✅ SOLVED No Idea

[RelicHnter]

Anybody seen one of these?

 

[ARC]

Capacitor... solenoid... resistor ? ? ?

Not remotely familiar to me.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

It is the "slider" or "plunger" from a fired civil war yankee Hotchkiss Type 2 Percussion artillery shell fuze.

A pistol percussion cap was pressed onto the nipple on the front end of the slider, which slid forward and detonated the percussion cap (and thus, the shell's powder-charge) when the shell struck a solid object. The brass wire extending from the slider's back end was part of a safety mechanism which prevented the slider from moving until the shell got fired.

 

[RelicHnter]

Thanks to all. Very interesting

 

[kingskid1611]

Now that is one heck of a find......and a great ID cannonballguy