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Some gunner zen...

By The Armorer on June 26, 2007 | | Comments (17)

Firing the M777

Firing the M777


Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.

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17 Comments

By BillT on June 26, 2007 10:24 AM
New, from Watervliet Toys! The only Spud-Gun™ capable of launching your grocer's *entire produce section* with one shot! Some dismounted assembly required. Remainder of the battery not included unless you also purchase our "Rest O' The Battalion" option. Requires eighty cases of hairspray to prime it...
 
By Casey Tompkins on June 26, 2007 12:35 PM
John. Kewl shots! I have a question, though. The top photo shows what seems to be a cable running back from the howitzer (it is a howitzer, right?). In fact it looks like it's a little tail held high. :) Ahem. Any way. I was wondering what that for? Electrical power? Cooling? Pipes moisture into the sand to help keep that bad boy dug into place?
 
By BillT on June 26, 2007 12:58 PM
Casey -- That's the high pressure feeder line for the hairspray...
 
By MajMike on June 26, 2007 2:00 PM
..and the toughest engineering challenge was getting the nozzle tip to mist the hairspray just right w/o clogging. but you can see that it was, in fact, a certified nozzle tip by the pink tag.
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 26, 2007 2:10 PM
Heh. You all joke - but the original plan for Crusader was... liquid propellant, that foundered on... the spray nozzle! Along with some other glitches.
 
By Pogue on June 26, 2007 3:45 PM
Casey, I don't know for sure since I haven't gotten to play with the M777, but on the M198 we use power from the 5 ton to operate the hydraulic pack to put the howitzer on it's base plate. It's a lot quicker than doing it by hand. We also use power from the 5 ton when we can to power the cronograph (that rectanular box just behind and to the left of the muzzle on the upper picture.)
 
By BillT on June 26, 2007 8:06 PM
We also use power from the 5 ton when we can to power the cronograph Hmmpf. Didn't have a PTO on the prime mover just to run the clock back when *I* was a gun bunny. We had to wind it up. It instilled *character* in us...
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 26, 2007 8:15 PM
Snerk. Such deliberate obtuseness is *so* refreshing. And so... "Castle!"
 
By afsister on June 26, 2007 8:26 PM
whoa. damn cool photograph (1st one)
 
By BillT on June 26, 2007 9:20 PM
Where's the fun in being obtuse, if not deliberately so? Or, for that matter, in being scalene or isosceles, either?
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 26, 2007 9:28 PM
Heh. Since I'm doing my *own* survey of the new demesne, Isoceles is once again my friend. As is my M2 Aiming Circle. Hey, no one specified what *order* of survey it needed to be.
 
By BillT on June 26, 2007 9:33 PM
Get Neffi an Instamatic and have him do an *aerial* survey...
 
By Casey Tompkins on June 26, 2007 11:58 PM
...So at the risk of sounding like a completely clueless newbie, Pogue's answer was the proper one? :)
 
By BillT on June 27, 2007 1:22 AM
Properer than mine was, if that's any help...
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 27, 2007 7:05 AM
Truth be told, Casey - I dunno. I've not been near an actual, emplaced M777. I was hoping that perhaps we'd have a reader who had, but thus far, none that choose to comment. I did cast about the gentlemen-still-serving with whom I rub shoulders, and none of them have served with this gun yet. Admittedly, I have *not* queried the Weapons Department of the Field Artillery School. Hmmmm. As for the aerial survey... that sounds like a post!
 
By MajMike on June 27, 2007 8:05 AM
..as for the liquid propellant, back when i was at the AOAC, i wrote an article for publication (mandatory requirement) (never actually published) proposing such for the follow-on variants of the M1. so when i needed a black bird job after that course, pending the start of M1 transition course, i ended up with a sweet gig over at Fort Knox Combat Developments, working on (you guessed it) liquid propellants (amongst other nifty toys). (the problem is always in the spray nozzle)
 
By Ledger on June 28, 2007 6:59 AM
The line out of the back of the M777 could be a compressed air line or such. One would think that the electronics would need to be powered - but I don't know. The sand kicked-up is probably from the spades digging in. Also, the first picture may be form Twenty-nine Palms, CA, I don’t know. From an on line discussion the M777 seems to be performing well in Afghanistan and used in combat effectively (It is light and accurate). See: M777 discussion thread
 
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