Testing out the miniature Coehorn mortars my friend and I made.

[WarlockFirearms]

Here's some videos from the tests.

It was a lot of fun. Made the mortar barrels on my lathe from cold-rolled steel. They are .35 caliber and here we are firing them with pyrodex. Had a little trouble working up a blank load with a good report using the pyrodex, but wrapping a little flour in aluminum foil and using it as a projectile seemed to do the trick. These things are a blast and now I want to make something bigger, like maybe a golf ball mortar.

As an aside, does anyone know where to get some real black powder in the Portland, OR area?

 

[4v50 Gary]

Neat little mortar you made for yourself. I also used aluminum foil for blanks during New Year's.

 

[BHP FAN]

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php?topic=58381.0

 

[Pete D.]

GB mortar

Here are some pics of a Golf Ball mortar that I made on a little four inch lathe. It is from a design by DD over at the GreyBeard forums, called the K.I.S.S. mortar.

These are all the parts - disassembled.

The shoulder for the breechblock cut into the barrel/

The breech block itself - this required the most machining

The trunnion mounted on the rear of the breechblock/barrel assembly. This pulls the two together and provides and easy disassembly for cleaning.


The bolt shown in the second picture is bored for the fuse and screws through the barrel and into the powder chamber in the breech block.

It is a hoot to shoot.
Pete

 

[Racebannon]

Excellent pics!

 

[WarlockFirearms]

Very nice, Pete.

We machined the barrels from a solid billet of steel (aside from the trunion, which is simply a cross-pin), so it really couldn't get much more simple.

Here are some better pics of my mortar:

 

[Pete D.]

nice

That is a real mini Coehorn. Very nice pics and a nice job machining.
Pete D.