60mm M2 Mortar

[biged]

Took 20 hours to complete the mortar with a reenactor tube.
Another 10 to complete the CO2 airsoft barrel system.
I spent countless hours since November of 2006 doing research.

Baseplate:

Bipod:










The tube pictured is for reenactments and uses a different ammo system.
This is the airsoft version:



20lbs CO2 tank regulated to 115-120 psi. Triggered by a irrigation valve. I can also use a standard CO2 paintball tank or HPA tank.
I have 3 barrel systems pictured here. They can be unscrew from the end of the mortar and changed in under a minute.
2-5/8 inch barrel pictured. Shoots tennis balls. I also load spray-paint caps with dried beans or peas. Longest shot with a tennis ball 265 feet. 150 feet with beans/peas. 15 rounds per minute.
1-1/2 inch barrel for launching smoke grenades. Longest shot with a smoke grenade 450 feet. 8 rounds per minute.
1-inch barrel for launching hot-dogs. Longest shot with a hot-dog -unknown- been unable to locate weenie. 1 round per minute.

The airsoft tube has changed since these photos. I modified the sprinkler valve so it is triggered by a blow gun. I added another pressure gauge on the tube along with a 135 psi pop valve for safety.

///ed///

[wade]

AWESOME biged! You are quickly becoming schmitty's competition.

[CharleyNovember]

Looks great. You should be able to get much much further with a tennisball and the blowgun trigger. We get godawful range with ours. 900 feet maybe more. We lube up the tennisballs with spray silicone seems to create a better seal.

[click]

Wow looks cool! Th smoke grenades must make a nice effect on the playing field

Click

[2nd Bat]

Nice combination of visual and functional utility. I hadn't thought of the idea of purpose swapped tubes. I agree with Dan that your tennis ball range should be greater as I have enjoyed greater range then you are sharing. I have to stuff the ball into the tube however so my rate of fire is lower. I am extrmely impressed with the authenticity and quality of work on the bipod. (It has inspired me to go redo mine.)

[kurtsteiner]

Wow, that is insane, I LOVE IT ;D

It's inspired me, who wants to help me build a nebelwerfer

[Sturmmann13]

man, a wennie at 450fps, that's harsh.......

Great job dude

[YankeeDiv26]

wow outstanding work. I'm pretty sure everyone here is jealous of your 60mm.

[biged]

I located another pipe and made a tightbore (2.5 inches) barrel. I do have to ram the tennis balls down the barrel now. I have'nt tried lube on them yet - good idea... I'm also testing small water balloons filled with water and a cupfull of bb's.

The blow valve greatly improved the valve speed.

I was amazed at how accurate it is. I land tennis balls within 5-10 feet of each other. I may swap out the traverse handle with a larger crank handle that flips down so adjusting would be easier and quicker.. Adjusting for shorts ranges is S L O W - I grab the baseplate and pull it left or right. Although the "feet" on the base dig in like an SOB.

Side view pic in a raw metal state.


///ed///

[troyluginbill]

Do you have a parts list and plans you would be willing to share?

[biged]

I will take some measurements and post them. I started off with just pictures and worked out a scale system. Later I found out some true dimensions and had to shorten the legs on the bi-pod.

The baseplate was time consuming because of the socket. I used a torch to heat the center of a .25 thick piece of a 4-inch wide channel iron cherry red.
I placed it over a 2.5 hole (like a die) and POUNDED the trailer ball into the hot metal. I repeated this heating and pounding for about 2 hours. It made a beautiful socket.
Then I cut the sides off the channel iron and welded it into the center of a square of 3/16ths thick sheet metal. I welded .5 inch rod around the edge. And .25 rod around the inside.

I heated and pounded the "Apple" with a hammer. Which is the indentation that the tube can sit in when set at a low angle(?) or storage/transport(?). After paint it does'nt appear to be deep enough.

Mine

Real M2 baseplate


The bipod elevator was also difficult to operate smoothly. It's a tube with a nut welded on the bottom that spins on a 3/4 rod with a handle attatched to the bottom. That assembly slides inside the center bipod tube. To center and smooth out the rod/tube assembly I pressed in a bearing on the bottom. It works absolutely silky.

The mortar tube CANNOT BE 60MM. The ATF will come knocking if you have a 60mm tube.

///ed///

[biged]

Just a quick update:

I made two new barrels. Both of them are 4 feet long. One of them is 1.25 PVC the other is 1.5 inch PVC.

I shot a smoke grenade out of the 1.5 inch and it measured the distance, 610 feet.
The 1.25 barrel I shoot bbs, peas, or beans out of for longer range.
I fill up a film canister with ammo and drop it down the barrel without the lid on.
Beans travel just over 250 feet and have a 60+ foot spread.
I am also increasing the length of the 2-5/8ths barrel when I locate some new material.

I'll have to test fire and measure the distance of a hot-dog.

///ed///

[<2>nd Rangers M/Sgt. Tom]

Nice work I like it Ive always wanted to see a 60mm in the field ;D

[Russian]

Oh, jealousy...... Fantastic work, Biged....fantastic!

[biged]

In order to match the range of the German Pak I had to increase my air chamber and reconfigure the barrel setup. (I blame Burt !!)



I added TWO FEET to the air chamber. The original was 32 inches long.


A Barrel elboe so the barrel will be mounted near the base cap.


A lengthened tennis ball barrel. (42 inches)


The bb/hotdog barrel, smoke grenade barrel both at four feet.
The air chamber completed. I just have to drill a 1-3/8ths hole and weld on the barrel elboe.



The Good. I left the original 3/4 fitting (where the original barrel connected) on the end. This way I can add an additional air chamber "booster" for additional range.

The Bad. I can be in a hidden in a pit, trench, tree-line with a spotter. Where direct fire weapons cannot reach.

The Ugly. The air chamber is now 5 feet long (81mm mortar dimensions). It no longer has an inline look.

///ed///

[biged]

"Trident" 81mm mortar tube. (In testing phase)



There are 2 blow valves connected to 2 irrigation valves with 2 different diameter barrels.
Adding the second barrel and valve eliminates the need for swapping barrels. Which after increasing the barrel lengths to 4 feet can take up to 4-5 minutes to swap.

One barrel is a breech loader - the 2-3/4". I can load water balloons or sabot tennis balls for almost twice the distance as before.


The other barrel is for shooting smoke grenades, bb's, peas etc. This barrel is still a muzzle loader for now.

The ability to provide smoke for advancing troops is a huge advantage. "The Germans cannot hit, what they cannot see."

///ed///

[mccallion]

awsome work big ed can wait to see it at the game

-mccallion

[biged]

81mm barrel is finished. Entire mortar weighs close to 81 lbs..







Both barrels are breech loading.
Both barrels can be fired individually or simultaneously. However discharging both barrels would loose about 1/3 of there effect range.

///ed///

[Guinness]

Ed-

This needs to be stickied too- Didn't you have something about how you made the base too?

Excellent work man!

[Ersatzjack]

I think it is a big visual improvement too! Sure the real thing wasn't multi-tubed but this is shorter like the real one instead of that long tube 1st-version. You are right, it will be more concealable and with a spotter we might have trouble even knowing where you are firing from. Excellent work. I'm only worried that it keeps you from working on other super important projects like MG-34 Magazine conversions. Heh-heh.

[gryphon]

Inspired! What a great idea. The dedicated barrel set is especially brilliant. What brand of sprinkler valve are you using? They open soooo much faster when you lose the electronics and just port them like you have, but not all brands seem to take to porting (at least, I've ruined more than I've improved ) I have my ported-valve 1 1/2" breechloader tank gun from the turret of the old M3L Stuart Little gathering dust in the back of the shop, next to a boxful of sabot-round housing tubes - your project is making me think it's time to slap it on a howitzer carriage and start sprinkling legumes on the enemy. We used to make our sabots out of slit Dixie cups, the little sample-sized ones; each would hold about ten paintballs. That would equal a LOT of dried split peas....

TJ Alcott at www.armoredfistpaintball.com has built tank-mounted guns that use these huge custom-made inline dump valves - the power he gets out of those things, even at pressures as low as 30psi, is just amazing. The faster the dump, the more the bump. He would love to see your mortar.

[biged]

Actually I'm using two different brands. The new one is a Rainbird the other one is a Generic "Master Plumber" brand. When you drill for the blow valve mod avoid hitting the valve alignment pin. Both my irrigation valves have the alignment pins in them.

Funny thing - I just tested and now use very thick walled 12oz paper dixie cup that I cut a slit down the side to fit into the 2-3/4 inch tube. 9-out-of-10 survive and are reusable. Conventional paper sabots do not protect the water balloon enough due to the manufacturing welded seam inside the steel barrel.

Another projectile I tested were water filled Condoms in the 1.5 barrel. I couldn't measure the distance because they disappeared.

I have plans for Howitzer in the future (Maybe 2009). I started building a piston valve to dump a HUGE 2 foot diameter by 6 foot long air tank. Which takes about 5 minutes to fill with a conventional air compressor. The 20 lbs CO2 tank would MAYBE power it for about 3 shots. The whole rig would be built on a trailer. I'm hoping to get a half mile to 1 mile range. (My Boss is sponsoring that build. )

///ed///

[gryphon]

Holy Howitzers, Batman!

Another reuseable sabot that works well in 1 1/2" bores is a slit blow-molded polyethylene "bullet bottle," the kind used for hair care products and the like. They can be purchased empty by the boxful from a plastic container distributor. Cut the screwtop stem off the rounded top and slit the sides down to the flat base; a crew can carry a large number of preloaded rounds in tubes or paper sheaths, neatly packed in an ammo can. With that hole in the front, they open out like shotgun wads - filled with something small like peas, they'd need a cardstock wad cap on the inside top. For real mayhem on hard surfaces, fill 'em with small superballs....

[2nd Bat]

For night time discharge use a mix of flourescent BBs in with your peas and pre charge them before firing. Very impressive to watch. Can you say Beehive rounds?

[Guinness]

Ed,

Did you have more of the 'how-to' step of making the reenactor Mortar around somewhere? I'd like to get the stickied to the top-

Thanks-

Also I haven;t been able to find the .50 cal thread- let's get that one to the top as well

[biged]

Gryphon - I like the superball idea! I have tried the mini paratrooper men - unfortunately the velocity of the mortar rips the parachutes off.

2nd bat - Good idea about the glow ammo!! I have cut open the cylume sticks and poured it over tennis balls and shot them at night. (Wicked incoming artillery effect.) Another favorite night time ammo launch are 10-12 glow sticks in a spray paint can lid. Has two effects - Fun light show, and provides illuminated ground area. To avoid a lot of extra cleanup at the field I try to use the battery operated on/off light sticks.

WARNING: Avoid contact of the Cylume stick liquid. It WILL MELT plastics of all types. It will not harm the environment. If contact is made wash it off with water. DO NOT ingest. DO NOT get any in your eyes. (It burns bad - trust me.)

///ed///

[biged]

Update.

To make it portable I fabricated a 4.2" chemical mortar Standard and mounted it in my Mk3 cart.
(Note: A "Standard" is the monopod for a 4.2" chem mortar.)
I also fabricated a "bolt on" baseplate for the the tube.




Standard

Bolt-on base.


System works great. I get about 200 shots out of the 20lbs CO2 tank.

///ed///

[indie]

that is absolutely awesome! glad to see more arty pieces out there.

[YankeeDiv26]

Ahh the big lollipops itself. Man that thing certainly racked up some kills for the axis this past weekend.

[p40warhawk]

I saw this and thought it would be interesting for you all, complete plans are available ($10, yuck, but still its nice to have full plans) It could probably be modified to not have a second tube on top, with less range of course.
www.alternativepaintball.com/mortar.htm