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Mortar found on Wednesday
Attempted murder on Friday
Another one on Saturday
A BIG car bomb malfunctions, also on Saturday

By the standards of the last few years, those are an awful lot of incidents in a short period of time. It's not the return of the Troubles by any stretch, but the signs are worrying .

I wouldn't be against putting my money on yet another IRA splinter group trying to start this up all over again.

"horizontal mortar type device"? How would that work exactly?

USSEnterprise wrote:"horizontal mortar type device"? How would that work exactly?

Badly.

Sionnach Glic wrote:I wouldn't be against putting my money on yet another IRA splinter group trying to start this up all over again.

Another one? Great googly moogly, there are more IRA factions than I can count... even when I'm naked.

USSEnterprise wrote:"horizontal mortar type device"? How would that work exactly?

The same as a normal mortar - shove a bomb down the barrel, a charge at the base goes off, the bomb is propelled through the air. The only difference is the direction of travel.

Deepcrush wrote:Badly.

Why? Light mortars can and have been used as direct assault weapons. Moreover, this is unlikely to be some garage lash-up that's more likely to kill it's crew than the target - the Provos had a track record of building very large and very effective mortars.

Captain Seafort wrote:

USSEnterprise wrote:"horizontal mortar type device"? How would that work exactly?

The same as a normal mortar - shove a bomb down the barrel, a charge at the base goes off, the bomb is propelled through the air. The only difference is the direction of travel.

So it's a recoil-less rifle?

Sonic Glitch wrote:So it's a recoil-less rifle?

No, it's a mortar, where did you get the idea it was a recoilless rifle? Recoilless weapons have vents in the back and so can't be used in an enclosed space - mortars can.

Captain Seafort wrote:

Sonic Glitch wrote:So it's a recoil-less rifle?

No, it's a mortar, where did you get the idea it was a recoilless rifle? Recoilless weapons have vents in the back and so can't be used in an enclosed space - mortars can.

I meant the rough equvalent. I assumed for the way it was operated there was little to no recoil and it fires horizontally so I figured it would be held similarly to a rifle. Thanks for clearing that up.

Sonic Glitch wrote:I assumed for the way it was operated there was little to no recoil and it fires horizontally so I figured it would be held similarly to a rifle.

No, it would have recoil - that would either keep the size down to about that of a 2" mortar (about the largest that can be fired from the hip), or would mean that it would have to be well secured. Secondly, recoilless rifles are called that because they have a rifled barrel - they're actually light artillery pieces.

Captain Seafort wrote:. Secondly, recoilless rifles are called that because they have a rifled barrel - they're actually light artillery pieces.

Wow I feel like an idiot. I forgot rifling is the grooving of a gun barrel, not the "type" of gun.