Civil War Mortar Shell Explosion

Gettysburg 145th anniversary reenactment Mortar Demonstration Explosion. I think they planted explosives in the ground but i managed to get it right when it happened.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Civil
• war
• reenactment
• 145th
• Mortar
• explosions

[BLUEBOYNJ]

thats the battlefield no rounds i thought?

[NoahWasaSailor]

it was not the original field but it was in Gettysburg near the field. It was blank round. they had explosives in the ground

[jlasud]

OMG! was that a charged one or previusly put explosive in the ground and set of in the moment of impact?

[NoahWasaSailor]

it was explosives in the ground. When i first filmed this i thought it was charged but they are not allowed to have em charged

[SLICSfootbaby]

@NoahWasaSailor You were there, did you not see the shells flying out of the mortars? (you can see them in the video) did you not see the streak hit the ground right before the explosion? (also in the video)

[NoahWasaSailor]

@SLICSfootbaby They basically just fired a ball. it wasn't charged. There were people all around there down the hill. it would be incredibly dangerous to fire a live round. if you follow the shell as it comes close to the ground, you can see that its a bit to the left

[topjimmy72]

it would be great if they could use these fake ground explosions during civil war reenactments to simulate cannon fire explosions. Imagine a few of these babies going off during Pickett's Charge? You'd just need to tell people not to be near themwhile they're going off so no one gets hurt. But that would add so much more realism to these reneactment battles.

[PsychoScientist007]

thnx for ur reply 63gstone, 

[63gstone]

@PsychoScientist007 Hi. An exploding cannon ball is hollow and they were made with a small opening where the powder was put in. Then the hole was "stuffed" with a slow burning fuse. When the powder in the cannon was set off the fire and heat lit the fuse and started it burning @ the same time the cannon ball was sent down the barrel. Sometimes the ball exploded before or after it hit the target. It's interesting that when the exploding ball was 1st invented some said it was "ungentelmanly".

[PsychoScientist007]

How is it that a solid iron ball explodes? You would need a hollowed ball filled with medium or high explosive most probably a primary "impact sensitive", wouldn't you? And if you have a cannonball that's hollow, how do you fill it without an opening? And if you make an opening, how do you seal it? Finally, how do you keep it from exploding when fired from the cannon?

[FranciscoSRO2]

that fake is awesome. it really looks like the shell's explosion.

Its explosives under the floor

[stewie13]

@pinz2022 the rifled gun's had impact fuze's the smoothbore's used what's called a boreman fuze it ignited when the gun was fired.

[SLICSfootbaby]

@NoahWasaSailor Nevermind... I do not apologize

[SLICSfootbaby]

@NoahWasaSailor Nevermind, I apologize