Don't suppose you could get him to make plans for that? That and the 3.2 inch have interested me for a while.
If you mean accurate measurements, I think he would do that. He may have them already. I'll ask. Coincidentally, he also has a 3.2 which we will be showing next year along with the mortar at the same place. Worst scenario is that I get the measurements myself next year, unless I see him and his mortar before then. He shot it at Grayling once, a while ago, but doesn't bring it regularly, so I may not see it till next year.
"Very nice! At what time did they begin to rifle mortar tubes, and why?"
Sorry, don't know when, but in the case of this one it's probably because it uses the same shell as the 3.6" rifle, and for accuracy of course. Ken was telling me how they had problems with the fuses not working because the centrifugal force was not enough to "set" it upon firing. There is a small flange, or connection, that has to break away internally on the fuse and the mortar just doesn't have the kind of starting force that the 3.6 rifle has.
"Do you have to wear those outfits to shoot it?
2 miles wow!
Was it heavy?"
I only have Civil War outfits. That's why I'm taking the picture, and who you are seeing is Dave Donald on the left, and Ken Baumann on the right. The mortar and carriage (they call it a carriage not a bed) is about 550 lbs. The exact weights of the gun and carriage are in the link to the Modern Guns and Mortars book. Ken bought a little hydraulic lifting table on wheels from harbor freight. It pumps up to the exact level of the pickup truck bed when all the way up. It wasn't too hard for all three of us to slide it on and off that way. They let us drive all the way in the building so we didn't have to deal with the snow which would have made it a real bear.
Another interesting thing he pointed out is that the carriage which as you can see is mostly the 2 cheeks and a few cross members connecting them is one single casting. The most interesting thing to me is the way it can be accurately aimed with the sliding wooden scale at the back of the carriage.
