowby would supposedly ignite the black powder train enclosed therein and detonate the ball the appropriate distance from the gun. Bormann fuses suffered roughly a 50 percent failure rate in combat.
There had been a minor skirmish involving the nearby port town of Friars Point, Mississippi, where Union forces occupied the town and, for reasons lost to history, burned all the churches to the ground. Angry locals fired upon the moored gunboats from the banks of the river, and Union forces peppered the surrounding countryside with random cannonade. The sketchy performance of the Bormann fuse is the reason our example remained intact. Satisfied the fusing system was a simple waterlogged powder train and not some dangerous clockwork contrivance, we advanced to the next stage of our adventure.
Civil War-era gunboats were remarkably complex vessels for their time. Steam-powered and heavily armed, these
leviathans projected Union combat power along the vital Mississippi River. The cannonball depicted in this article was
fired in 1862 from a gunboat similar to this one. Photo courtesy: US National Archives.
Technical Details
We procured a drill press, mounted it atop an old tabletop and headed out to the woods in my folks’ gosh-awful-huge motor home. Behind the RV we pulled a boat trailer loaded solely with a pickle bucket full of sand ridiculously over-secured with heavy nylon tie-down straps. As this is not a particularly atypical sight in the rural Deep South, we aroused little suspicion. Upon arrival at the base of the Mississippi River levee, we ran 300 feet of orange extension cord out into the forest and tied a comparable length of trotline to the drill press handle. We gently removed the sand from the bucket and replaced it with water to keep everything cool, fired up the RV generator and were in business. We had acquired a large rubber gasket upon which to place the rusty cannonball so as to retain it securely within our contraption. I oriented our proposed 1/4-inch breach 90 degrees out from the fuse.
Imagine if you will, the sight of two nominally grown men crouched in trepidation behind a large fallen log next to a motor home, big enough for its own zip code, parked at the base of the Mississippi River levee. Now picture we are also gently tugging a trotline snaking off blindly into the woods. This bizarre sight greeted the game warden as he pulled up alongside us in his big green cop truck.
No, this isn’t Will and his dad extracting gunpowder from their cannonball. Note the lack of safety equipment?
These Union troops had none as they extracted the gunpowder from captured Confederate torpedoes.
Photo courtesy: US National Archives
Law Enforcement Involved
“What you boys up to?” the cop inquired amicably. My dad and I looked at each other, and after a moment’s reflection I said, “Drilling a hole in an old cannonball?” They say honesty is always the best policy.
Now this is one of the countless things I do truly love about the rural Deep South. Had we lived in New York, New Jersey, California, or some similarly storied locale, we’d undoubtedly be immediately clapped in irons, transferred to some special dungeon and labeled a father-and-son homegrown terrorist squadron. However, as we live in God’s country down here in Mississippi (don’t knock it––at least our air is still invisible), this upstanding officer of the law simply said, “Cool. Don’t blow yourselves up.”
We socialized for a bit before he wished us good fortune in our undertaking and drove off. It turns out he was simply concerned we might be trying to camp at the base of the levee, a practice indeed verboten per local statute. Convinced our sojourn was but temporary he departed placated.
The entire process took about 3 hours. We gently tugged on the trotline for a few minutes then unplugged the extension cord to allow everything to cool off while we visited together in safety behind the ample fallen log. We repeated the process as needed while surveilling the ball through a pair of binoculars. When finally we had the hole bored, we allowed another 1/2 hour for cooling and squirted a bit of chilled motor oil into the hole as a spot of insurance.
The cannonball now rests proudly on my mantle, minus the 1/2-pound of quite volatile Yankee black powder it once contained, the very centerpiece of my ever-expanding cool guy-stuff collection. Additionally, Dad and I had an absolute blast together (figuratively, of course) and but for the grace of God got neither killed nor arrested.
The world is awash in fathers, but what it needs is more Dads. Will thanks the Lord every day for his dad.
Musings
deactivating Civil War-era artillery rounds. It is in the murky spaces between these two ends of the spectrum where profound happiness resides. My own three kids are grown nowadays, and were we to serendipitously trip over a Civil War-era cannonball today, we would indeed leave its recovery to the professionals. However, while we did our share of romping and stomping through the woods together, truth be told, they were not necessarily the greatest beneficiaries of our adventures. This notion has added a depth and richness to my life not to be found in the more civilized pursuits. In the broad field of human accomplishment, little brings quite so much satisfaction, if well executed, as the rewarding job of being a Dad. To my own Dad, thanks. I love you.
Categories
Madsen Lightweight Military Rifle
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“Scorpion” – the son of “Scorpion”
“Scorpion EVO 3” at the firing line. Photo forgottenweapons
Why do the stars burn,
Why do the stars burn,
Why do the stars burn?
Not warm.
Get me a gun
Find me a gun,
Buy me a machine.
Quicker.
“Dear boy.” Music by D. Tukhmanov, lyrics by L. Derbenev
Why do the stars burn,
Why do the stars burn?
Not warm.
Get me a gun
Find me a gun,
Buy me a machine.
Quicker.
“Dear boy.” Music by D. Tukhmanov, lyrics by L. Derbenev
stories about weapons. Not so long ago, during the discussion of one of the author’s articles, a discussion arose regarding the Czech submachine gun “Scorpion” model vz. 61, which was a development of Ceska Zbrojovka and was produced in Czechoslovakia from 960 to 1975. At home, he was accepted as a weapon for tankers, radar station operators, signalmen and some other specialists. In addition to the Czechoslovak army, “Scorpion” hit some African countries. But he acquired the loudest “glory” as a weapon … of radical elements and a variety of “freedom fighters”, from the “banana republics” in Latin America to numerous troubled states in the Middle East. Although the frankly weak 7,65 x 17 mm Browning cartridge, when fired at close range, nevertheless gave an excellent result, while the submachine gun itself was very portable, and its weight with cartridges was only 2 kg. Model vz. 63 could fire already shortened 9 mm cartridges, and in the vz. 68, the 9mm Parabellum cartridge, standard for Western countries, began to be used. But time flies forward quickly, so today a descendant of that “ancient” “scorpion” has already appeared in the Czech Republic, and it is also a “Scorpio”. And that’s what we’re going to tell you about today…
One of the independence fighters with a submachine gun “Scorpion” model vz. 61 in hand. From Christopher Shant’s book. “Weapon of the infantry. Encyclopedia of small arms. M.: Omega, 2006. S. 67
After World War II, the joint-stock company Česká zbrojovka (“Czechska zbroevka”) was nationalized, and its branch in Uherský Brod, which became a separate enterprise in 1950, gradually became the main manufacturer of small arms in Czechoslovakia. His most famous examples of the post-war period were the Model 48 submachine guns (renamed 1950/23 submachine guns in 25), which fired 9 mm Parabellum cartridges.
Submachine gun M48. Photo czub.cz
It was an original submachine gun with a magazine in the pistol grip and a bolt that partially ran over the barrel. At that time, these were the most advanced submachine guns in the world. By 1953, 545 pieces were produced in Uhersky Brod, of which 000 were in 345 mm Tokarev caliber (000/7,62 submachine gun). Well, the legendary compact Scorpion submachine gun turned out to be a very successful attempt to fill a niche between classic submachine guns and service pistols. Until 24, over 26 units of this submachine gun in the base caliber 2000 mm Browning were produced in Uherski Brod, and in the 207s small volumes of the pistol were produced in the Browning version in 000 mm caliber. In cooperation with CZ-USA, the production of CZ (Česká zbrojovka) weapons was launched in Kansas City, Kansas. In particular, pistols of the successful CZ P-7,65 series began to be produced there. The CZ P-1990 F (full-size), CZ P-9 SC (semi-compact), and CZ P-10 S (compact) were added the same year.
“Scorpio” model vz. 61. Holster and cartridges for it. Photo czub.cz
But, as already noted, time flies forward, and the company decided to develop a new “Scorpion” that is not inferior to the old one. Work began in 2002, and the submachine gun entered mass production in 2009. In the interval between these dates, a sample CZ 868 was created, but in the end it failed.
The prototype of the new “Scorpion” was very similar to the old one, even externally, except for the materials used in it. Instead of metal, plastic was used wherever possible, so its weight turned out to be record light. Three Picatinny rails were integrated into the design of the stock. The magazine became straight, and the pistol grip became hollow. Photo forgottenweapons
Interestingly, the idea of creating a new PP to replace the Scorpion arose not only in the Czech Republic, but also in neighboring Slovakia. There, in 2001, a group of enthusiasts from the city of Trencin tried to create a new software called LAUGO LTG-1. In Latin, the name of the city of Trencin is written as Laugaricio, and the abbreviation LTG-1 is the first letters of the names of its developers: Jan Luchansky, Piotr Tverdym and Frantisek Gasparik – hence such a strange name. By the way, Yan Luchansky visited many hot spots and was well versed in the advantages and disadvantages of weapons from various countries.
Well, in the end, the fruit of this cooperation was this: CZ Scorpion EVO 3
Naturally, the Slovak designers began to look for investors who could support their work, and in 2004 they were lucky: the LAUGO submachine gun was noticed by the Cheshskaya Zbroevka specialists. In January 2007, a contract was signed between the LAUGO development team and CZ, and then they began to work together. “Czechska Zbroevka” started developing plastic stores, USM with a fixed queue length, design and technological documentation. Well, the LAUGO designers and developers became its full-time employees and continued to bring their brainchild to mind. So, Jan Luchansky took up ergonomics, the development of a new stock and the final debugging of the new software.
9-mm submachine gun CZ “Scorpion” EVO 3 A1 (right view). Shop for 20 or 30 rounds. A round magnet is clearly visible on the butt, and on the body under the window for ejection of cartridge cases there is a metal plate for this magnet. Photo czub.cz
9-mm submachine gun CZ “Scorpion” EVO 3 A1 (left view). Photo czub.cz
The first presentation of the new “Scorpion” took place in May 2009 at the IDET-2009 exhibition, after which it was tested in the same year, as a result of which the software already received the official name: СZ Scorpion EVO 3 A1. The abbreviation EVO 3 refers to its belonging to the third generation of submachine guns, which had the name “Scorpion”, A1 – that this is the first modification capable of automatic fire. The self-loading variant can only fire single fire and is designated with an “S”.
“Scorpion EVO 3 S1: a carbine for the civilian market. It cannot fire in bursts and is designed in such a way that it is impossible to put a trigger on it from a submachine gun. Therefore, the conversion of the civilian version into an automatic weapon is completely excluded. In addition, a characteristic external difference from military weapons is a long (412 mm) barrel, while the barrel length of the A1 model is 196 mm. They differ in the design of the muzzle brake. Photo czub.cz
Fashion is fashion. Therefore, the Scorpion has five Picatinny rails at once, which complies with the STD-MIL-1913 standard. The top rail is integrated into the receiver, while the other four are on the plastic forearm. The sights are also the most modern, made by the Italian company LPA, and consist of a fiberglass front sight and a Ghost-Ring rear sight.
Removable red dot sight and top Picatinny rail. By the way, right under the index finger you can see the magazine attachment key. It is double, right and left, with semicircular grooves for convenience. Photo czub.cz
The PP trigger mechanism is installed in a detachable housing, so it is very easy to separate it, say, for cleaning. USM trigger, designed for three modes of fire: single shots, bursts of 3 rounds and continuous. It can be changed by a double-sided flag translator (aka fuse) on both sides in the upper part of the handle, which is easily moved to the desired positions with the thumb of the shooting hand. To understand what is what and how to rearrange it, a horizontal pictogram, accessible to the understanding of the most mediocre mind, should help. The upper part of the USM body is a guide for the shutter – a simple and obvious solution, which made it possible to simplify the design of the receiver, and make the partial disassembly of the PP record-breaking fast. By the way, the handle is also easily rearranged, since it is in no way connected with the USM. After all, all people have fingers of different lengths, and this solution again allows you to achieve maximum comfort for the shooter in shooting from the new Scorpion. Now weapon designers pay attention even to such seemingly insignificant trifles.
Butt “Scorpion” leans back to the right. And it does not interfere with shooting from it. Again, there is in its design and its own “zest” – as they say, “a trifle, but nice.” The designers fixed a metal plate on the PP case on the right, and a neodymium magnet in the form of a “tablet” on the butt. This mount is very convenient. It perfectly holds the folded stock without any loose fasteners, and at the same time, it does not require much effort from the shooter to open it! Photo forgottenweapons
The stock is telescoping so again it can be adjusted in length, as can the position of the pistol grip. It is interesting that there were no requirements for adjusting the butt and the handle to the individual characteristics of the shooter in the TTZ of potential customers, but here the designers already showed their initiative and … they were not mistaken! The Scorpion has received excellent ergonomics, so it is very quickly aimed at the target and is easily kept on it even with continuous firing in long bursts.
Some samples are equipped with a hand rest so that it cannot slip onto a hot flame arrester. Photo forgottenweapons
And then in the spring of 2010, the Czech Ministry of Defense signed a contract with CZ for the supply of 572 Scorpions to arm the guards of Prague Castle, an elite unit of the Czech army that performs both representative functions and guards the residences of the Czech President.
One of the Prague Castle guards, armed with a Scorpion. Photo by the author 2017
The new “Scorpion” is a visual embodiment of a relatively new concept of PP. As you know, there are “light” and “heavy” PPs, and so after a period of enthusiasm for “light” PPs, the military again turned to heavy ones, and ergonomics again played their role here. “Skoripon” model 61, like the Israeli “Mini-Uzi” and the American “Ingram”, it is inconvenient to hold with two hands and shoot bursts. A lot of ammo is spent almost for nothing. The fact is that a modern fighter has to wear a bulletproof vest, and if he is also wearing winter clothes, then the convenience of using a weapon comes out on top. It is convenient to install removable sights and high-capacity magazines on heavy PPs. In a word, Czech designers guessed the trend in time and created a weapon for it that meets the requirements of the time.
Ian McCollin, host of Forgotten Weapons, is testing the Scorpion with a high-capacity drum magazine. It turns out there is one! As for McCollin, he is absolutely delighted with the third generation Scorpion! Photo forgottenweapons
Another feature of this software was the inscriptions stamped on it. First of all, the large-format inscription CZ Scorpion EVO 3 A1 on the action box, which catches the eye. Photo forgottenweapons
But this inscription is simply touching. “Read the instructions before use“. For the first time I meet such a “warning” on a military weapon … Photo forgottenweapons
- Author:
- Vyacheslav Shpakovsky