60mm mortar

Hey guys, i've seen your fantastic photos over on the US Militaria Forum.

I'm after some advice

I am in the process of getting a 60mm Mortar for our public displays, i have everything apart from the base plate.
You have some fantastic photos of you guys mock firing your one, are you willing to share how you do it? i would like to be able to mock fire mine and work it in with pyrotechnics that we have at events, my cup and ball is a reproduction so does not have a firing pin, any advice would be much appreciated, as far as i'm aware i have the only 60mm mortar in New Zealand so i've pretty much got no one local that can help.

I love this photo

Paul is the man in the know there, but what i can tell you is that it fires shotgun blanks not sure where he got it from but im sure he will enlighten you

Yeah thats how i figured, i would be keen to do similar, with luck Paul can offer me assistance if he sees this thread.

HI CHRIS, the tube is actually made up from scratch and is slightly thinner in diameter than 60mm so a real morter round cant be dropped down. i believe the ball is a towwing ball cut down and welded on. there is a welded in firing pin and a cut out at the base to enable the "round" to be removed. a sleeve is in place at the bottom acting as an access door, lifted to remove the round and dropped back in place for firing.
not sure who has the morter at the moment but pics would show better how it works. the "rounds" are made up from aluminum and turned up to look simmilar to a morter round ish, there is a hole all the way through the middle starting at the same dims as a 12 bore shotgun shell and openning up slightly at the other end.

riz

rizla wrote:HI CHRIS, the tube is actually made up from scratch and is slightly thinner in diameter than 60mm so a real morter round cant be dropped down. i believe the ball is a towwing ball cut down and welded on. there is a welded in firing pin and a cut out at the base to enable the "round" to be removed. a sleeve is in place at the bottom acting as an access door, lifted to remove the round and dropped back in place for firing.
not sure who has the morter at the moment but pics would show better how it works. the "rounds" are made up from aluminum and turned up to look simmilar to a morter round ish, there is a hole all the way through the middle starting at the same dims as a 12 bore shotgun shell and openning up slightly at the other end.

riz

Cheers Riz!

Sam has all the mortar stuff at the moment.

Thanks for your comments Chris.

I have the tube at the moment so I will bring it to Mark's and get some pic of the round and the tube for you mate so you can have a look at how it works. Very simple and effective.

Chris there is some good live footage of our 60mm in action form 2009 Op Neptune on here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE6mY2wN8yA

Excellent guys thanks for all your help, sounds like a great way of making it work, and relativity simple, would love to see some more detailed photos, looks great in the video.

Next issue is i'm having a hell of a time finding a base plate, do you guys have an original? if not who made it and how do i get hold of them, if its original what would the possibility be of getting someone to sand cast it? i've exhausted all avenues i can think of re finding one, seems they are very hard to get hold of.

ChrisNZ wrote:Next issue is i'm having a hell of a time finding a base plate, do you guys have an original? if not who made it and how do i get hold of them, if its original what would the possibility be of getting someone to sand cast it? i've exhausted all avenues i can think of re finding one, seems they are very hard to get hold of.

If it's not a base plate it's a tripod! We have had our own issues with this Chris. in the end we had to pay out a lot of dosh to import our tripod form Canada I think it was. Paul is the man with his finger on the pulse as it were.

Yeah i'm not expecting the base to be cheap, i have made a temporary wood version for display until i can source an original, hey Paul i see over on another forum you where looking to the dimensions of the transportation case, did you manage to get some? i managed to find a few reference photos i can email you if you like, i'll build one but i'll wait until i have a base before i do.

Here's how its looks so far

Base looks effective. Yep we got a transportation case in the end.

Ah that reminds me the pictures! Mark are you able to take some of the tube if I pop over and help you out so that we can post them up?

Looks as if i may have scored a base, not cheap but at least i got one, once i have my display version looking top notch i'm going to make a second barrel like your guys one for firing.

i forgot to say that i will take pictures as soon as my camera comes back from its whirl wind tour of the highlands lol my dad
has borrowed it for his hols

All good, thanks guys.

A couple of things,

Do you guys have the M4 base plate carry bag? one of the members of my group has a clothing company and is out repair guy, i want to see if he can make me one, I'm a screen printer by trade so i can put the markings on, i've only been able to find a couple of reference pictures, if you have one can you take detailed pictures and measurements for me if you don't have one would you like one?

I found some great reference pictures of a 43 dated firing table card on ebay, i'm in the process of re drawing it once done i will hand print a few (much better than out of a computer printer) would you guys like a couple?

Hey guys, just checking if you managed to get me some close up pictures of your barrel and firing system.

Hey guys, is someone able to take a few close up snaps of your barrel for me, keen to get on with the build of mine.

Cheers,
Chris

Chris sorry about the delay! I did ask a guy who stored it to take pics and post up but obviously it wasn't done!

Sine then the mortor has changed hands. Is it possible for you Paul to take some pics and post them up here?

Sam

Thanks Sam, much appreciated.

samharris45 wrote:Chris sorry about the delay! I did ask a guy who stored it to take pics and post up but obviously it wasn't done!

Sine then the mortor has changed hands. Is it possible for you Paul to take some pics and post them up here?

Sam

Will do. I'll also take piccies of the M4 base plate bag

Johnny_Costino wrote:

samharris45 wrote:Chris sorry about the delay! I did ask a guy who stored it to take pics and post up but obviously it wasn't done!

Sine then the mortor has changed hands. Is it possible for you Paul to take some pics and post them up here?

Sam

Will do. I'll also take piccies of the M4 base plate bag

Thanks Paul! I should of been a bit more pro-active in chaseing it up tbh

Hey guys, managed to find photos of your mortar in your photo thread and videos of you using it on youtube, drew up some plans and got a local engineer to build it for me, so far only one shot as I don't want to upset the neighbours, it work fantastic, thanks for the help with this guys.




https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150278470823632

Wow that's quiet a flame you have! Works very well.

What diameter is your tube as we have ours at 59mm to comply with laws......

Sam

Mines pretty much the same, the diameter of the round is 58mm wide, i think my barrel is 60mm internally, my real round won't fit down it though.