The thread will ease its way back on track, much like the locomotive in the 1964 film the Train.
Of course it may require the use of crowbars and some heavy lifting.
The thing is, when information is put out that is false, it needs to be corrected. Especially since half the plastic part putter togetherers on this site tout history accuracy as one of their goals.
Merely letting it pass helps perpetuate false information. I know WP can be used with a time fuze on a mortar - some jackasses from the 82nd burned down a compound in the Paktika Province by doing so. They weren’t violating any “rules of land warfare” or any such thing. They were just dumb. Much more to that story on their use of mortars.
At any rate. I have watched on this site for twenty years as so called experts spout utter BS, and have said nothing in order to promote a sense of harmony on the site. Now that I’m a grizzled old SF guy with PTSD, I care less about that and more about ending BS.
Without calling anyone out specifically, there is no lock out on an M109 Paladin.
Crews do indeed stand on the deck of an M110 when firing it.
A corn fed warrior can lift a 200 pound projo.
Of course, there’s this recent thread, in which Apache calls BS. (although politely)
CSM Stigall (?) from SOCOM put it very succinctly at an SF conference in Savannah several years ago: If you see/hear BS being perpetuated, call it.
Now grab those crowbars and put your backs into it, fellas - the partisans are just around the net bend.
Following this thread closely b/c I am thinking about [scratch] 3D printing M106A2 or A3 conversion for my personal use. Don’t want to pay $60-70 for Hobbylink’s prints when I can do them on my own. Just gathering reference photos at this point. Thanks for the discussion, John.
Everyone keep watching this post for more updates. I just made contact with someone who is/or has restored one. I will also post links to some of the things I found helpful. Hopefully this can become a nice repository for info for others down the road.
Here is a link to a free version of the Technical Manual that covers the M113 and variants. This is an older 1 which covers more of what I needed. Nice read if you are up for it.
I personally think the fellow has done a fantastic job building a well used mortar track, and will give him credit when it’s over due. Love to see more of his work!
gary
