Cleaning a Howitzer

[ColinthePilot]

I'm sitting here watching "Tougher in Alaska" on the History Channel. I don't know the host's name, but he's working with railroad workers in Alaska and they were doing avalanche control with a 105mm Howitzer. They couldn't allow him to even touch the ammo, but they gladly accepted his help with policing the brass, and cleaning the bore. They were using a giant cleaning rod that would look more appropriate at a swimming pool, and a patch the size of a paper towel. Still, I was sorta surprised that even artillery is cleaned just like our "little" guns.

I wonder how many cans of Hoppes and Breakfree they need for a Howitzer

 

[kingpin008]

The host's name is Geo Beach, and while he might be a little goofy, the show is pretty cool. I saw the episode you're talking about awhile back, and thought it was pretty cool that they cleaned 'em like that too.

 

[Bartkowski]

I have seen the show, but the host is annoying. When he says Alaska it is always said in a deeper voice and drawn out. And he says things like "this isn't wimpy lower 48 snow" that just sound stupid.

About the cleaning, does anyone know what they use for solvent? I would assume something relatively cheap like kerosene.

 

[Pat-inCO]

You get a discount when you buy Hoppe's by the gallon.

 

[VPLthrneck]

Leave it to gov regs that prevent touching of big bullets.

IIRC our howiter crews used a bucket of CLP, considering the Marines loved handing that stuff out for cleaning everything (or so it seemed).
I only seen them clean these things--one of the benefits of being a radio operator.

However, I did carry some rounds for the 198mm Howiter. Nothing beats a round that requires bags of powder, not a wimpy cartridge.

 

[RNB65]

The cleaning routine is pretty much the same regardless of the size of the gun. You should see the bore brush that's used to clean the 16" cannons on a battleship.

 

[loneviking]

I'm a re-enactor with a civil war battery. Our Napoleans and Mountain Howitzers are cleaned with a big brush and a high pressure hose. You wouldn't believe the amount of black crud that comes out of those barrels!

 

[KelVarnson]

What, no boresnake?

 

[Treo]

We used breakfree and EZ-OFF and when we were having fun we'd coat the bore W/ tranny fluid and shoot a fire ball. ( the PLT. SGT got sooooo pissed)

At the end of the FTX we'd spray a can of EZ-OFF down the bore and let it soak till we got to the Laager area and shove a bore brush wrapped in an old T-shirt down the bore. It ruined the shirt but the bore looked like glass.

 

[loneviking]

What, no boresnake?

No, you need a brush on a long stick. With the Napoleans you are using a wet and dry swab on 'em all day long that fits quite tight and they still fill with powder residue. The blackpowder really fouls the bore. We take a garden hose and run it in the end and nasty black water pours out of the primer hole. Then, the bore has to be scrubbed out, but remember our tube is a lot shorter than a modern howitzer!

 

[Treo]

Modern Howitzers use a powder called Nitro Cellulose, It's pretty nasty stuff. It was tradition in my first unit (A 3/35th FA) to open the primer lock after the first round an take a hit of the "Wolf P---y " it was like breathing ammonia. good times

 

[Freelance Tax Collector]

Modern Howitzers use a powder called Nitro Cellulose

Say, isn't that what we use in our modern cartridges?

 

[Treo]

I don't think so there was nothing "smokeless" about this stuff

 

[jerkface11]

Say, isn't that what we use in our modern cartridges?

It is if they're single base.

 

[Jim K]

"Smokeless" is relative. Modern artillery certainly gives off smoke as do modern small arms. But in comparison to a battery of 12 pounders firing black powder, the modern guns really are "smoke less".

FWIW, double base powders do use nitrocellulose, but they also use nitroglycerin, hence the term "double base."

Jim

 

[Freelance Tax Collector]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smokeless_powder

I think so.

I think nitrocellulose based powder produces small amounts of smoke, whose effects are magnified when you get to huge guns like 155mm arty. That and all the unburnt crap left over in the bore after the gun has been fired probably is smokin too. That's my best guess anyway.

 

[Deleted member 66305]

"Smokeless" vs "smoke less" -- what a difference a space makes!

 

[sprithitler]

During my military service the howitzer guys used Breakfree. Quite nasty job to clean a 155mm field howitzer, those guys where coated all over in grime by the time their guns was fit for inspection.

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

However, I did carry some rounds for the 198mm Howiter

198mm gun? Did you mean the M198 155mm?

What, no boresnake?

On M109s, we used to use "cleaning rods" attached to at Humvee and you'd just drive it back and forth.

 

[Happiness Is A Warm Gun]

198mm gun? Did you mean the M198 155mm?

Yup it is M198 (pronounced one-niner-eight, never call it a M Hundred-Ninety-Eight).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M198_howitzer

 

[rcmodel]

Modern artillery certainly gives off smoke as do modern small arms.

I believe most of the big guns also have a small Black Powder igniter charge inside the smokeless main charge or first powder bag.

rcmodel

 

[oneshooter]

Smokeless? Well maybe less smoke!

Clean up, a "All Hands" job!

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas

 

[1gkek]

Ex 13B on an 8" howitzer. LOTS of break free to clean those tubes. As the driver, I never got picked for the detail to punch all the tubes the day after we got back from the field. In the field between rounds we swabbed the bore with water and a big swab.

The HE round on an 8" weighed 197lbs. I watched our gunnery Sgt (Samoan guy) catch one in the air as it rolled off the back of a 5-ton one day. He didn't even grunt. He just bent his knees as he caught it and the stood up with it. I'm glad he was a nice guy.

 

[scrat]

Wow that is too cool same time not too sure i would want to clean those big bores