Norskusa 60mm Ultralite one man mortar.

originally posted by: network dude
a reply to: Rodinus

I'd be a bit embarrassed about the screaming like a woman part, but probably would have reacted much the same.

Yep... definitely was a little bit of a big girls blouse squeal...

Kindest respects

Rodinus

a reply to: Rodinus

Off topic...Your'a funny man Rodinus...Hope "Pronto' sees these. Damn those pongo's. Pissed meself laughin mate. Cheers.

Bally

a reply to: Rodinus

Those guys are lucky. Some rounds have a delay charge that detonates the round if the impact fuze doesn't work. Surely a reason to run like they did. Remember this guy?

He's laughing… …and lucky that round didn't "nose over" just a little bit more… twice!

a reply to: intrptr

That was a pretty funny one too...

Methinks that those Mortars were not charged with live heads... as I don't think he would have stood around laughing like that?

Kindest respects

Rodinus

a reply to: Rodinus

I attended a Las Vegas Soldier of Fortune conference in the 80's, same thing happened. Yokel's home made mortar bombs out of C4 wound with Slinkys. When that round blooped out of the tube and landed (smoking) on the ground in front of the audience I and this other guy were the only two people that ran.

To this day I shudder to think what could have happened.

The "mortar rounds" in that video of Russian dude actually look more like rifle grenades than mortar rounds. They could be modified to work in a tube. That might be why they didn't work, the caliber was different.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: Rodinus

I attended a Las Vegas Soldier of Fortune conference in the 80's, same thing happened. Yokel's home made mortar bombs out of C4 wound with Slinkys. When that round blooped out of the tube and landed (smoking) on the ground in front of the audience I and this other guy were the only two people that ran.

They say it is a great cure for constipation

Kindest respects

Rodinus

It's about time they upgraded the 60mm, that thing wasn't too easy to fire when the rounds were coming from downrange.

a reply to: intrptr

The video said they loaded the charges themselves (too low apparently), which implies that they would be using a dummy round. If you've fiddled with it enough to load it, you're probably smart enough to have dearmed it.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: Rodinus

I attended a Las Vegas Soldier of Fortune conference in the 80's, same thing happened. Yokel's home made mortar bombs out of C4 wound with Slinkys. When that round blooped out of the tube and landed (smoking) on the ground in front of the audience I and this other guy were the only two people that ran.

C4 is pretty stable. You can burn it without any problems. You'd have to have large compression and the heat to create an issue (which launching the round might have done -- dumb idea). If it's just smoking on the ground, you're fine. In fact, if you're in the weeds and need to heat your rations you could take a small chunk and burn it. The biggest danger was probably when the round was fired.

Short rounds that pop out of the tube do not arm in US rounds.

It takes a flight of about 200 feet for the FUSE to arm.

it was not always that way.

during early WW2 mortar round had a pull ring and pin you held down.

these are my fav mortar fails.
www.youtube.com...
patdollard.com...
i386.photobucket.com...

During the Vietnam war the NVA would shell US bases.
They would setup 3+ mortar base-plates and would fire three rounds grab the tube and run to the next base plate.
A good crew could have three rounds in the air before the first one hit. and be gone before the US counter battery fire.

The navy seals would hunt down one of the base-plates and put a anti tank mine under it.
and the NVA after a while did not trust the russian mortar rounds they were using.

a reply to: _Del_

C4 is pretty stable. You can burn it without any problems.

Main charge was C4 wrapped with slinkys. Three of them and about 3 pounds of C4. Stable, right. I though he fused it with a delay from the base. Thats where the smoke was coming from, the base of the round. When I saw that I ducked and ran.

In fact, if you're in the weeds and need to heat your rations you could take a small chunk and burn it.

As long as you don't stamp it out while its burning. GIs that did that in the Nam sometimes got a big surprise.

a reply to: _Del_

The video said they loaded the charges themselves (too low apparently), which implies that they would be using a dummy round.

I thought the cook off of the supplemental charge around the base of the round is what produced enough pressure to bloop fire. They were rapid firing and I saw the flame issuing out the tube mouth after four rounds.

Dummy rounds used to be painted blue so one knew they were inert at a glance. I doubt they would be running like that if they weren't "nert". Not that it would of mattered. 120 MM mortar burst has a lethal radius further than one can react to by freakin out and running.

a reply to: ANNED

The navy seals would hunt down one of the base-plates and put a anti tank mine under it.
and the NVA after a while did not trust the russian mortar rounds they were using.

Spiked rounds can ruin ones day, too. Assads troops known for leaving spiked rounds behind for FSA to find. Your first fail is reportedly one of those, about 2:20 into here…Like land mines, spiked ammunition has been employed by all sides. See the whole video.

originally posted by: TDawgRex
a reply to: boymonkey74

Mortar shell typically have a fuse that requires a number of high spin rates to arm them, so yes, you can drop them. Though to be honest, I've watched the way mortar crews sling their ammo around in boxes and it did make me nervous.

But I didn't see a aiming mechanism on the video. Depending upon kentucky windage would seem to be a waste of ammo, which even at 60mm is still bulky so it would be hard to carry any significant amount on the patrols bodies,you'd need a ATV for that or airborne resupply once you've set up a perimeter.

A mortar round has three safeties with a positive pin through the fuse , a bore riding safety and centrifugal safety that requires 28 revolutions to arm after firing. During my first tour in Vietnam, we opened ammo tubes containing mortar round with entrenching tools...they didn't blow up.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: Rodinus

Those guys are lucky. Some rounds have a delay charge that detonates the round if the impact fuze doesn't work. Surely a reason to run like they did. Remember this guy?

He's laughing…

…and lucky that round didn't "nose over" just a little bit more… twice!

These misfires might be that the tube needs to be cleaned! I have had similar results when firing fast and after 10-12 rounds the tube gets a residue coating the bore and needs to be swabbed.

The round that were fired didn't meet the fusing requirement to explode. Most mortar fuses in my time had a delay setting on the fuse for a two tenths of a second delay for anti-bunker attack. The delay feature was a simple twist of the fuse to the delay marking. Sorry for the musing of an old heavy weapons platoon leader from Vietnam.

a reply to: buddah6

Sorry for the musing of an old heavy weapons platoon leader from Vietnam.

Not at all. Thanks for the enlightenment (the tales you could tell). What do you think about the musing that these mortar rounds look more like rifle grenades?

Whatever FPS is playing with they don't look much like Russian 82 mm mortar rounds…

google search

The navy had some interesting direct fire mortars in Vietnam.
pcf45.com...

I still don't understand why you could not mount a 60 mm under a M2HB on a armored truck

Seems like that mortar system would be useful in some scenario. Though offhand I can't think of one making it worth while and the weight to lug around. Extra equip maybe to keep in vehicles for certain situations.

Thing is after watching the video of the guy firing it off the tire I instantly thought to myself "someone is going to hurt themselves with this". All I can say is they better train people properly and drill it into their heads that "you cannot fire this off your hip" or someone will try. I guarantee.

a reply to: intrptr
I looked on google and those rounds look like Indian manufactured 82mm ammo. One thing that I noticed was the ammo on the video had no charges on the rounds. Charges are small bags of propellant to help increase range and are located on the small part of the round. Our 81mm mortars rounds had 7 IIRC and our 4.2 inch mortar had charges that looked like strips of cheese. At max range you would leave all charges on the round and the closer range you would take them off. I don't ever remember using less than two charges...that was real close when the bad guys were in the wire (danger close).

a reply to: Grimpachi

This tube would be useful with an airborne or an air mobile unit where equipment weight is an issue. I don't see it replacing systems like the M-203/M-79 grenade launchers though. The M-25 grenade launcher is on the horizon but when it will arrive at unit level is unknown. With that, the only thing that make sense is to make it additional gear for an infantry squad.

One concern is the lack of bipod so the accuracy is a big question. This makes the mortar only useful with (close range) visible targets not like the indirect fire with standard mortars.