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What does spike your guns mean?
spike (one’s) guns To ruin one’s plans or prevent one’s success. The phrase refers to the former military practice of inserting spikes into enemy guns to prevent them from firing.
What does it mean to spike someone?
/ˈspaɪkɪŋ/ /ˈspaɪkɪŋ/ Idioms. [transitive] spike somebody/something (on something) to push a sharp piece of metal, wood, etc. into somebody/something; to injure something on a sharp point synonym stab.
What is rifle muzzle?
noun. the mouth, or end for discharge, of the barrel of a gun, pistol, etc. the projecting part of the head of an animal, including jaws, mouth, and nose.
When were Matchlock guns invented?
The earliest form of matchlock in Europe appeared by 1411 and in the Ottoman Empire by 1425. This early arquebus was a hand cannon with a serpentine lever to hold matches.
What does to spike a cannon mean?
Spiking a gun was a method of temporarily disabling a cannon by hammering a barbed steel spike into the touch hole; this could be removed only with great difficulty. If a cannon was in danger of being captured by the enemy, its crew would spike the gun to prevent it from being used against them.
What is spiking in laser?
Definition: the tendency of some lasers to emit spikes of output power, particularly after being switched on.
What does a choked barrel mean?
A choked barrel refers to a reduction in the bore dimensions at the muzzle of the gun. The purpose for this reduction, according to pellet makers at Handler & Naterman (H&N), is to size all pellets just before they leave the gun. It ensures uniformity. Chokes are more than a century old.
How does matchlock work?
The matchlock was the first mechanical firing device. It consisted of an S-shaped arm, called a serpentine, that held a match, and a trigger device that lowered the serpentine so that the lighted match would fire the priming powder in the pan attached to the side of the barrel.
What does it mean to Spike a cannon or rifle?
To spike a cannon or a rifle is to render the gun unusable by forcing a spike or some such piece of metal into its muzzle so that it ruins the bore and the rifling. Typically that would be done if one’s position was about to be overrun and one didn’t want the enemy to capture the guns and use them.
How do you Spike a gun without a spike?
If a special spike was unavailable, spiking could be done by driving a bayonet into the touch-hole and breaking it off, to leave the blade’s tip embedded. Guns could also be rendered useless by burning their wooden carriages or blowing off their trunnions.
How do you Spike a cannon in WW1?
Spiking the guns. Spiking a gun was a method of temporarily disabling a cannon by hammering a barbed steel spike into the touch-hole; this could be removed only with great difficulty. If a cannon was in danger of being captured by the enemy, its crew would spike the gun to prevent it from being used against them.
Why do soldiers wear a gun spike on their uniform?
Often gunners, especially the officers, carried a gun spike on thier uniform for such eventuallity. In modern artillery a similar effect can be gained by removing the firing lock or acctuating mechanism. Incidentally during the Vietnam conflict, Battle of Coral, a gun of 102 Field Battery, 12th Field Regiment, was overrun.