Franken M16 magazines

[Bruce_in_Oz]

About the only possibility of such a thing happening MIGHT be firing 81mm bombs from "their" 82mm mortar, IF and only IF the base plug / striker were mechanically compatible.

Not long back, I was talking to a former member of an old unit Mortar Platoon.

Apparently back in the 1980s, the Mortar platoon took delivery of a substantial number of THREE INCH bombs, new firing tables AND new base plugs.

Three inch and 81mm use different "striker" types, both on the removable base plug.

Why were they doing this? Well, this is how it was explained to me:

The story goes that some blanket-stacker found something like a MILLION 3" bombs stored in a big shed at an out of the way depot. Apparently these (and a lot of other odd stuff) had been stockpiled there ready for the big push into the Japanese Home Islands. Someone must have figured that a bit of portable fire-support might be a good thing.

So, the system authorized the destruction of all this "stray" ammo in training shoots. New base plugs were made for the 81mm tubes and our jolly mortar-men were off to the races.

There were, apparently, several problems with this ammo.

1. There is a "little" bit of breezeway between the 3" bomb and the 81mm tube. This bore "breezeway" meant that a bit of the blast escaped around the not-fully obturated bomb, reducing muzzle velocity, (and range). The "loose" bombs" literally rattled up the bore and started to cause odd wear patterns in the tubes.
2. The 3" ammo is NOT bore-safe. Once the safety pin on the warhead fuse is removed, if you drop it; there may be an "Earth-shattering" KaBOOM!
3. SOMETIMES, the initiator / main charge would not ignite.

These last two are closely linked. If a bomb failed to launch, the "authorized drill" was simple:

All extraneous personnel disappeared like magic.
The two lucky "volunteers" from the crew unhitched the base-plug from the base-plate.
Then the fun part. The "catcher" used a cloth or sandbag to form, essentially, a "mitt".
The other bloke lifted the base of the tube to let the bomb slide SLOWLY out to be caught in the "mitt".
The by-now nervous "catcher" would then carry the errant bomb to the "blind" pit, some distance from the firing line, place it gently on the ground and return to his pit.

Down-range blinds kept the demolitions types amused, as well.

Back to the 'theirs and ours" story: Does anyone have the details of the "striker" system on the Russian 82mm mortar?

I think it was Mark Twain who said: "It ain’t what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure, that just ain't so".

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[browningautorifle]

There were, apparently, several problems with this ammo.

I spent time in Mortar Pl and those stories make my skin crawl...

Here's a pic of another modified mag with documentation from it's manufacturer... It looks very good too...

[RCS]

I found some original US Ordnance photos a few years back that showed both 30 round and 40 round magazines for the
Model 1918 BAR. These were for anti-aircraft protection, by the mid 1930's these were all withdrawn from service.

There is a company that manufactures a nice working 30 rd magazine for the BAR now, but expensive