We have a winner! TigerInTally has ID'd the object. It is a guide rod for a recoil spring for a Sig P220. Apologies if I am not supposed to offer parts instead of an entire object. You can blame Martin who, I am told by Kyle, won't play by the rules--so I had to throw up a quickie. Tiger--you're up! Oh, I can't answer the other question, Tiger. I try to stay out of hillbilly pootie.
OK, this is something fairly heavy that hangs from a string? How big is this and is that perhaps a rope? Making this an anchor of some sort.