Posted 3 years ago
dav2no1
(839 items)
(INERT)1952 M2A1 HE MUSTARD GAS MORTARS
***THESE ARE INERT AND LEGALLY OBTAINED***
Ok..now that we have the disclaimer out of the way....
Heres something that you dont see everyday! I promised to show these about a year ago while showing some of my other mortars and large caliber ammunition rounds.
These are a pair of 1952 HE(High Explosive) mustard gas mortars. They are part of my heavy mortars collection. These are inert(nothing in them). The fuzes are demilled(rendered non-functional, only for display purposes). Approximately 41" tall.
He 0-1=71, 4 2"(107mm) Alt 8, "Four-Deuce"..empty about 35 lbs
I could not find the correct fuses that originally would be used with these mortars. So I purchased a pair of (demilled) 1967 M557 point detonating fuzes. Although they are not correct, they sit on top and look cool.
I obtained these pair of mortars years ago from a certified military salvage specialist. At the time, she was helping me weld up a pair of custom headers on my 1964 C-10 truck. They had been sitting outside for years and had water in the upper chambers...matter of fact, one of them still has water sloshing in it.
So..as you will notice....one of the shells has been powder coated green. The reason both are not powder coated, is because the Mexican employee of the powdercoating company that was sandblasting them, had them on the table and was turning the item as he worked. He felt the water sloshing around and freaked out(possible language barrier), thinking it was a live mortar. The owner knew they were not, but because of all the hassle..I just took them home with only the one done. The plan was to finish the other one myself...it's on the list.
These mortars carried 3 primary weapons. They were white phosphorus-based smoke shells, TNT and mustard gas.
Due to the nature of the chemicals, Mustard gas was not used in wars and the U.S. ended up with a large number of these shells, declaring over 450,000 of them in stockpile.
C4 H8 Cl2S
"Mustard gas or sulfur mustard is a chemical compound belonging to a family of cytotoxic and blister agents known as mustard agents. ... It can form large blisters on exposed skin and in the lungs, often resulting in prolonged illness ending in death."
This is artillery and not mortar.
In modern terms you are correct.. mortars can be up to 120mm and towed by light vehicle...
"In general infantry mortars are defined by what a team of infantrymen, sometimes known as mortarmen, can transport unaided by significant vehicle support. Because of this intrinsic restriction mandated by weight, mortars are only considered "infantry" to a calibre of 120mm. These larger weapons usually require wheeled assemblies to allow their towing either by hand or by light tactical vehicles."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_infantry_mortars
This round would be shot from a Howlitzer...which technically is NOT a mortar Or an artillery gun...its actually in-between, but is shot similar to a mortar.
Howlitzer: Medium velocity, medium angle, direct or indirect fire
Mortar: Low velocity, high angle, indirect fire
The three main types of artillery "gun" are guns, howitzers and mortars.
This fires from a chambered, closed breech, and therefore - artillery. A howitzer is artillery. A howitzer usually has a lighter charge than a "gun" and generally used for lobbing shells at high angle. These appear made for a high charge of propellant.
Very cool regardless what it is fired from.
Fort, your CA gov't. doesn't even trust its' citizens with even a .22 rifle ! With your interests, when are you going to move to a Constitutional state ? Or you could do like I did 49 yrs. ago and leave all that political much behind.
These are very cool! My Dad worked in a factory during WWII that made M47A1 chemical bombs. One of payloads was mustard gas. We had a couple of inert rounds around the house when I was growing up. No idea what happened to them.