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Hmmm. Someone didn't take care of their ammunition...

By The Armorer on March 5, 2011 | | Comments (19)
...or they forgot their prop charges.  Either way, I doubt you guys got enough setback on that round to arm the fuze.  Not that I would have hung around to check, either...



H/t, Kevin.

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19 Comments

By Grimmy on March 5, 2011 1:05 PM
Sometimes that "someone didn't take care of their ammo" situation occurs way back in some log dump somewhere and the poor grunts end up with the effect.
 
By Attila on March 5, 2011 1:33 PM
As an attack pilot/squadron commander at a deployed location conducting operational missions, I can attest to Grimmy's comment...F**king bomb dump senior NCOs who had been there toooooooo long...Harrrumph!

(Although the fix was spectacular to behold--Wing King vs. E-9, fish, barrel...) 
 
By Mark Matis on March 5, 2011 1:55 PM
Hey now, c'mon!  Weren't y'all just bitchin' aboout PT no longer being tough enough a day or so ago?  They sure got some exercise out of THIS!
}:-]
 
By John (Not The Armorer) on March 5, 2011 1:59 PM
The Colombians were among the least trained military forces I encountered iin South America (okay, it was 20+ years ago, so things may have changed) and they treated their troops like dirt, and gear was in shocking state of disrepair.

However, given the camera location, and demeanor of everyone involved, this whole scenario seems to be a "gag" set up, perhaps for TV comedy show down there.

But, failure to care for ammo CAN cause BIG Problems!
 
By Attila on March 5, 2011 2:38 PM
 Boq? Alooo Boq? Que pasa?
 
By John of Argghhh! on March 5, 2011 3:17 PM
J(NTA) - entirely possible.

Of course, Boq, in a previous life, may have been dumping some old ordnance he found laying around in some other improperly cared-for storage area.

Grimmy - I was after both possibilities - bad storage, or bad training.

But mostly because it was funny.
 
By Boquisucio on March 5, 2011 4:00 PM
I will comment in a separate entry, for I do have some experience with such kind of ammo.  Right now, unfortunatelly, am in a Ludditical penalty box.
 
By Grimmy on March 5, 2011 7:02 PM
JoA:

Yep. Funny.

As a gunbunny I'm sure you've seen your share of cookers and ploopers that shoulda been bangers and boomers.

It did hit a bit of a nerve with me though. As a former Dragon gunner, a chance to shoot an actual round was a once in a career event for any Marine wire guided anti tanker. All too often, that round would be an old corroded piece of dysfunction. Of course, when the guide wire breaks, or the round just goes walkabout for whatever reason, it was always "crew error".
 
By Quartermaster on March 5, 2011 7:30 PM
 Given the laughter in the background, I'd say someone was had.

I must admit, however, I'd have run too.
 
By Kevin on March 5, 2011 7:58 PM

From popping around the net, near as I can tell (being a proud mono-lingual 'murican), this clip is from a cable TV 'blooper' show.  That annoying cackling you hear is from the 'VJ' who is laughing at the hapless mortar crew bailing out.

Is it a gag or real dud, I don't know.  Just as I don't know, but think I can read the lips on the portly mortarman as the shell goes 'foop' rather than, 'poop'. 

I would hope that the range officer would take a dim view of such shennanigans on a range with supposedly live ammo.  Some officers have an odd sense of humor, yours truly included.  But I can't see how filming a potentially deadly and harmful to their image prank like this would be allowed.  Funny as I might find it, I wouldn't do or allow something like that.   Well, not in front of cameras anyway.

As for crappy ammo, I can recall dragging 155 projos out of a bunker in the late 80's that were made in the late 40's.  Our CO was none to happy to be issued rounds that were made before he was born.  We weren't too wild about shooting them either, but at least the powder was more recent, we think.. it was made in the 60's.
 
By BillT on March 5, 2011 10:17 PM
Not even going to comment on the joys of trying to illuminate a midnight free-for-all around a mud fort using aerial flares that we'd had to pull from inside a flooded ammo bunker.

Feh.

Just one more reason God made landing lights and suicidal helicopter pilots....
 
By MAJ Mike on March 5, 2011 11:05 PM
Most frightened I ever was when I (as 81mm Mortar Platoon Leader AKA Infantry Company artillery commander) had to remove a dud WP round from one of the tubes.  My Platoon Seargant seperated the cannon tube from the base plate and tipped it over.  I was to catch the 81mm WP round as it exited the muzzel.  I caught it and Range EOD picked it up, but I just knew I would drop it and I'd be a crispy critter 2LT.

Good times.  Just didn't realize it.
 
By Richard on March 5, 2011 11:50 PM
I launch 7.62, 308, and 40 SW,

You guys are NUTS!     I mean SCARY NUTS!!!

Thank GOD your on my side!
 
By Grumpy on March 6, 2011 2:50 AM
@Richard, You're right, the finest bunch of nuts around. Remember, always, pick your nuts carefully.   
 
By John of Argghhh! on March 6, 2011 9:06 AM
Richard - remember, to be able to launch your projectiles, you have to be able to see the target.  Ergo, the target can also see you.

Whereas we Gods of War shoot at things other people see.  And our other people who see them, do so quietly, from stealth, not attracting personal attention.  Until you guys open up and say "Hey everybody, over here!"
 
By MAJ Mike on March 6, 2011 12:51 PM
Its "The Queen of Battle" who tells the King hwere to put his balls.
 
By Murray on March 6, 2011 2:06 PM
What RCO allows a camera to set up in front the line?

The kind who serves in an army where they do stuff like this apparently/
 
By Jason on March 6, 2011 9:14 PM
Hah! You think that was old ammo? Only 40 years! And your powder was practically brand-new. In '92 I observed for an Army Reserve 8-inch unit out of Peoria, 7/1 FA, IIRC just before they disbanded all the Reserve artillery. Anyways, I'm up on the hill trying to do my thing and get the guns registered. It's just not happening as rounds are ping-ponging all over the place so inconsistently that I can't even come close to completing the registration and me and the FDC are getting kinda testy with each other. This lasts long enough that the battalion commander and the S-3 come up to the hill to see what was going on. They watch quietly for a couple of rounds and then get on the horn to confirm that I'm correct and that they've got problems. They tell me and my FO that the rounds were from the 40s and were in such bad shape that they'd needed to have the rust filed off, and that the powder was from the early 50's. So we were suffering from inconsistent burns by the powder and shells with variable amounts of drag. I eventually got things done, probably by selecting a new aim point without telling the FDC, but I just wanted to let the boys shoot their one or two working guns per battery.

Jason
 
By bobcat on March 8, 2011 4:50 AM
 better than trying to qual on ma-deuce with ammo from the first war here in korea.