question about firing a mortar

[SOG]

ive always wondered this and last night the hhistory channel made me remember again, why do people look away after a mortar is fired? you know they drop it in and kinda look down and back? is it so no dust or **** flies up and hits thier eyes or is there a small flash or is it a hearing thing? would goggles prevent this or is that overkill/not needed? ive seen on the howitzers how the big crews have eye protection sometimes and they all have ear plugs or muffs. just curious as to the why or how with mortars to artillery thx.

[shrek]

http://www.pbase.com/image/22292760

Yes they turn away to not get hit in the face or chest in case of a misfire or whatever. Look at pic I posted, you can see the cheese charges on the Mortar. They throw all sorts of debri and blast in all directions.

Shrek

[SOG]

cool, thx.

[wholagun]

Don't you also have to open your mouth when you fire a mortar, othewise you get the snot cleaned out of your nose. I don't know if this is true, never fired a mortar, but i got a friend in the Canadian reserves and he told me this, just curious if its ture

[Ichhabe]

Don't you also have to open your mouth when you fire a mortar, othewise you get the snot cleaned out of your nose.

What is wrong in getting a clean nose? As I see it, it is a win-win situation.
You kill the enmy, and get you nose cleaned. All in one action... ;)

[Deuterium]

The whole purpose is to make the movement to ensure all body parts are away from the muzzle. It wouldn't make a damn bit of difference if the round went off and you were crouching or standing. Besides the round must fly a substantial distance before the arming plug is ejected. Probably what you're referring to is caused by the concussion of the round as its ejected. A 60mm isn't too bad but the 81 and 120 are quite deafening. As to the blast concussion and keeping your mouth open or closed that's complete hogwash.

[FB]

You have to bend away (and besides, it sort of come instinctively) because of the blast (noise/pressure) a mortar does when fired. Contary to what you usually see in the movies where mortars do a little dumb noise like a "plop" (and I never really why the movie makers decided that a mortar is an almost silent weapon :roll: ), when fired it does a hell of a bang. 81 and above all 120 mortars can do a very noticeable sound/pressure wave, and bending away sort of protects you (you receive it on the back).

IIRC to partly ease the problem the USA studied a sort of muzzle deflector for the 120mm smooth bore mortar (which is the worst as far as this problem is concerned). It was a sort of cone that had to be installed on the muzzle opening, sort of like a flash suppressor (remember the Bren machine gun?). It would have had the function of deviating the sound/pressure away from the mortar crew. But I guess that the thing was abandoned, as I don't remember to have seen it in recent pictures.

best regards

[Breacher]

Besides the round must fly a substantial distance before the arming plug is ejected.

Actually the Bore Riding Pin (BRP) is under spring tension...when the fuze experiences setback form the desired propellant increments, a weight in the fuze is slammed back unlocking the BRP spring which is then in contact with the inside of the tube and pops out as soon as it exits the tube.....Now the fuze itself is what requires a distance to go through an arming sequence (Safe separation). i.e. whether it an M935 PD (setback Req'd) or an M734 M.O. or M745 PD (Setback-vane armed)............Just FYI.... no intended bashing from this end

[Deuterium]

Besides the round must fly a substantial distance before the arming plug is ejected.

Actually the Bore Riding Pin (BRP) is under spring tension...when the fuze experiences setback form the desired propellant increments, a weight in the fuze is slammed back unlocking the BRP spring which is then in contact with the inside of the tube and pops out as soon as it exits the tube.....Now the fuze itself is what requires a distance to go through an arming sequence (Safe separation). i.e. whether it an M935 PD (setback Req'd) or an M734 M.O. or M745 PD (Setback-vane armed)............Just FYI.... no intended bashing from this end

Nope your statement is much more accurate than mine.

[Red]

Besides the round must fly a substantial distance before the arming plug is ejected.

Actually the Bore Riding Pin (BRP) is under spring tension...when the fuze experiences setback form the desired propellant increments, a weight in the fuze is slammed back unlocking the BRP spring which is then in contact with the inside of the tube and pops out as soon as it exits the tube.....Now the fuze itself is what requires a distance to go through an arming sequence (Safe separation). i.e. whether it an M935 PD (setback Req'd) or an M734 M.O. or M745 PD (Setback-vane armed)............Just FYI.... no intended bashing from this end

Nope your statement is much more accurate than mine.
Welcome back Deutrieum :hug:

[I love Rachael Leigh Cook]

Don't you also have to open your mouth when you fire a mortar, othewise you get the snot cleaned out of your nose. I don't know if this is true, never fired a mortar, but i got a friend in the Canadian reserves and he told me this, just curious if its ture

This is true to some extent with recoiless rifles, due to the fact that a semi vacum is created around the weapon when the propellant gasses move in two opposite directions, to the front and back. with the 84mm Carl Gustav, it's not quite as dramatic as you make it sound, but certanly it's there.

[n4292936]

You also do this when you're expecting rounds to hit close to you... as well as duck

The world can never be with enough heavy Hydrogen, welcome back Deuterium. I expect you'll be powering my next car

[GazB]

It is my understanding that opening ones mouth during firing of heavy weapons is to allow the pressure in your inner ear to equalise more quickly when hit by pressure waves from the blast.

For the same reason that when flying in a jet aircraft you hold your nose and blow a little to relieve ear ache induced by altitude change. Your Ears and nasal passages are connected so by opening your mouth a little you open another avenue for the pressure wave to travel.

[SiFiOn]

Don't you also have to open your mouth when you fire a mortar, othewise you get the snot cleaned out of your nose. I don't know if this is true, never fired a mortar, but i got a friend in the Canadian reserves and he told me this, just curious if its ture

I've experienced this when I was standing besides someone firing an AT-4 (m-136). An open mouth would have prevented this, although it was a funny experience!

[WARPIG]

5 years as a morter maggot taught me that some mortars tend to have a pretty hefty flash. If you don't look away.. your likely to get your eyebrows singed. With all that weapons percussion, the debris around you tends to become shrapnel. Keeping your eyes and face out of the mix is just a smart thing.

Between bore swabbing with a bore brush drenched in CLP... the rifling in the old 4.2 inch mortars tend to get a bit flammable.

120mm mortars have a big flash suppressor called a BAD on them so looking down and away just keeps your mug out of the flack.

Hope that clears things up... keep your bubbles level and FFE!!