Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Loading And Firing A Civil War Mortar

5 comments:

Billll said...

Mine is smaller, 2.7" for a pop can full of cement (1.5 lb) and 500gr of 2F. Tried it with a 6lb shot and 350gr once and the recoil broke one of the 1 in oak axles.

Tried it with 150 gr of 2f and a sprinkling of titanium chips under a pop can full of gasoline, firing straight up. 30 ft fireball and 30 ft dia smoke ring. Spectacular!

https://billllsidlemind.blogspot.com/2008/06/range-reports-blow-up-world.html

Merle said...

Those air bursts were nasty!

Merle

Merle said...

Sounds like a great 4th of July show!

Merle

PS: got any pics of the fireball?

David aka True Blue Sam said...

Way back when the kid was interested in Civil War history we read everything we could get our hands on. Muzzleloading artillery still has safety issues in our modern times, and we stayed out of it. It is sort of a rich man's hobby, too. We did get a repro Enfield musket, and shot it quite a bit. It's a very effective rifle on deer.

David aka True Blue Sam said...

I was fascinated to see that they are actually using a Bormann fuse in their shells. I guess some Civil War enthusiast has set up shop to make them. Re-enactors would have to keep track of any duds and retrieve them after one of these demonstrations, and there surely would be the occasional dud.