81MM L16 BRITISH MORTAR

[Gil Boyd]

Not much spoken about this reliable piece of British equipment on this site, used for many years to deadly effect in all the major British and Commonwealth campaigns.

I have always rated the 81mm, albeit a beast to parachute in with, especially if you got the short straw of carrying the base plate at 24 lbs plus extra bombs and your own extra ammo, or indeed the barrel.
The Brit version was called the L16 and the Aussie version the F2 strange but there you have it. Peter L might know the reason for that anomoly.

The range of the mortar was 5650 metres which is an incredible range as it was highly accurate and dare I say pinpoint accuracy with a good mortar crew its effective kill zone was a radius of 40 metres, and a danger radius of up to 190 metres.

It fired at best 20 rounds per minute, but typically 15 was a safer bet.
In short a great weapon and like the GPMG, may it stay as part of the arsenal for as long as it performs for the soldier on the ground to a very high accurate standard!!

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