Wood bullets ?

[Marvin S]

So I bought this Dietz #2 D-Lite lantern today and was cleaning it up and noticed something rattling around in the fuel tank. It was these two wood slugs .33 dia and 1.27 long. There was old stale fuel in it so maybe they could have swelled some. The lantern is a 1945 model. Any ideas.

[Bronco]

I think they used wood bullets in some old blanks ! Seen pictures of old 30-06 with them.

[fordwannabe]

I had a 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser once that had a goofy looking adapter on it(ever notice most model 96 Mauser are threaded) and it was an indoor practice round shredder. Indoor practice ammunition had wooden Bullets and this thing supposedly shredded those Bullets. I had quite a few of the wooden bullet rounds at the time, so I know they made wooden bullet ammo.

[GunnyMack]

Must have been spares bullets for VanHelsing!
I've made some in the past just for kicks. What I found was they didn't stabilize worth a hoot. But the .40 cal blowgun blunt/practice darts worked very well in my G23, just a primer all that was needed.

[Old No7]

I had a 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser once that had a goofy looking adapter on it(ever notice most model 96 Mauser are threaded) and it was an indoor practice round shredder. Indoor practice ammunition had wooden Bullets and this thing supposedly shredded those Bullets. I had quite a few of the wooden bullet rounds at the time, so I know they made wooden bullet ammo.

I still have one of those in my collection, with a box of the red wood ammo -- see the image below...

Old No7

Blank Firing Device.jpg

[piller]

I can see the use for them to train on function during war when real bullets would be in high demand for combat.

[Marvin S]

If they are bullets, I can see some kid putting them in there years ago.

[Hawkeye2]

Possibly wooden bullets from a child's cowboy outfit. I remember having holster sets with them in the days before "caution choking hazard" warnings. Mothers just told kids not to run with things in their mouth.

[wolfdog]

I had a 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser once that had a goofy looking adapter on it(ever notice most model 96 Mauser are threaded) and it was an indoor practice round shredder. Indoor practice ammunition had wooden Bullets and this thing supposedly shredded those Bullets. I had quite a few of the wooden bullet rounds at the time, so I know they made wooden bullet ammo.

I still have one of those in my collection, with a box of the red wood ammo -- see the image below...

Old No7


Blank Firing Device.jpg

Yep, those are blanks, the Sweedes gallery ammo shot a copper disc similar to a gas check at very high fps.

[Pepe Ray]

WOW!! My heart skipped a beat when I saw those bullets. The time frame for the lantern was correct also. The bullets were part of a toy machine gun that I had for a brief time, as a child. It was set up on a tripod and configured like a Browning 30. cal. water cooled MG. Except the cartridges were fed down a magazine like a Gatling Gun. This would have been in 1943 or 44. After I sprayed them around the living room I was given a lecture and the bullets were taken away. The gun would still make a "report" when I turned the crank so my fun was tolerated for only a brief time. My keepers were regretful that the Christmas gift was such a poor choice and "convinced" me that it would be more fun in the spring when I could play outside. So it was packaged up until they could turn me loose in March.
I don't recall the lantern but the boss keeper was a railroad man and those lanterns were a common item, and it would have been in keeping with my behavior to have dropped them in. Regretfully, as a child will often do, I neglected to care for my toys and the WET spring soaked the heavy cardboard frame, the tripod fell apart and no one encouraged me to try to care for my M.G. Surprise?? That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Pepe Ray

[Old No7]

Possibly wooden bullets from a child's cowboy outfit...

Or possibly they were for a child's toy cannon ! ?

That groove around the bullet caught a small hook when it was pushed back against a spring at the bottom of the barrel. When the trigger of the cannon was pushed the small hook was raised and the bullets flew out from 6' to 8'. My dear 'ol dad loved cannons, and I just remembered that he'd left me one that has similar bullets -- only made of plastic.

Also, is it possible that by sloshing the fuel around in the lantern, you could easily tell "how full it was" by how high up on the side the wood bullets hit ? ?

If so -- as that would be my guess -- maybe some adult robbed their kid of cannon fodder!!!

Old No7

[Marvin S]

All sounds plausible, I also thought of a legitimate reason for them in the tank.

[fordwannabe]

Wolfdog, you of course are correct. I was mixing my obsolete Swedish bullet types.SORRY.

[JB]

Wooden bullets have been used for indoor practice rounds, less than lethal crowd control (although a wooden bullet at close range would certainly kill), blanks, and for grenade launching from rifles amoung probably a few other reasons.

[Ysabel Kid]

I think they used wood bullets in some old blanks ! Seen pictures of old 30-06 with them.

+1. I have a .30-06 in my cartridge collection with a wooden bullet.

[mickbr]

I had a 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser once that had a goofy looking adapter on it(ever notice most model 96 Mauser are threaded) and it was an indoor practice round shredder. Indoor practice ammunition had wooden Bullets and this thing supposedly shredded those Bullets. I had quite a few of the wooden bullet rounds at the time, so I know they made wooden bullet ammo.

yes I think that was the idea of them, 303 brit had the same things for blanks. Wood bullets were a way to generate the pressure needed to cycle gas operated actions, and the blank firing attchment using a smaller than calibre hole to keep the gas in would usually break up the bullet. In.303 these were needed for the bren machine guns, not the bolt actions obviously. They could still be dangerous apparently, some folks got injured firing blanks at others close up.