random as fuck but something i've never got my head round! how the fuck do they work? How from dropping 1 down the tube to it firing does it work, does it leave anything behind? I'd love to know

 

Nope . I used to work on the 51 & 81mm mortars for the royal Ordnance in nottingham

The method is a simple firing pin at bottom of tube drop shell in hits firing pin which is permanently fixed in bottom of tube Pooof off it goes and lands in general region of aimed

Its the reverse of a bullet which sits still and a moving firing pin strikes it

Can be EXTREMELY accurate .

Nige

 

yeah i know how they work nige, but from what i can understand its fuck all like a bullet. As no casing or anything else is left behind or an i wrong?

 

When I was about 7 I lived in Zimbabwe and at the time it was Rhosdaisa(fuck it been so long cannot remmeber how to spell it)

we lived in a house about 1 km from the main police station and once the terrists did a mortar attack from the field behind our house at the police station.


The noise was mad we were hinding under the beds.

anyway we were pissing about in the drains tunnels about two weeks later and found about 4 mortars.

showed them to my brother-in-law he fucking shit him self and said if you find anymore don't touch them.

they have a firing pin at the bottom.

 

i cant get my head round the fact that mortar is dropped and fires but doesnt leave anything behind? How is the fire initiated and whats the weak part?

 

Correct . The projectile of a bullet is the end bit (tip) which leaves the barrel

The casing is what held the charge to push the bullet out when it goes bang etc

Thus leaving the casing which was simply the packaging of a bullet

teh best way to describe a mortar albeit crudely is

A locally fired rocket

The mortar casing carrys both the proppleant which launches it into the sky like a rocket the casing here is the rocket body with fins to stabalise in flight

The warhead is also at the tip of the casing which has its own internal firing pin to make it get noisy upon impact with something firm

Nige

 

Got a mate from around that area from around 83ish. He's a proper fucked up puppy

 

Getting somewhere now nige but lol how is the charge fired? As surely something has to give to set the charge off. If you see what i'm getting at?

 

The fire is inittaited by the FIXED FIRING pin in the tube striking the contact plate at bottom of the mortar liek below

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?im...a%3DN%26um%3D1

 

Also be aware that these are the preffered weapon of many terroist groups against personel due to the distance these things can fly

Rememebr heathrow IRA mortars in back of a van 10years ago

1/2 Mile away from Heathrow but could land a shell on a plane at the gates :0

Nge

 

Right, so what happens to the moving parts? Ie firing pin? To make the adequate power it must have a bang, in my eyes a bang must leave something behind in some way? So you've got a solid round your firing from itself but doesnt leave anything behind? So how?

 

Think of it more like a rocket than a bullet

It doesnt leave anything behind.

 

Yeah mate i know, what i cant get my head around is why it doesnt?

 

Does a missile leave anything behind or make a bang ??? No

The reason being is that the initial propellant is a controlled explosing venting through a small exhaust thus creating thrust which lifts the mortar into the air

The bang is the HE charge going off upon landing which is an uncontrolled detonation ie fucking quick bang

 

For fuck's sake, what's so hard to get your head around???

The spaceshuttle doesn't 'leave anything behind', nor does your average fireworks rocket.

As Nige explained, very clearly might I add, the shell contains both propellant and warhead.
The shell is nothing more than a stabilized tube filled with a fuel and a warhead on top.
When the fuel ignites (by means of the fixed firing pin) it burns so rapidly that it propelles the shell out of the mortar tube.

 

Sorry einstein, but its not the theory i couldnt understand it was the actual workings. But we cant all be as good as you.

 

had some relatives live there (when it was rhodesia) years ago,never hear from em anymore - probly been killed i spose

 

haha, I've climbed on that when I stayed at fort nelson earlier this year. Its alot bigger than it looks too!

 

not quite a mortar bomb but an illum I just happen to have kicking about.
The nrse my wife works with shit herself when it fell out of her car one day

 

mrjenrst the impact of dropping the mortar in the tube is enough to detonate the firing charge. its not rocket science. erm ok it is

You will find with most munitions a small charge sets off the bigger main charge, be it a warhead or a propellant. All it takes is a small amount of impact sensitive explosive and a impact to set it off.

Its really not that complicated.

If you can understand that a toy cap gun, the impact of the hammer sets off the bang then you can understand how most munitions and explosives work.

 

Dirty fenian bastards

 

Daz

How about editing the f word from your post? It's unnecessary and inflammatory.

 

Well said!!

 

I'm with that mate, i'm not explaining it that well am i are they a completly sealed unit that has to be armed before use. Ie removing something first? Or is it just a drop in and go? I understand most ballistic's its just the physical firing of the pin to the actual charge going off i'm struggleing with

 

google bomb/morter bomb-terrorist-you will get expert attention.

 

I see what the op is saying ,
if you hold a mortar up , the end that the firing pin strikes must be sealed to stop the propellant falling out yes ?
so if its a sealed unit , how does the propellant erm .... propell , without leaving either a sealing cap or something behind ?
Probably not a good idea to start googling this subject either, unless you want your i,p to be flagged for security checks .

 

Finally! its the sealing of it that i cant get my head round. Brad gets me though

 

ok then imagine how a shot gun cartridge which is sealed doesnt just explode in the gun killing the owner!!

Not many pics on line but this is the bottom of a WWII mortar.

In effect all the explosive is burnt and the propellant comes out bottom as its a weak point. You also have a few small holes on sides to get rid of excess flash.

 

Can you take a photo of the bottom of it for the OP please??

 

here goes