SOLD 18th C. Hand Mortar IGrenade Launcher) Reproduction

[Glenn Osborne]

Excellent reproduction of an early 18th C. hand mortar designed to throw grenades 200-300 feet into opposing ships or fortifications. Hardware is proper pre-Long Land Pattern design with lock marked W. Predden. Brass buttplate and early pattern trigger guard. Barrel is bronze made by noted gunsmith Ben Cooogle. Parts are from TRS. Asking actual costs for parts and assembly. $1400.00. Buyer pays shipping and any insurance wanted. Mortan is in excellent unfired condition. One identical to this fires fused tennis balls filled with flour and a small amount of BP 300'.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Would you happen to have a design for a typical projectile for this?
What would/will I be able to launch out of it?

 

[Glenn Osborne]

It will handle anything up to the size of a standard tennis ball. On another thread, a re-enactment said his group has one and for demos they take a tennis ball with 80 grains of black powder and fill the rest with flour. They obviously have a pretty long fuse which is placed facing up towards the muzzle. They used two man team, one to light the fuse and one to fire the mortar. They used abt 200-300 grains as a charge and fired the mortar Butt on the ground as was usually done originally. They said they had great results and for safety were able to roll the tennis ball out of the mussel if the mortar misfired. The originals fired iron grenades 200-300 feet and this repro is at least as strong as an original. Hope this helps. I’ve always wanted to fire this mortar but am just a collector now and had the opportunity to buy this from the stocker 5-6 years ago. I’m paring down my collection to a specific period a little later that this piece so making room on the wall, sort of speak!

 

[WKD]

NEVER light the fuse!!! If the tennis ball "grenade" has a charge and a fuse load it with a short fuse facing out the charge will wrap a flame around the ball igniting the fuse as it exits the barrel. If you light the fuse and you flash the pan you now have a bomb in your hands! Also flour and flames mixed are explosive.
Lacrosse balls are great for distance and will not tear apart like a tennis ball.
If you like to live dangerously try fireworks "carnival" balls the kind you drop in a tube but make sure you load with the fuse facing away and let the main charge ignite them and shoot them off at night.
I have a lot of experience.

 

[Glenn Osborne]

As I said, I never have fired the mortar but was sharing a comment from another thread. Personally, I would never have fired anything with an explosive charge but would have gotten a kick firing black painted tennis balls as a demo. For me, the fun would have been exhibiting something uncommon at reenactments. It really is something you don’t see every day and it’s way cool in that regard.

 

[Glenn Osborne]

BTW, I believe you are right about letting the charge light the fuse. On the original surviving grenades from the period , there seems to be several fuses twisted together with a length of about 3”.

 

[WKD]

On the originals the fuse was actually a wooden cone that had a slow powder filling jammed into a hollow iron ball that was packed with powder. Lobbed over the walls of a Fort they would spray shrapnel in a 50 yard circle. Many of the originals were designed to be fired from the ground, the recoil from firing a 2 1/2 lb projectile with a sufficient lift charge would be brutal.

 

[Glenn Osborne]

That is why they were fired Butt to the ground. The “grenadoes” I have seen with fuses may have been the hand held grenadier sort thrown by hand.

 

[Zonie]

To all:

IMO, a classified ad is not the place to delve into the fine arts of firing a weapon.

Let's get back to selling the item.

 

[Glenn Osborne]

You are absolutely right. Sorry!

 

[WKD]

True, just trying to prevent dangerous misinformation. They are a great toy, loads of fun and a unique piece of weaponry.

 

[good ole boy]

Is this a Punt Gun?

 

[Glenn Osborne]

No. It is an early 18th century military weapon used to throw explosive iron ball grenades further than possible by hand. Both land and naval units used them. This reproduction will fire tennis balls 200-300 feet.

 

[Griz44Mag]

This may be one of the exceptions Zonie, whether or not to bid on something this strange (for me at least) depends on gaining some level of information on how to use it...!

 

[Nyckname]

..If you light the fuse and you flash the pan you now have a bomb in your hands!...

"Fire in the hole" leapt to mind when I read the OP.

...Also flour and flames mixed are explosive...

I think that's the idea. More flash than actual explosion.

My junior high science teacher would demonstrate by blowing flour into a bunsen burner through a long hose.

 

[Nyckname]

On the originals the fuse was actually a wooden cone that had a slow powder filling jammed into a hollow iron ball that was packed with powder.

That's what I leapt to after reading "short fuse facing out the charge will wrap a flame around the ball igniting the fuse as it exits the barrel" above, but with a fuse shoved through the plug. There wouldn't be anything to prevent the base of the fuse from lighting, instead of the tip.

 

[Glenn Osborne]

Perhaps the question should be “what would you like to use the hand mortar for?” Personally, I know what these weapons were used for originally - throwing bombs- but I certainly wouldn’t advocate that today. Now using them for demonstrations and firing an inert tennis ball painted black is another story!

 

[Nyckname]

Is this a Punt Gun?

Kind'f the opposite, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punt_gun

Those are responsible for the extinction of the passenger pigeon.

 

[Glenn Osborne]

Nope, definitly not a punt gun.

 

[Glenn Osborne]

To those interested: If the hand mortar does not sell on this nice forum, I'm going to list it with another source which will only raise the costs. If anyone is interested now is the time to buy this unusual piece at my cost without and profit. Thanks for looking!