Well let me tell you yesterday was interesting. Those guys shooting those mortars were some serious shooters. The firing point has to be close to 3/4 mile long with over 80 firing points. Now not every point had a mortar set up but there had to be 50 mortars, the majority Coehorns. There were the two 8 inch guns. these were full scale guns.
The Mortar match consists of 7 shots in 45 minutes. The aim point is a stake set at 100 yards. The five closest shots to the stake are measured and the the lowest aggregate wins the match.
The Mortar teams were laying the mortars with levels and staking them down. They set up aiming stakes. They had inclinometers to check the angle of the barrel. Each shot was recorded in a log. After each shot they adjusted for windage by moving the mortar base . Range/elevation was adjusted by varying the powder charge.
Charges were pre prepared and put up in plastic film canisters; those little containers that hold 35mm film. The Mortar was charged by the loader opening one of the canister reaching down in the bore and pouring the powder inthe chamber. As each shot was fired the impact was evaluated and the increment of powder was increased or decreased accordingly. This is what they recorded in the log. Most of the loads I heard called out were 230 to 240 grains of Musket powder.
For some reason yesterday they set the aim stake at 90 yards. I think because of the mud on the impact zone they they had to move the stake in. Those guys were scrambling for corrections. But they did it.
Today is cannon Day and I am headed back out to watch. I will have more pictures tonight.
One last thought. After the mortars shot, they had some sort of team match for rifles. The teams were 4 or 5 man teams. At the buzzer they all fired at once. There must have been 30 or 40 teams or more. Say 150 people on line all firing at once. The sound of that volley was bone chilling...I can not imgaine standing and recieving that volley even if I were in a group about give the same in return. I wonder if I were around during the Civil war if I would have had the courage.....
