History Trivia Thread Reducks

[Eddie Teach]

That's not how they're depicted in Diablo 2!

[Admiral Yi]

What event cause the invention of the socket musket?

Bonnie Prince Charlie?

[crazy canuck]

What is a socket musket?  Is that a musket that has a socket for a bayonet?

[Malthus]

What is a socket musket?  Is that a musket that has a socket for a bayonet?

Yup. As opposed to the plug bayonet (handle fits down the muzzle).

[HVC]

The more important question is who thought it was a good idea to stick a bayonet in the mussel of a musket to begin with.

[Admiral Yi]

The more important question is who thought it was a good idea to stick a bayonet in the mussel of a musket to begin with.

Some guy who fired at and missed a charging cavalryman.

[Malthus]

The more important question is who thought it was a good idea to stick a bayonet in the mussel of a musket to begin with.

It's the obvious way to convert a firearm into a spear. Considering the slow rate of fire of early firearms, it makes some sense.

[HVC]

I don't mean attaching a knife to the gun, which if I recall started as a hunting thing (bears and boars get angry if you shoot and just maime ) and makes sense. I mean sticking it in the mussel itself, that seems like a bad plan

[Malthus]

I don't mean attaching a knife to the gun, which if I recall started as a hunting thing (bears and boars get angry if you shoot and just maime ) and makes sense. I mean sticking it in the mussel itself, that seems like a bad plan

As I said, it's simply the easiest way to do it so the knife sits securely, if the knife & gun doesn't come with an extra attachment.

Now obviously having the ability to fire with the knife on is a better idea- that's why the socket bayonet style took off. But someone needs to make the special attachment first. It is a lot easier to simpy remove the handle of a knife and jam the tang down the barrel of a gun. Don't need any special attachments for that.

The actual attachment is a simple yet sophisticated little machine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayonet_mount

Prior to use of this device, "ring" bayonets had the alarming disadvantage of simply falling off in combat.

[Razgovory]

That's not how they're depicted in Diablo 2!

It's not how they are typically depicted in Greek art either.  The "Without out breasts" thing seems an unlikely etymology.

[Malthus]

That's not how they're depicted in Diablo 2!

It's not how they are typically depicted in Greek art either.  The "Without out breasts" thing seems an unlikely etymology.

It isn't purely a matter of etymology. Both Both Herodotus and Hippocrates - the two most prominent sources for their existence - claim that they cut off a breast.

They are described by Hippocrates as:

"They have no right breasts...for while they are yet babies their mothers make red-hot a bronze instrument constructed for this very purpose and apply it to the right breast and cauterize it, so that its growth is arrested, and all its strength and bulk are diverted to the right shoulder and right arm."

It is true that they are not depicted as having only one tit in art, but who wants to look at hawt women warriors with only one tit?

[Admiral Yi]

The plug bayonent is a logical descendent of the pike.  This barrel is kind of a stick, let's put a pike head on it.  BTW Hillary it's muzzle.  Mussels are what Belgians pull from a shell and eat with frites.

[Viking]

What event cause the invention of the socket musket?

Bonnie Prince Charlie?

Right place, wrong time. The problem was psychotic highlanders running at you very fast. However, it was a problem in 1689 rather than 1745. The true solution to chargin psychotics was solved, not by Hugh Mackay after the battle of Killiecrankie, which is the answer to the question. But rather by Hiram Maxim, but that is a question for another day.

At seven o'clock Dundee gave the order to advance, at which point the entirety of the Highlanders dropped their gear, fired what muskets they had, and charged. Mackay's forces, realising the battle was on, stepped up their rate of fire, however due to a shallow terrace on the hillside shielding the advancing Jacobites, this fire was partly masked.[3] Eventually the lines met and Mackay's men in the centre were "swept away by the furious onset of the Camerons." So fast was the Jacobite charge that many Government troops had insufficient time to fix their bayonets, leaving them defenceless at close-quarters (during this period, the plug bayonet was used, which fitted into the barrel of the musket and prevented further reloading or firing - this meant that fixing bayonets was delayed till the last possible moment). The battle soon ended with the entirety of Mackay's force fleeing the field, quickly turning into a rout that killed 2,000.[2]

Floor is open.

[Malthus]

Heh, I just came across an obscure one - which famour historical person was depicted as the target in the first picture to depict hand-gun violence?

[Admiral Yi]

Gustavus Adolphus.