Question for mortar men, moden Army

I was watching som YouTube footage of troops firing the 120 mm mortar. Very noticible was the rounds were fin stabilized.

Back in my day, the 4.2" mortar had a rifled bore. The 60mm and 81mm were fin stabilized. (The only mortar I ever fired was the 60mm and these with inert practice rounds, propelled by a 12 ga. shotgun blank.)

Bob Wright

I think it depends on the payload but all of the mortars we used (Army 92-2022) were fin stabilized

Wvfarrier said:

I think it depends on the payload but all of the mortars we used (Army 92-2022) were fin stabilized

Click to expand...

The "four-duece mortar" (4.2") was a pre World War II weapon designed originally as a chemical warfare mortar. It had greater range and though never used for poison gas, was a great artillery piece for the Infantry battalion.

Bob Wright

And.............I notice the mortar rounds have amber colored rings around the body of the round just ahead of the fins. I assume these are auxilliary powder charges? And, in one clip, there is a noticable flame in the muzzle blast.

Bob Wright

Can't help you. My weapon of choice was theM-79.

BearBiologist said:

Can't help you. My weapon of choice was theM-79.

Click to expand...

My weapon of choice was the M-2 Carbine. Since I was the company armorer, I had plenty to choose from.

Bob Wright

In II Corps in RVN the 4.2 was used to launch flares frequently. On a cold night I could hear the fins clink when the mortar man "hung the round" before dropping it in the tube. I quit jumping out of my skin when the round launched.

As a matter of interest, I asked my pastor yesterday about the rifling in the 4.2" mortar, and he confirmed it was indeed a rifled bore weapon. He also added that the fired round had to make a certan number of revolutions before the fuse was armed, a "bore safe" type of round.

Bob Wright

I've always wondered how accurate a morter can be? Given a pre prepared defensive position (let's call it "ideal conditions), how likely is it to be able to hit a large vehicle with a morter?

Just curious is all...

it depended on how good your math and geometry was.

magpouch said:

I've always wondered how accurate a morter can be? Given a pre prepared defensive position (let's call it "ideal conditions), how likely is it to be able to hit a large vehicle with a morter?

Just curious is all...

Click to expand...

Mortar rounds are not armor piercing, but high explosive. A near miss of an unarmored vehicle would cause damage from the blast and fragmentation effect. Mortars are primarily anti personnell weapons or against lightly fortified positions. The original use of mortars was against troops in trenches.

Bob Wright

Very good book - "The Four Deuces: A Korean War Story" by C.S.S. Crawford: