Making gun from a meteorite

[JSnover]

http://m.newser.com/story/218048/us-company-turning-ancient-meteorite-into-1-million-guns.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social
When the cosmos dumps trash o n your planet, recycle it!

[Thumbcocker]

There was an old movie where the hero had a Bowie knife made from a meteorite. Cant remember the title.

[Freightman]

"iron mistress"

[NSB]

All meteorites are ancient. They've been floating around out there for about fourteen billion years.....or a bit less. There's nothing magical about their properties.

[bangerjim]

The "magical" part is finding a GOOD one in one nice hunk!

[Hardcast416taylor]

A jeweler friend of mine that was also a rock hound told me that diamonds often show up in meteorites he has come across, tiny yes but still diamonds.Robert

[JSnover]

There was one in the western US a long time ago, that contained enough iron to sustain a mining company for some 30 years, if I recall.

[HarryT]

When I saw the Hoba meteorite in Namibia I wondered why it hasn't been used for knives, guns, cuff links, etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoba_meteorite

60 tons of 84% iron, 16% nickel

[richhodg66]

Read a book called The Sky Stone once about how the sword, Excaliber, was forged from metal from a meteorite, it was a surprisingly good book. Can't remember the author at the moment.

[nekshot]

I saw that on the news and could that piece of meteor really give enough metal for a whole gun?

[JSnover]

It could. The iron content is a LOT higher than what we generally find in iron ore.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

A minority of meteorites are mainly iron, with a considerably greater nickel content than the nickel steels used in firearms, e.g. the 3½% of P14 and M1917 Enfields. Other elements may be present, but I don't believe they have the irregular carbon inclusions you find in cast iron. They are more like wrought iron, and the nickel probably adds toughness.

Ordinary wrought iron can be converted into steel, on a small scale, by a fairly simple cementation process. The nickel might make this impossible. But plenty of muzzle-loaders were made of almost pure wrought iron, which rifles smoothly and resists corrosion well. I don't see why meteorite iron wouldn't be at least as good, possibly better, and quite easy to work if you have enough of it. I can't see why the same wouldn't apply to at least a single-shot cartridge pistol of moderate pressure. But if I had a million dollars to spend on firearms, or even a hundred thousand, that wouldn't be my first priority.

[Jpholla]

All meteorites are ancient. They've been floating around out there for about fourteen billion years.....or a bit less. There's nothing magical about their properties.

Yeah, I wonder if people realize they are made from the same "space stuff" from the same time as the earth is...

[JSnover]

The "magical" part is finding a GOOD one in one nice hunk!
The real magic happens when someone bids a million bucks for your Magic Meteor Space Gun From Another Dimension, or however you want to market it :roll:

[lightman]

I've got one that I found while I was head hunting. I understand that they fetch some unbelievable prices. Mine is about the size of a baked potato. The sad part is that I found two of them, and not knowing what they were, I left one of them there. I was about a mile from my truck and got tired of carrying it.

[quack1]

Cabot Guns is only a few miles from me and the company tests their guns at the range I belong to. Next time I run into one of the company people at the range, I'll ask them about the meteorite guns.

[MaryB]

Are you positive it is a meteorite and not a chunk of volcanic iron... if it is a real meteorite then one that sized could be worth upwards of $30k or more!


I've got one that I found while I was head hunting. I understand that they fetch some unbelievable prices. Mine is about the size of a baked potato. The sad part is that I found two of them, and not knowing what they were, I left one of them there. I was about a mile from my truck and got tired of carrying it.

[lightman]

No, I guess I'm not sure. I have not had it tested or looked at by experts. But it passes some of the test that I have heard of others using. Its magnetic. It makes a mark on raw ceramic. I also belong to a treasure hunting forum (mostly for the artifacts) that has info on meteorites and it has the looks and described feel. If it is, I'll be out there looking for that other one!

[fouronesix]

A marketing novelty I think. There's no kryptonite or other magic element or alloy in a nickel-iron meteorite. A few hundred years ago, Indonesians discovered they could forge laminated high quality bladed tools and weapons from the metal of the nickel-iron meteorites they found. It has been said those blades with meteoritic metal carry "magic" powers.

Now, whether or not those same magic powers are incorporated in a modern handgun built with a trace of meteoritic metal added, is up to the owner I guess. ;)

[Ballistics in Scotland]

A marketing novelty I think. There's no kryptonite or other magic element or alloy in a nickel-iron meteorite. A few hundred years ago, Indonesians discovered they could forge laminated high quality bladed tools and weapons from the metal of the nickel-iron meteorites they found. It has been said those blades with meteoritic metal carry "magic" powers.

Now, whether or not those same magic powers are incorporated in a modern handgun built with a trace of meteoritic metal added, is up to the owner I guess. ;)

I should think they will work just as well as any other magic powers.

You can determine its specific gravity by dividing its weight by the weight of the water it displaces. For pure iron it would be 7.87 and for nickel 8.9. Magnetite, one of the ores of iron, is also magnetic, but is only about 5.18. Not many of us have the necessary displacement vessel, which will overflow from a spout that doesn't let water run down the side. But most of us have a scale. If you suspend the meteorite by as thin a thread as possible, the dry weight divided by the difference between that and the weight when suspended in water, is the specific gravity.

[Bigslug]

It would appear from Cabot's website that they plan to turn this meteorite into a pair of 1911's.

While I agree with this on the line of reasoning that when using such rare materials, you should build such a thing on as durable a blueprint as possible, there's this little voice in my head that says: "Yeah, but Han Solo's blaster was a C96"

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I picked up a meteorite in the California desert many years ago, it is about the size of a chicken egg and black. A magnet sticks to it so it must have iron in it.