Mortar Bingo

[Terry C.]

I set aside a little time this morning to do some practice. I wanted to verify that I could shoot 50 yards in the pecan orchard without getting fouled in the tree limbs, and to get some idea as to the charge for this range. No grid, just a stake at 50 yards.

In most places, the tree limbs come together from each side and meet each other, and there is limited overhead. But there is an area where there is a clearing of sorts, where the limbs seem to part and don't quite meet. I situated my rig so that this would be roughly at the apex of the trajectory. It was enough, barely. Any significantly longer range wouldn't have been possible.

I had intended to shoot practice last Saturday, then shoot for score on Sunday. The weather was perfect. But on the preceding Thursday there was a death at one of the homes on the far side of the orchard (I didn't know them personally). They had friends and family visiting the home on Saturday and the funeral was Sunday. I felt it would be extremely disrespectful to be out in the orchard shooting.


I used my Lee dippers, and GOEX FFFg powder. Just on a hunch, I started with the 2.8cc dipper, which throws an average of 41.6 grains. The very first shot, from a clean bore, fell just beyond the stake and rolled to a stop about 18' past and 1' to the right. The next shot was from a fouled bore and went about another 20' hooking hard to the right after impact. So I backed down to 2.5cc, or 36.4 grains, and the next shot hit shy and rolled to a stop about 4' past and almost directly behind the stake.

I was quite proud of myself, but you know what they say about pride...

This is where a couple of things became apparent. First, ignition was much more consistent with these charges. But fouling has become an issue. Ignition was so inconsistent at 30 yards that fouling never entered the equation. As fouling increased, so did pressure variations. Soon I was overshooting the stake on some shots, and falling way short on others, and it couldn't be blamed on ignition.

Second, the balls need to be clean. I went out with a half-dozen of my previously fired, but washed, balls and they all did great until about the third firing when they were grimy with BP fouling and dirt. On such a light ball, the grime has a detectable effect on the way (and how far) they fly. A golfer probably would already know this, but the GB mortar and the local putt-putt range are the extent of my golfing experience.

I have two fresh boxes (24 total) of recycled balls, still unopened, for the BINGO match. Each will be shot only once. Hopefully this will be enough.

So, with weather looming, I went inside and got my 'poofy'. I don't have a photo of the 'poofy', but I will take one when its dry and reassembled. It's basically a small paint roller stuck into the end of a larger one. It's what I built to clean the bore and chamber when I'm washing the mortar up after shooting, but before today I had never used it in the field.

I gathered up all the balls and started over. This time I worked the 'poofy' into the bore and chamber between each loading and dragged out all the excess gunk. I also wiped down the balls with a damp cloth before they were loaded.

Things improved immediately. With the dry-swabbed bore and cleaned balls, the 2.5cc FFFg charge started putting the shots back on target.

This was one of the final rounds of shots. When I walked out to get a closer look, I went back for the camera to get proof. All six balls are in this photo.



I fired a couple more rounds of shots, but wasn't able to duplicate this again. Even so, I was putting about 75% of the balls within the area where the grid would be.


I took this photo while I was waiting between shots. The stake is practically invisible in this reduced photo, so I have it circled in yellow.




And of course the essential (albeit crappy) "Smoke & Fire" pics.






Hopefully next weekend I'll get to shoot the actual match. I put down marker stakes so that I can set up without have to measure off the 50 yards again.

[lance]

    I sure am glad the dead line is end of the month, with work and farm chores,well, i'll find the time to get a few rounds of Bingo in

[seacoastartillery]

     We were really pleased that you guys are getting closer to yelling BINGO!  Sounds like a really good cleaning procedure, Terry.  We find that cleaning the bore and the projectile does provide dividends in the accuracy department regardless of what type of BP artillery we are shooting.  We sure hope someone decides to shoot some concrete projectiles in this fun contest.   Mike and I both believe that everyone who owns a shootable mortar could have a great deal of fun here and maybe learn a few things about your mortar as well.

Any excuse to go shooting,

Mike and Tracy

[Double D]

I find the comments unreliable ignition with smaller charges for shorter distances interesting.  Think I will open another post for discussion so as to not drift this one.

[Cat Whisperer]

I find the comments unreliable ignition with smaller charges for shorter distances interesting.  Think I will open another post for discussion so as to not drift this one.

I'm not sure if I can break loose for this one - without dire consequences.  I have both the eve of the roof of my house torn up - replacing a board AND the master bathroom ripped out and going back in - in a different configuration.  Only a few minutes a day to myself to do anything else but.  IF it gets done before guests come at the end of the month, then I'll have a chance at it.

[Don Krag]

I've almost finished the carriage on the 6" standing mortar. That would be a blast to use with this game! Man....I've got to finish my mortar! I was going to hit up a friend who has a couple coehorns for this game. Unfortunately it feels like I haven't been home more than 2 days in the last couple months and won't be here over the rest of the month either!  A week in GA, back for three days, down to Houston, back last night, off to AZ tomorrow, back on the 26th, then off to NV on the 29th.

Hmmm...is a mortar on the prohibited carry-on item list? I could tape a thermometer and level on the side of it and call it "scientific instrumentation". Anyone in Tuba City, AZ?

[Terry C.]

If it looks like the Nov. 1 deadline is going to be a problem, we could extend it (if everyone agrees). I would like to accommodate everybody that wants to shoot.


I'm hoping to shoot tomorrow, but they were mowing in the orchard today and I don't think they finished. If they're working out there tomorrow I may have to reschedule again. Hopefully they'll wait until Monday.

[seacoastartillery]

      Terry C.    Good luck to you in your shooting.  Mike and I both vote for a one month extension.  The more people who have a chance to participate, the better.  Longer than a month and people will forget all about it, shorter than a month and you will not give those with REAL schedule conflicts enough time to fit a trip to the field in.  That's our suggestion, but it's your contest, so you must make the final decision.

Regards,
Mike and Tracy

[lance]

 Terry C, i'm playing Bingo sometime this Saturday, first weekend i've had free in 2 months. My winter hay supply is stored away, and i need a shooting break!!!   I too think moving the deadline would be great, would really like for Tim to be able to come over sometime. I don't mind shooting again, and plan to leave the grid all set up. Tim, you KNOW winter is coming!!! once it gets here the WIND never stops,........ OH, you're shooting cement

[Cat Whisperer]

Lance -

Appreciate the opportunity to come over and shoot, but right now I'm just wrapping up an evening of plumbing after a good day's work.
Two more evenings of plumbing and then I can start in on the vanity.
Have to be in Roanoke for several hours tomorrow and off to support the kids in our church at their camp up in Craig Springs, back Sunday afternoon. 
Guests coming Saturday.

Winter?  I've only lived here since '86 and haven't seen a REAL winter yet.

I've taken the mortars out when it's below zero and a foot or two of snow on the ground - no big deal and a great break from cabin feaver.

[Terry C.]

BINGO!

I set up the grid and shot my match this morning, or at least it was morning when I started. I began laying out the grid at about 10:30, and by the time I was done and had the mortar clean and everything put away, it was 3:00 pm!

My final score: 9 hits, 13 misses, 1 bonus.

Two of the misses were inside the grid, hitting squares that were already scored.

I made BINGO down the 'N' column (3,8,FS,18,23). Here is my scorecard:




With all the light and shadows, it's hard to see, but here is my grid after setup. The yellow string does NOT show up well in the photo:




And here is the contestant on the firing line:




Scoring was interesting. I had set the line a couple of inches above the ground so that balls could roll under it. The first hit was under the line between '18' and '19'. I scored it as '19' since it appeared to be farther to that side. This would come back to haunt me later.




The second hit was a 'Lucky 13' and I chose '3' as my bonus square. This would also come back and bite me. I shot another '19' later which had to be scored as a miss, and a '3' which also had to be marked as a miss.

Here you can see both balls in '19', the ball in '23', and the 'Lucky 13' ball:




Here you can see the hits on '6', '8', '13', 17, and '18'.




Looking at this photo, it looks like both ball are in '8':




But the upper ball is actually in '3'. This was important, the ball in '8' was not there when this ball was scored. Had this ball been in '8' it would have been marked as a hit and would have given me BINGO (and a better overall score). Instead it was in the square that I had already scored for my bonus, and was a miss, so I kept shooting:




Here are the balls in '4' and 15':






So that was my game, and I had a LOT of fun. Here is a shot of the grid with all hits (and the two in-grid misses) circled. All misses outside the grid were collected as I went, I didn't want any lost balls rolling around in the orchard:

[lance]

 It was a beautiful day for shooting, and i had fun playing. I want to thank Terry C for making Mortar Bingo happen!!!   I wish I could have yelled Bingo, but it was not to be. i planned to use two mortars, but spent all my time with the Dictator. fired about 75 balls, lot's of cleaning between shots. trying different charges, different tube angle. no matter what i tried, i could not keep the balls from bouncing out of the grid. I ain't crying, Hey I was having fun, any day shooting is a fun day. even tried shooting short, to bounce in the grid, those rascals would stick short............ I set the range up to shoot across the 15' wide creek, for my entertainment. that way i could hop on the 4-wheeler and splash across to check where the balls went, this happened alot!!!   DOM, the Dictator is one straight shooter!!! not one curve ball ever, and it's always a joy to take it out and play............ the grid will stay set up until Tim gets a chance to come over, or the horses run through and tear it up. I hope to play again, i'm calling excessive ball bounce, due to the fact it ain't rained in 3 weeks and the ground is hard as pavement........... anyway here's a couple of pictures

[seacoastartillery]

     Terry C.,     Looks like you used your GB Coehorn to good effect.  Good description of the individual shots too and great pictures.  We sure do appreciate all the work you did in creating this very interesting contest.  Mike and I think we will use our GB Mortar in the next contest, as yet unknown.  It will be so much easier on our backs! 

     Lance,     Nice photos, Lance.  Those are two very nice looking mortars!  Don't be too hard on yourself, after all it took Mike and I a full month of 12 hour days to get the first rifling head cutter to operate smoothly, without breaking, when we initially attempted blind hole rifling.  Persistence wins almost every time in our experience.  You know your mortar and what it's capabilities are.  Now you also know the ground condition which you say is very hard and ready to bounce golf balls.  Use that knowledge and the facts presented here that we learned about the standard method of gaging ball bearings. These factors combined, may suggest to you that a steeper elevation might possibly help you limit spread of your group by result of bouncing.  A bearing mfg. rolls new bearings down a trough which ends several feet over a thick, polished and flat, steel plate upon which they bounce and fly forward through a precisely sized hole in another steel plate placed 90 deg. to the bounce plate and several feet ahead of the impact point.  They are rejected if they do not fly into this hole which is just a few thousandths of an inch over the correct size of the bearing.  The amount of FORWARD bounce is affected by two primary factors, the forward velocity and the hardness of the steel plate or the ground in your case which directly affects the amount of bounce achieved.  You can't change ground conditions, but you can change the forward velocity by decreasing the angle of attack.  Best wishes in your future shoots.  We saw that blue mortar in person and it displays very fine craftsmanship of which you should be proud!!

Good fortune to you both,

Tracy and Mike.

[Double D]

Good point about the elevation  T&M! (Does T do asdf and M ;lkj?)  The angle of attack will have a bearing on roll.

That wouldn't have a to bad of a post shoot either Terry.

Now isn't this more fun than just burning up powder in smoke a noise putting a ball out sight landing know not where?

Shooting these games will teach you a lot more about black powder cannons than just blasting away.

[Ex 49'er]

Actually you could change the ground conditions if you moved water
from the creek to the bingo playing area. Make the ground softer.
Reduce the bounce. Or is that cheating?

[Terry C.]

The ground in and around my grid was dry, but fairly soft, and sparsely covered. I got a pretty consistent roll of about 20 feet, but almost no bounce.

The squares that were scored to the left and right of center were the result of that roll and the unevenness of the ground. All balls hit pretty close to centerline, even those that fell way short or long. And yes there were still those anomalies, despite my best attempt at consistent cleaning and loading. Surprisingly, there were few near-misses, Just about everything that hit close came to rest inside the grid. Most of the misses were more than 10' short of or beyond the perimeter.

Elevation adjustment was very limited. I could tweak a little around my 45° setting, but any significant increase in elevation angle would have put me in the treetops.

Watering the ground would not be cheating. You don't even want to know some of the ideas that I came up with to make the balls 'stick' where they hit. The only thing holding me back was the necessity that the site had to be left just as it was when I was finished shooting.

Otherwise, I would have been out there with a fire hose, a truckload of sand, a dozen bales of hay, some chicken wire ...

[Double D]

Oh I can see when I get home I am going to have get busy and build another golf ball mortar...I don't think I could beat up the 5 year old kid I gave mine to.

I can also see a zinc golf ball mould.... he wait can I play this game with my 6 PDR Mortar!!

[lance]

 Mike and Tracy, thanks for your kind words, and thanks for thinking enough of me to take the time to help. I had a blast, it's always great to go shooting!!! I don't cry if i don't score, and I don't jump up and down and shout if I do score well, BUT, I always have fun no-matter what .......... I ain't lying, the ground is so hard, that the horses don't even leave tracks, most years the fields are tore up with horse tracks. speaking of horses, they had fun last night!!! orange ribbon all over the place, the stakes are still standing............I didn't know I could wet the grid or haul in sand, boy the horses will love this .........thanks again Terry C for a great contest, maybe one day i can yell BINGO!!!!

[guardsgunner]

DD,
          wait can I play this game with my 6 PDR Mortar!!

We have been thinking of doing it with 12pdr's or bigger. Could be fun.

[Double D]

Actually how about a special catagory for tincan mortars.  May not use a round ball! Must use a full size pop/beer can full of cement. Put just a touch of luck in it.

[Cat Whisperer]

I'm getting closer to where I can break loose for a day - maybe November sometime.

Rerouted the drain from the old shower to the location of the new shower-tub (already ran the drain for one of the sinks).

MEMORABLE event.  I was cutting into an existing line (2-1/2" sink drain - just under the ceiling in the room below) when I felt a little fluid.  OK, I'm wearing glasses and I CAN wash it out of my hair - and it's a SINK drain line so it isn't as bad as it could be.  THEN I realized it was a 1/2" hot water line that was hidden behind the drain line - with 85 pounds of pressure in it.     A quick sprint to the basement to turn the water off.  Cut through both lines, spliced the 1/2" copper and put a Y connector into the drain line and hooked up the final pieces to the new unit.  Next comes running the H&C (just under the ceiling - over a dropped ceiling) to the new unit.  Have to pick up a few fittings to finish that part; and plaster board the wall, install a shelf and sink and then over to installing the new toilet.  But before that happens I've got to run a foot or so of 3/4" copper and hook up the 'new' small cast iron radiator.  But before that happens I need to paint the new wall behind where it's going.  Then on to building a 48" wide vanity, placing the new sink, building a 18" wide cabinet (all oak) for towels and two 8' wide 12" deep shelves.  AND paint the walls and redo the ceiling and then test the tub for leaks.

Guest due in on Saturday.

Back to work.

[lance]

Actually how about a special catagory for tincan mortars.  May not use a round ball! Must use a full size pop/beer can full of cement. Put just a touch of luck in it.

best i can remember, the contest of BINGO was set up for all size mortars, golfballs, cement, big iron balls etc...., all to shoot 50yds. I know Tim likes his cement!!!

[Terry C.]

I think they are going for a 'side match' challenge, Lance.

But yeah, game is open to any caliber, firing any ammo that conforms to this section of the rules:

Only one projectile (of a commonly accepted construction method) of the proper caliber will be fired at a time.  No unconventional, unsafe, or illegal ammunition (such as explosive or incendiary bombs) is allowed. To simplify these rules, from this point forward all projectiles will be referred to as balls, even those made from soda cans, PVC pipe, etc.

And of course these rules still apply:

No baskets of stones or metal shards.
No preheated shot, boiling oil or tar, or molten metals.
No Greek Fire or any other chemical incendiary.
No dead, diseased animal carcasses or parts thereof.
No bees, wasps, scorpions, or other stinging insects.
No fecal matter (sorry Tim & Lance).

Otherwise, anything goes.

We need some concrete shooters. We've already had golfballs and big iron shot, we need to see some concrete fly!

New deadline is December 1, 2007.

[schutzen]

Mike and Tracy:

You guys have a 4" mortar.  Have you ever tried old softballs for ammunition?  I buy mine at flea markets in the late fall.  I offer to buy all the balls a vendor has at .25 cents per ball.  Some take the offer, some don't; but I can usually get sufficient ammo to shoot all winter.  give them a try, I think you will like them.

[Cat Whisperer]

Mike and Tracy:
You guys have a 4" mortar.  Have you ever tried old softballs for ammunition?  I buy mine at flea markets in the late fall.  I offer to buy all the balls a vendor has at .25 cents per ball.  Some take the offer, some don't; but I can usually get sufficient ammo to shoot all winter.  give them a try, I think you will like them.

Outfield I'd attempt, but NOT short stop.

[seacoastartillery]

     Schutzen,     We have never tried that type of ammo.  Guess two advantages would be cost, .25 VS $14 and also less digging if we shoot in snowy conditions.  Next time we go out with the 4" we'll have to take some along and see how they fly. 

     Tim,     Certainly have to agree with you there!!  With a stout, "World Series" appropriate charge, it's hard to say whether the ball or the sparks would reach the short stop first.  Either way, the club would surely owe him a special "hazard pay" bonus!   Sure hope you will find time to get out and launch some concrete, Tim.  You do realize that you have the ability to inspire other concrete mortarmen out there, don't you?  That's right, some are holding back, wanting someone else to go FIRST.  O.K., enough internet time, grab your tools, back to work!!

Regards,

Mike and Tracy

P.S.  Almost forgot, the answer, DD, to your question, is that I dictate the text, Mike touch types, and then I correct all the spelling and punctuation errors!  It's "division of labor", Seacoast    style. 

[Cat Whisperer]

Tracy, Mike -

Thanks for the encouragement!  I will get the 4.5 out there (and maybe another large one as well).

Let's see, does the grid HAVE to be drawn FIRST and then shoot?   

[Don Krag]

Cool...I can do Dec 1st. I'll drag a buddy and his coehorn out as well as my 6". I'll be back from NV around the 3d of Nov and can take a few days off then to play a bit.

[Fluxion]

I'm working on a mortar right now, I just might have to give this a try!

[lance]

Let's see, does the grid HAVE to be drawn FIRST and then shoot?   

Tim, I got you a nice grid all set up, i just need to replace MOST of the ribbon, what can i say, HORSES..............