What is this? A dummy anti aircraft round?

[jon1996]

hello,
my dad got this a long time ago i dont know where but i think it is miltary related, anyways, it is made of wood, has a sn#, and has grooves on the rear of it for like packing or something to seal it, i hope some one can id it for me, it is about 30" long, heres the link:

http://mystuff.netburner.net/webumake/users/gunner/MVC_007F.JPG

later
jon

 

[Preacherman]

Looks like a dummy mortar round. It would be used for loading drills. Measure the diameter, and it will tell you the mortar it was designed for. At a guess, it'll be a 3" or 4½" (81mm. or 120mm.) round.

 

[shermacman]

Preacherman:
Your eyes are failing you. This can't be a AA round. You think this is 3" in diameter??? The thing is nearly 50' long.
Look at the car next to it!

 

[MrMurphy]

Hard to tell by scale but appears to be a training round for an 81 or 82mm mortar.

 

[SDC]

It LOOKS like a practice round for a 3" bazooka; are there any wire scraps attached at the tail end? When the assistant gunner loaded one of these into the tube, he would clip a wire from the rocket onto a contact on the tube, thus completing the firing circuit, then slap the helmet of the gunner to let him know he was cleared to fire.

 

[Jake]

I'm thinking either bazooka or a recoiless rifle round. Shape doesn't seem right for a mortar round.

 

[Archie]

From my memory...

that looks like a 3.5" rocket launcher (Bazooka) projectile.

The 3.5" is the second generation, and not properly a Bazooka, but most everyone calls them by that name. The original Bazooka was a 2.8" diameter rocket launcher, IIRC. One of you historical types correct me if I'm wrong.

This particular device is from one of those weapons. I don't think it would be very effective to use against an aircraft, as the round was very slow and would make it hard to hit. (If you could hit an aircraft, the round would do some damage...)

 

[Vern Humphrey]

That's a training dummy for the 3.5" Rocket Launcher (also called the "Super Bazooka.)

The gunner assumes the firing position (usually kneeling), places his right hand on the top of his helmit, and gives the command "Load!"

The assistant gunner inserts and turns the round to make good contact, then moves out of the backblast area and says "Up!"

It would be pointless to use such a thing as a training round for a mortar -- because you'd have to disengage the tube from the base plate to tip it up and get the round out after each "load."

 

[MrMurphy]

Without fins or charges I thought it looked more like a mortar round.....but it could be a 3.5in round now that I think about it.

I've seen all kind of training rounds but never a bazooka one... doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but the last time the 3.5in was in service, i wasn't born yet!

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Quote:
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but the last time the 3.5in was in service, i wasn't born yet!
-------------------------------------

Dang whippersnapper!

 

[Vern Humphrey]

By the way, look at the base of the round, just forward of the "fins." You see a piece of wire (just touching the start of the lettering.) That's the shorting clip, which the assistant gunner pulls off just before loading -- the 3.5" Rocket Launcher is electrically fired, and all rounds were stored with shorting clips.