Maggie’s Any former mortarmen here?
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I got play with them for about a year... I had more fun burning the unused increments. Good times
I was an 0341 in the Reserves before I got commissioned. Ahhh, memories of humping the 81's base plate.
Yeah. Real precision shooting, alright. My experience with these was either overshot, undershot, too damn close or too damn far away. I noticed they flared the muzzle, to make it easier to put the round in. Funny. I was on the TOC once, (FB Veghel) when the 4.2s were firing a mission. I happened to notice that one sounded a little "Light" and quickly turned my head that way, to see the projo sort of gently loft out of the tube, and fly about 20 feet to land in the ammo dump! Talk about an exciting moment. Every one diving, and yelling "shortroundshortroundshortround!" it didn't go off.
All in good humor of course, Mortars fired some good missions for us, and brought the heat more than once when we needed it. TF, 1/327 Inf, 101st VN 68/69.
All in good humor of course, Mortars fired some good missions for us, and brought the heat more than once when we needed it. TF, 1/327 Inf, 101st VN 68/69.
Is that talcum powder you're standing in?
That would be the "carpet" inside our Afghan house we liberated
So..................., what happens when you drop the round into the tube and it doesn't ignite?
Manually try to fire it, if that doesn't work detach the base plate and Carefully tilt it up & pour it out for the A gunner to catch, then call EOD
Thanks. Firing them does look like a shit load of fun. Pouring out a dud , not so much.
81's, 4-deuce and 120's... We were shooting 4-deuce ammo stamped from 66-67 during first Gulf War. Worked every time.
Our platoon did some cross training every year with the mortar section to brush up on our call for fire and after we'd done a couple iterations they'd let us drop a few. The best was watching a night time fire for effect with flares, HE, the works, almost as good as Fourth of July.
I think that was said as a joke. No it wouldn't. Neither shell would 'fire'. Also the bore riding safety pin would prevent detonationHmmmm.........will that work ?
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As was my response. Although, being ignorant about other than the basics, I'd love to hear the skinny/details about "bore riding safety".....Can you provide a description ?
Thx,
I was referring to the M19 60mm mortar I carried. When 'firing' an HE round, the A gunner or ammo bearer pulls the ring and safety pin and drops it down the tube, setback from the charge, very much like a 12ga shell, firing causes the setback pin to release a bore riding safety pin. The bore riding pin then contacts the bore of the mortar and is ejected as the projectile leave the muzzle. The delayed arming occurs approximately 3 seconds after the round has left the tube. Upon impact, or as set, superquick action occurs from the detonator & booster charges to explode the projectile.
0 to4 additional increments, look kinda like packs of chewing gum, placed around the tail of the shell determine the range of the shell.
0 to4 additional increments, look kinda like packs of chewing gum, placed around the tail of the shell determine the range of the shell.
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Cool, Thanks! (I think I'm gonna do some searching/Google-fu and look for some diagrams to further edjumacate myself).
Are all mortar rounds detonated upon ground contact, or, is there such a thing as timed/air burst mortars ? (I suppose, probably yes, depending on type of ordnance. Has nothing to do with the tube itself)
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M19... that's old school, no bore riding pin anymore. I had some fun as a 60's team leader. Had 120's in the Golestan valley, those are really fun!
The M720 HE round has three fuse options: Air burst, contact, and delay(after contact).
The M720 HE round has three fuse options: Air burst, contact, and delay(after contact).
Not quite...
The PBR's offshore at Qua Viet and in the Dong Ha River in 1967 used them a little around our A/O.
In Qua Viet the Amgrunts had a 60mm set up in a sandbag ring about 100ft from our hooch. Dang, but they never warned us when they were gonna do a fire support mission at 3AM. Especially spicy when the LVTH-6's opened up with the 105 turret guns for followup.
Bammo! Hit the planks beside the cot..., one minute to get into the slit wearing skivvies, flak jacket, helmet, and boots, rocking a mag into the M-14. Looked like the roach motel bogie when somebody turned on the lights...
Damn, but us Marines always have more fun...
Our heart rates got a good workout some nights.
Greg
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Aim guy/squad leader on a Yugo 82mm (copy of a Russian one) - not related to Huskydriver's experience though i've heard we donated bunch of those to Afgans so who know what Serial No was spitting at him ...
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I was 11B but I had a lot of FO and radio and FBCB2 training also, so I worked with FO's a bit and knew some of the mortar guys pretty well. They loved their tubes! They had 60's, 81's and 120's and a Stryker to carry 'em all and fire 'em from. They were easily the best equipped mortar teams in the army. Easy. You could mount the 120 in the back of that particular Stryker and the top opens up all the way and you have a mobile firing position. It has tons of places to store ammo inside. You can also drop the ramp and set 'em up outside. You can setup more than one too, I forget how many guns they carried. Pretty slick, dedicated machine. And accurate.
One day we were doing this trench exercise at NTC and they shorted a 120 WP and it was expected to hit one of our vehicles, to hurry up and get inside 'em. We were sitting inside and everyone had holy shit looks because nobody was sure a Stryker could take a hit like that. It wasn't HE or AP or anything but still. It hit further out but was a moment nobody in that vehicle will ever forget. Nobody wants to die from WP. Nobody.
One day we were doing this trench exercise at NTC and they shorted a 120 WP and it was expected to hit one of our vehicles, to hurry up and get inside 'em. We were sitting inside and everyone had holy shit looks because nobody was sure a Stryker could take a hit like that. It wasn't HE or AP or anything but still. It hit further out but was a moment nobody in that vehicle will ever forget. Nobody wants to die from WP. Nobody.
The one memory I have of mortars while with ANGLICO that sticks out the most is on a night shoot and they were dropping EVERYRTHING. Everything was fine until rounds started impacting a little close for comfort. I got right on the coms and let them know they were getting a little too close to a pile of ammo not so eloquently
I got to spend to some time with ANGLICO, providing over watch up on a mountain with my 60mm in handheld mode. Those were some cool guys to hang out with.
60mm Here for one hitch in the Army and then a year and a half training Afghans on the 82mm. The "flare" on the barrel of the 81mm is a BAD- Blast Attenuation Device- supposed to help with mitigating pressure if I remember right. Pic is from a training session with the ANA where they decided to wash all the rounds with diesel for some reason. This was their idea of a dud pit. Later had to stop one from shooting the pile with his pistol. We left when they got bored waiting for EOD and started throwing them in the back of a pickup
I had 0341 as a secondary MOS. Went through ITS at Camp San Onofre in 1980.
I never served in an 0341 billet (I'm an 0861). I used to use an 81mm mortar to mark targets with WP rounds at San Clemente Island.
Me with a Navy deck mounted 81mm mortar at San Clemente Island, around 1980.
I never served in an 0341 billet (I'm an 0861). I used to use an 81mm mortar to mark targets with WP rounds at San Clemente Island.
Me with a Navy deck mounted 81mm mortar at San Clemente Island, around 1980.
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So did all that ordnance get 'ruined' by accident or on purpose? And, was it all actually detonated/destroyed, OR was it disassembled for it's "sum of parts"?
Just sounds hinky to have that many 'duds' in one place..... or am I just a suspicious person?
It was legit. They cleaned all their equipment and for some reason thought it would be a good idea to get the rust off the rounds (19502 and 60's if I remember right) using diesel. We fired every one of them, even had one that made it about 6' from the tube, which was a little worrying since we had no idea what sort of safeties if any those things had.
They have wind/pressure actuated safety ball that is pushed under striker pin however making a bet that somewhere during manufacture and transport to the firing point that ball didn't already arm the pin might be rather detrimental to ones health especially if you know the clowns manning storage facilities and their monkey business driving various equipment there. If it made out of the tube you can bet your ass it was activated as initial jolt would be enough to arm it and as its nose heavy throwing this shit around just might make you see Alah a little sooner than planned. Cleaning with diesel probably ruined a primary charge which if memory serves is open end design like a shotgun shell and those dumbfucks probably soaked everything and ruined powder inside cartridge.
Why do you think AK47 was such a success - simply because most of the world population is too fucking dumb to operate anything more complex than a toothpick (and even with that some manage to put their eyes out)...
Why do you think AK47 was such a success - simply because most of the world population is too fucking dumb to operate anything more complex than a toothpick (and even with that some manage to put their eyes out)...
