Posted on 01/03/2008 6:35:58 PM PST by HairOfTheDog
Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!
Sing hey! for the bath at close of day
That washes the weary mud away!
A loon is he that will not sing:
O! Water Hot is anoble thing!
O! Sweet is the sound of falling rain.
and the brook that leaps from hill to plain;
but better than rain or rippling streams
is Water Hot that smokes and steams.
O! Water cold we may pour at need
down a thirsty throat and be glad indeed;
but better is Beer, if drink we lack,
and Water Hot poured down the back.
O! Water is fair that leaps on high
in a fountain white beneath the sky;
but never did fountain sound so sweet
as splashing Hot Water with my feet!
Computer room painting..cool. What is the color scheme going to be?
We don’t recall seeing the pinholes, it is tempting use the push pins in a sheetrock wall, doesn’t work with plaster ones.
I painted the ceiling “Antique White.” I’ll leave the moldings white and paint the walls “Coastal Blue.” It’s a warmish wedgewood type blue.
I ran out of tape.
beauty day here weather wise...
took theboyz to a wrestlin’ tournament... they hadda rough day...
it was the first meet fer thenewboy, and his first match was with last years’ state champ... so much fer the 4-6 y/o “novice” class ... he didn’t let the kid pin him, so there’s that... fought till the end... lost the next three too... but he never quit...
the boy had a rough time too, went 1-3... I can tell I haven’t been able to be there at practice... he moves well, is aggressive, but makes obvious mistakes and misses opportunities... I can fix that...
I wuz plum worn out by the end...
Now you'll have to be VEWY careful!
I’ll just pick up another roll on Monday. Meanwhile I can finish patching, sanding, and washing. I figure I’ll be able to paint the walls next Caturday. I like to paint in good light.
Heh...I liked this one. Eeeevil kitten.
Good grief! Thenewboy is old enough to be rasslin? Time flies, don’t it?
Antique White and Coastal Blue sound great. Good luck with the taping and spackling.
Tomorrow is the Hobbit Hole's sixth birthday.
I can always remember...'cause today is Mom's birthday. The first Hobbit Hole started the day after what would be her last birthday.
Evening G’nad - this nice weather was a very welcome break.
Sounds like the boyz hung in there - there isn’t any substitute for just keeping after it.
Just might need to go the range tomorrow, practice helps with that too. Those bullets won’t hit the target by themselves. :-)
That brings us to this Webley No1. Mark "1" 1.5 inch (37mm) flare gun. As you can see compared to a dummy Glock 21, it's a dainty piece.
The flare gun was a rush project for the Royal Flying Corps in 1914-1918. Flares were very important in the days before radios, or even wireless telegraphs. The flare gun was based on Webley's large-frame break-action revolver. This made it easy to add a massive single-shot barrel, rather than a cylinder and barrel. An ingenious grip adapter allowed the adding of a walnut shoulder stock.
As usual with Webley products, it's massively over-engineered. It's built like a bank vault, and weighs almost as much (8 pounds). And though this one was made in 1916, when fine commercial finishing and bluing were cut back, it's a masterpiece of craftsmanship. One has to wait for the World War 2 Webley (and everyone else's) production to see the real sacrifices in cosmetic quality.
The lock-up is hugh, and since everything is solid steel, it could handle pressures much higher than generated by pyrotechnic rounds. When brought into the US as surplus, a lot of these Webleys were snapped up by police agencies for use as tear gas guns.
As usual, the flare gun is stamped with lots of British proof marks, along with matching serial numbers on all the major assemblies. 
Still, it just can't quite compare with Serial Number 10, which is in a British museum. Apparently they had even greater things in mind, since it had even a longer barrel, and what looks like sights.
And if you're a movie fan, you might the Webley as the basis for Boba Fett's weapon, from The Empire Strikes back
To an upgraded version in Return of the Jedi
Of course, the movies used a lot of modified firearms as the basis for advanced weapons. A close look will reveal pieces of Mauser Broomhandles, MG34s, and, of course, the storm trooper's ever-popular Sterling SMG.
The Webley No. 1 Mark "1" seems to have gone from British airfields of WW1 all the way to a galaxy long ago, and far, far away.
Can you get the flares for it, I wonder? I imagine that a 37mm parachute flare costs a penny or two. I know the 25’s aren’t cheap.
Very cool, though, thanks for the post.
BTW, the lady in the SF movie, “Serenity”, was using something that looked a lot like a Remington model 12 to my eyes...you can probably tell me what it really looked like, I bet.
I love movie guns !
http://www.blade-runner.it/images/deck-gun.jpg
We had an armorer that actually put one of these togeather......wasn’t functional yet fun to take too the range and see the looks.
Hey Rosie, I know the last few years have been hard for you. I’m glad we’ve been able to be a tiny little part of them and we’ll keep being part of them too. I think you’ve probably done more in the last few years, come farther and had more adventures, than almost any of us.
I could use a little “adventure.”(The good kind, that is)
25mm (one inch) pyrotechnics are about the maximum you can find in the civilian market, and no, they're not cheap. Neither is the plastic launcher, although it is cheaply made. Most foreign governments take a dim view of any device, even plastic, that can project anything into the air. So boaters need be careful of what they have on board before pulling in to a foreign port, even in Canada.
But, American ingenuity to the rescue. If you have a love affair with 37mm (1.5 inch) stuff, 37mm.com has answers for questions you haven't even asked yet.
37mm has pretty much died out as a signaling device, but is still handy for launching tear gas and other non-boating items. More on that on a future episode. For the "big boats", rocket-assisted throwaways seem to be current state of the art. Grab the base with one hand, unscrew or pop the top of the firing ring, point to the sky, look away, and pull.
The Coast Guard insists on a maximum storage life of five years, and with good reason. There's lots of black powder in these rounds, and it may not behave properly after five years. I tried to fire a WW2-vintage green star shell in that brass Webley-clone flare gun once for the 4th of July. Nothing launched, just got a big BOOOOM from it. Fortunately, the launcher is sturdy, and the rest of the neighborhood thought it was just another big firecracker.
The next time I watch Firefly, I'll make a list of the modified (and unmodified) 19th and 20th century weapons they uses. I remember seeing some AR180s with cosmetic add-ons. I guess in their universe, beam weapons are still too costly and ineffective, so most everyone, including teh government, relies on tried-and-true bullet launchers.
AHHH. The Decker Blaster, circa 2019. Using your favorite search engine, there are a number of articles and blogs about making your very own Decker Blaster. I even found a link to an ebay auction of the airsoft version, went for big bucks. The working model, now that would be way cool. Hmm Charter Arms Bulldog, Steyr Bolt Action, various screws, a bit of patience, hmmm.
Win-mag; the Webley flare gun, well done indeed. Great Gun Pron. Excellent photos (as always). That was one of my must haves in years gone by that never quite made into the cache. Glad you have one.
At an MVACA show some years back I handled a 37mm steel case, machined to allow the use of the 25 mm flares. It even had it’s exactor, which allowed the smaller shell to lifted back for extraction. It would be quite the accessory for your flare gun.
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