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Can anyone Identify this?
- Thread starter Grinder1933
- Start date
Grinder1933
Member
The numbers listed above are all I found on it. I don't have a brush to clean it with at the moment.
Grinder1933
Member
After searching some more it looks to be American but haven't found a model just yet.
pointblank0
BOCN Supporter
I was thinking US, but maybe 60mm?
Grinder1933
Member
I think it's an M375. I can't find picutres or numbers to confirm but that data sheet looks really close. No other common US mortar comes close.
Slick
Well-Known Member
While the expansion tube is different, the fins are similar. It is stamped M24. Have yet to find anything pertinent with an M71A1 designation.
I have this item identified as an 81MM M374A1 w/M524 fuze.
I have this item identified as an 81MM M374A1 w/M524 fuze.
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Grinder1933
Member
That's not it. The holes do not go all the way to the top of the fins like your motar. They are roughly two inches from the top of the fins.
Slick
Well-Known Member
Grinder
Uh, yes, I know. Apologies for not being more exact in text. Point being made is: the fins are not specific to any given model. (Expansion)Tube variations abound, apparently. This is a process of elimination as there are no references identifying the original item in question, just yet. I checked all of my other examples. This is the only one with that profile. It is marked M24. It is different in a number of respects, but the fins are very close to the same. They are a component part of an assembly. I've shown what I've got. Helping to narrow it down and answer your question.
Rick
Uh, yes, I know. Apologies for not being more exact in text. Point being made is: the fins are not specific to any given model. (Expansion)Tube variations abound, apparently. This is a process of elimination as there are no references identifying the original item in question, just yet. I checked all of my other examples. This is the only one with that profile. It is marked M24. It is different in a number of respects, but the fins are very close to the same. They are a component part of an assembly. I've shown what I've got. Helping to narrow it down and answer your question.
Rick
Grinder, your example is the older Vietnam style that took powder bags around the boom. It tapers up to the steel body. The photos that Slick posted are from a more recent version that uses U shaped combustible powder "doughnuts" to hold the propelling charge. Your boom would go on the M374 HE or M375 WP projectiles.
Grinder1933
Member
Ah ok thought you were comparing it. So Vietnam era then? I was hoping it was WW2. It's kinda cool to look at though. I wish mine wasn't all blown apart though haha.
Thanks for all your help by the way, I appreciate it.
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Slick, your mortar that you pictured is the M374A3 (M374A2E1) that uses the M24 tail boom. It is almost identical to the M889 81mm HE except for the use of the M524 series fuze while the M889 uses the M923 (a 60mm M567 put in a booster cup assembly to fit the 81mm). The tail boom for the original thread is, as stated, for the M374 series HE mortar shell. I think it is the M170, which is supposed to have better waterproofing than the M149, which had a circular shroud around the base of the fins.