rammer headn.

1549 in Acts Privy Council (1890) II. 349/1 Rammers and ramer~hedes, xvj dousen.

1639 R. Ward Animadversions of Warre xii. cxvi. 300 Holding your Rammer head in your right hand (as before) you are to take the Bullet out of your mouth with your Thumbe and fore finger.

1692 Smith's Sea-mans Gram. (new ed.) ii. xi. 106 Make a mark upon the Rammer-head.

1744 W. Mountaine Seaman's Vade-mecum 146 If you make use of a Rope Spunge, observe to shift Ends, and have your Rammer Head at hand.

1797 W. Stevens Syst. Discipline Artillery U.S.A. vi. 52 Seize the staff just above the rammer head.

1828 J. M. Spearman Brit. Gunner 178 [No.] 2 unstraps the rammer-head,..and [no.] 4 unstraps the sponge.

1850 Ordnance Man. for Use of Officers (U.S. Army Ordnance Dept.) (ed. 2) i. 13 The position of the interior orifice of the vent is found from the mark made on the rammer-head.

1882 War of Rebellion (U.S. War Dept.) 1st Ser. 6 164 This scraper consists of a number of steel springs or prongs..firmly attached by screws to the cylindrical part of a rammer-head.

1947 O. Eisenschiml & R. Newman Amer. Iliad xvi. 470 There was a hustling of cannoneers, a few thumps of the rammer heads, and then..‘Fire!’

1976 Econ. Hist. Rev. 29 390 These early boring machines, dependent as they were on water power and often using a wooden rammer head..were ineffective.

2002 Daily Press (Newport, Va.) (Nexis) 23 Oct. c1 The excavators have uncovered numerous gunnery tools, including a shot ladle and rammer head.