Big Boys Hobbies

Lead and Aluminum Projectile? Weird Find!

FreeBirdTim

FreeBirdTim

Elite Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2018
Messages
1,901
Location
Scituate, RI
Found this object near a stone wall today. Kind of looks like some sort of projectile, but that's just a wild guess. The nose and base are lead, while the fins and side supports are aluminum. Okay, guys, what the heck did I find?
 

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Possibly a LAWS rocket projectile. What's the diameter of the fins?

Roger
 
T-Man said:
At what would be close to a foot long that would take some big caps.
Click to expand...
Yup, too big for caps, but maybe a bigger charge? I found it on a property that's adjacent to the RI State Police Training Academy, so maybe some sort of dummy projectile?
 
FreeBirdTim said:
The distance between the tips of two fins is 3 inches. Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
*********************************************************

Well, that dimension is about right, but the state police would have no use for a LAWS rocket, and the LAWS has been outdated for about 20 years.
Being as it's that close to a state police training facility, it might be a flare of some type. Short launch height, but long burn time for night lighting?
Still, that type of ordinance is usually combat related.

Roger
 
I don't think you would use lead in a rocket or mortar. Too heavy and limits the range. Flare tubes are thin aluminum and flat and open on top because the phosphorus leaves the tube and float on a parachute. That design has been used since at least the 1960s.

It does look like the fins would fold into a tube. Maybe it was dropped from something?
 
It obviously exploded...not tremendously...no real flying scrapnel...but a big enough charge to disperse something... I say tear gas rocket
 
joe dert said:
It obviously exploded...not tremendously...no real flying scrapnel...but a big enough charge to disperse something... I say tear gas rocket
Click to expand...
Joe dert, that's a good possibility! Might have overshot the training academy grounds and landed nearby.
 
Looks like we might have a winner!
(And Voriax, I like your avatar. :D)

Roger
 
GTS225 said:
Looks like we might have a winner!
(And Voriax, I like your avatar. :D)

Roger
Click to expand...

Agree, that's it. Great work ID'ing this.

I had to look and read that ad carefully since at first it looked like a kids toy. Amazing how it looks like the package for the toy cap bomb.

Now that is something my brothers and I would have wanted to play with as kids.
 
FreeBirdTim said:
Joe dert, that's a good possibility! Might have overshot the training academy grounds and landed nearby.
Click to expand...

Well from the looks of the advertisement I'd say it was fired intentionally at the wall..tear gas under pressure..and then mashed by the lead ends..splits and disperses the gas without an actual ignited explosion..I'd further guess from the evenly sized vertical scrapnel that the case was scored to control and minimize flying scrapnel.. disperses the crowd hopefully without maiming someone..cool find
 
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