Wanted: 3" Mortar Parts

[Phillip]

Thanks David,

I purchased Volume 1 of your book "Tommy" from you in about 2002 . Great shot of the Carrying harness, can't say I've seen anything like it before.

I did see the firing pins on your website but until I find the ball end, I'm not sure if I need one. Still tempting, but I'm not sure which version we used.

I have no idea what this was used for but I picked up this piece of webbing up a few years ago, marked F^L but no date. It has a small pad to protect the wearers back as well as what feels like a hard board sewn into the lower area below this.

[horsa]

I'm not familiar with that padded harness. Might be postwar based on the color as well.

Firing pins and firing studs will probably be in stock for awhile since not all that many people need them. For live firing, I use the firing pin style since I hand load cartridges. But wartime most of the launching cartridges had their own built in firing mechanism so the mortars tended to have firing studs. This helped to ensure a firing pin wouldn't fail when needed in action. But both are technically correct for WWII.

On the books, we did a revised and expanded printing of each title. Equipment in 2010 and then Weapons in 2011 and Uniforms in 2012. Each has roughly another hundred pages except for the weapons book which went to 784 pages now.

[kevin powles]

Guys, I don't suppose you have any original 3" mortar carry tube sets available, I have about 12 but need about 10 more for the carrier.

Kevin.

[Phillip]

Hi Kevin,

I have four and need another four for my carrier. They do turn up infrequently, I did find one set in Melbourne last week but the guy did not want to post, I tried begging so he then quoted AUD250 to post across country.

[horsa]

When I still had my T-16 setup as a 4.2-inch mortar carrier, I had to build my own cardboard bomb carriers. Had a bunch of 3-inch pattern but never seen one of the larger pattern 4.2-inch available for sale. There are places you can order rolled cardboard tube custom sized including the wall thickness. Varnish the outside like the early war pattern and they will be water/humidity resistant while on your carrier. Probably work out a lot cheaper as well now that originals have gone up in price so much. Used to be we couldn't sell them for $50 a set but those days are long gone I'm afraid.