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A bad day on Firing Point One...

By The Armorer on September 25, 2011 | | Comments (25)
 

Why does the video end so abruptly? Because you can run faster without the camera...

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25 Comments

By ChaddinFL on September 25, 2011 11:46 AM
 I've heard of hanging fire, but this is the first time I've ever seen someone *literally* hang actual FIRE!
 
By BillT on September 25, 2011 12:04 PM
Brings the term "cookoff" to a new and exciting level...

I was RSO at Range 49 at Ft. Dix when one of the crews had a TOW misfire and the jettison charge didn't work. The guys landed on the misfire pad and the armament NCOIC and I *very* carefully removed the offending missile and carried it to one side.

Him: "Is this thing supposed to be *hot*?"
Me (in a very small voice): "No. Keep it oriented downrange and if flames shoot out either end, don't wait for me to say, 'Drop it and run' -- because I'll already be 50 meters away and fading fast..."
 
By Quartermaster on September 25, 2011 12:11 PM
 First time I've seen something like that. Must have been a bit of propellant left in the tube from the last round. Bad day indeed!
 
By Grumpy on September 25, 2011 12:12 PM
@ChaddinFL, I guess this would be a bad time to find out, that he had a buch of "hang ups". I like your comment, but also *very true.*
 
 
By jim b on September 25, 2011 1:21 PM
Kinda breaks up the monotony doesn't it?

The kid had good reflexes though.
 
By Murray on September 25, 2011 2:04 PM
You can heat up a mug of water REAL quick with the left over charge rings... they also make a really cool bonfire too. so I've heard.
 
By J.M. Heinrichs on September 25, 2011 3:48 PM
 Needs work on his shotputting technique ... should have got more range.

Cheers
 
By Quartermaster on September 25, 2011 5:24 PM
 Murray, XBradTC posted a clip for me to show what happens when you burn the left over propellant rings. It is rather spectacular. It will more than heat the coffee.

xbradtc.wordpress.com/2011/09/17/pic-o-the-day-5/#comments
 
By Boquisucio on September 25, 2011 5:50 PM
Ah - Fun with Nitrocellulose.  They brighten your day, anytime.  I do miss sourcing basic components for them boom-boom thingies.
 
By BillT on September 25, 2011 6:41 PM
There are other ways of exciting chemical reactions to produce exciting booms.

MRE heater.

Empty Gatorade bottle.

Water.

'Nuff sed...
 
By SKK on September 25, 2011 7:06 PM
 Or a depleted peanut butter jar...

Heh.
 
By Panther 01 on September 25, 2011 7:13 PM
Kinda reminds me of a Hog Weapons School 4-ship on the Nellis ranges...all 4 guys essentially flying line-abreast while one of 'em launched a Maverick as a demo of how the missile entered its long-range profile, g-bias immediately after launch, initial burn/sustained-burn motor characteristics, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Nobody told the missile.

Off the rails it comes and...climbs straight up.

In a second or two (this is a 500-pound missile with an initial launch thrust of 10,000 lbs--do the math--is waaay out of sight.

The IP didn't have to say much, as the other three guys--all Weapons School students who, ostensibly, had a clue (or they wouldn't be there)--did a horizontal "bomb burst" each picking their own personal get-the-****-out-of-Dodge egress heading. The only thing missing was the Monty Python, "Run awaaaay!!...Run awaaaay!!" sound track.

After an agonizing minute or two, during what was probably the best all-quandrants bandit scan each guy had ever accomplished, and the most intense silent prayer session that probably included the closet atheist, if there was one, one of the four saw a teensey-weesny mushroom cloud on the desert floor a couple of miles away.

The flight back to Nellis was fairly quiet. Methinks much alcohol was consumed when the schedule allowed it. 
 
By Sean D Sorrentino on September 25, 2011 7:23 PM
The Assistant Gunner (the guy hanging the round) needs his ass kicked. He routinely kept his hands inside the blast attenuating device (BAD, the cone part on the muzzle). He is supposed to hand the round carefully and drop it, not stick his hands in and mess about with it. His Squad Leader needs his ass kicked too. It's his responsibility to keep the stupid kid from blowing his own hands off. God help them all when the leadership gets their hands on this video.
 
By John of Argghhh! on September 25, 2011 7:40 PM
Not being intimately familiar with the new 120mm, I wondered about technique.  It looked like a lot more hand-waving around the muzzle than I was familiar with when handling the 4.2 or 81s.
 
By Quartermaster on September 25, 2011 9:18 PM
 My son and some of his friends (they had less sense than my son and bceame MArines) would got to teh local hardware store and get some Calcium Carbide and put a little in baby food jars, punch a few holes in the lids, then throw them into the Ohio River from the bridge between Marietta, OH and Williamstown, WV. He and his buddies liked the results. But then, it doesn't take much to keep 16 year old boys entertained. Just so long as it's dangerous, or riles the cops. In this case it riled the cops in two small towns and provided much entertainment for said 16 year old boys.

They later got caught at soemthing else, and I left my son to stew at the Police station overnight. He almost learned his lesson. :-)
 
By Grimmy on September 26, 2011 12:20 AM
Glad someone else said something about technique. I prolly couldn't have been as nice about it.

As to fun stuff that heats water for coffee and goes boom...

Take a quarter sized disk of C4. Light it on fire. Burns real nice. Heats up a can (used the cans from the CRats.. MREs messed up everything) of water for coffee real fast... as long as you don't hold it too close so the can melts.

Then get the closest boot to stomp it out.

Fire and Shock baby.
 
By SKK on September 26, 2011 8:32 AM
 *Dashing out to hardware store to obtain baby food jars.*

Oh, wait. That's not what Q'master's directions said.

*Dashing out to health food store to score some calcium carbide.*

Um...

So anyways.... do they still sell dynamite at Sears? Just askin'...
 
By NevadaSteve on September 26, 2011 9:39 AM
Dry ice, 2-liter soda pop bottle, cap tight and back away. 

Dry ice is a lot easier to find than calcium carbide.
 
By Joe in N Calif on September 26, 2011 1:29 PM
Obvioulsy the #3 wasn't serving the vent.  And note that not once did anyone wet sponge the tube. 
 
By John of Argghhh! on September 26, 2011 2:23 PM
Joe, come join us in the early 21st Century.  That wasn't a Castle event...
 
By Joe in N Calif on September 26, 2011 3:00 PM
Too crowded.  And I don't like synthetic fabrics. 
 
By John of Argghhh! on September 26, 2011 3:17 PM
Well, at Castle Argghhh!, SWWBO produces yarns from angora, mohair, and wool....
 
By 00 on September 26, 2011 3:50 PM
Panther 01, could you refresh my memory on the pound mass to slug conversion again (or is it vice versa?). :) 
 
By Panther 01 on September 26, 2011 5:29 PM
 00,

The answer is: "Lots and Lots" (or a thrust-to-weight ratio of 20 to 1).
 
By Quartermaster on September 26, 2011 8:28 PM
 I used to use Carbide in lamps when I went caving in the late 70s and into teh 80s, before my injuries from '83 piled up enough to take me out of the ARNG and caving. My friends who stayed in teh game now all use LED lamps nowadays.

I went looking for Carbide a couple years ago to have a bit on hand since I kept a couple of my carbide lamps, but couldn't find any locally. I don't remember where my son and his cohorts in crime were getting it in the mid 90s.

Dry ice is far easier to find. It's just not as spectacular, or as quick, as carbide. It will produce a satisfying boom, however.