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Flame thrower

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A few pictures I took several years ago at the Davis Arms & Historical Museum in Oklahoma.
I don't know how well it would shoot. Short barrels and I don't get along.
 

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An interesting piece. But not any significant kind of flame thrower in the modern sense. I'd be more inclined to label it an incendiary device.
If that was your flame thrower in WWII? We would still be trying to get Japanese soldiers out of caves on Guadalcanal.
 
Similar guns are used in mostly Bavaria for celebratory firing of blank charges to drive the devil away and welcome in the New Year or as part of a celebration.

As a grenade launcher, they take about 120 to 150 grains to launch a round hand grenade. It is used more as a hand held mortar. The recoil is quite fierce. The butt is placed on the ground. The unlit grenade is placed in the bore. The blow by fire will light the fuse of the grenade. The description on the placard is misleading. I am not aware of rounds configured to be balls of fire.
 
Similar guns are used in mostly Bavaria for celebratory firing of blank charges to drive the devil away and welcome in the New Year or as part of a celebration.

As a grenade launcher, they take about 120 to 150 grains to launch a round hand grenade. It is used more as a hand held mortar. The recoil is quite fierce. The butt is placed on the ground. The unlit grenade is placed in the bore. The blow by fire will light the fuse of the grenade. The description on the placard is misleading. I am not aware of rounds configured to be balls of fire.
Jap Knee Mortar. Hand held carronade.
 
Muzzle heavy are we … ? :ghostly: I have one! But yes indeed, she throws some flames too!

Designed (nowadays) or I should say ... 'sized' to shoot tennis balls. Got 250 tennis balls from eBay shipped for only $60 too, not too bad … 24-cents per shot (less powdah), huh? Oh, to the naysayers of arms produced and imported from India, zero issues with the quality of the build or fit and finish (for an imported fire lock, that is). Besides, try buying one for less than $2,500 from a TRS kit. For this at < 1/4th the price? Yeah, I’ll take my chances whereas I’m just using ‘lifting’ charges …

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Massive 2-1/2” bore baby!
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Oh boy, she is TONS of fun! We even recovered a few of the shot tennis balls and shot them again. But a few went into the swamp over 200-yards away, haha ... didn't play the wind right! The range we were on only goes to 200Y at the backstop and fully wadded charges of ~80grains would send it clear sailing over the backstop. We stayed at 70 (3Fg) and played around with wadding, as the firing chamber is 75-caliber and almost 3" long. I added wads, but a guy there today who has a Coehorn mortar says he doesn't wad the firing chamber.

Loads with a simple over-powder like card wad would only go 100Y or a tad more, but if we stuffed the rest of the chamber full of wadding like grass/leaves or old used paper targets, the same charge would launch it a good deal further. All fired off the hip, not too much recoil at all.

HM1.jpg


HM2.png
 
That Davis museum is well worth the trip. I was there a couplle years ago, didn't get to spend as much time as needed. Two years ago I made special plan, Got a B&B for three nights. Found out it was cloased or renovation. Should have called forst. Will Rogers museum is also there
 
A few pictures I took several years ago at the Davis Arms & Historical Museum in Oklahoma.
I don't know how well it would shoot. Short barrels and I don't get along.
Pretty sure the museum curator doesn't really know what that thing launched, as they were used to toss these 💣 farther than could be thrown.

LD
 
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