I was making a prop for one of my son’s plays today and I needed a short handle. I rummaged around the file drawer for an old leather covered handle that almost worked as a file handle. It had some sort of “nut” pushed deep inside that never really gripped the tang of the file.
I used a screw to pull the “nut” out, but what’s this?
An old .303 cartridge.
I wonder what the story is behind the handle.
shooftie 
#1 by Old Fussbudget on July 1, 2011 - 7:42 pm
Commercial handle, hole wore out or otherwise too big, canny pinchpenny rams a dowel up a piece of old brass and enlarges hole to a drive fit on said brass. First time he shoves a file up there the primer goes off and puts his eye out. Son dumps “Da’s old tools” in a boot sale. 😉
#2 by albell on July 1, 2011 - 7:49 pm
Yeah, you’re probably right. Must have been a New Englander to be both cheap and dumb 🙂
(ducking)
“WRA company” – Winchester repeating arms stamp on cartridge
alistair
#3 by Angus on July 1, 2011 - 7:52 pm
Obviously a WWII single shot assassination weapon, issued to a file wielding spy…
#4 by Old Fussbudget on July 1, 2011 - 7:58 pm
There ya go!
#5 by albell on July 1, 2011 - 8:07 pm
Maybe even WWI?
alistair
#6 by Old Fussbudget on July 1, 2011 - 8:21 pm
Definitely WWI. I believe this is the rumoured pinfire leather bullet (code name Sill Cock IIRC) that supplanted the pneumatic rifle as a humane and discreet “weapon, assassination, crowned heads, for the use of [and against].”
#7 by albell on July 1, 2011 - 8:34 pm
later superseded by Burrough’s Steely Dan.
ab