Does This Qualify as a Cast Boolit

[Menner]

was thinking about this the other night I have just recently got into casting ( to save Money ) about a year ago but I think I was shooting Cast Boolits back in the 80's and I didn't even realize it. I was in the Navy and was a Fire Controlman for the Main Battery aboard the USS IOWA 16" 50 Guns. the little I could find on the production of the projectiles says that they are a cast iron shell and were milled ( Sized ) to specks and assembled.

There were 2 sizes of projectiles one is 1800 lbs this is the High Explosive and the other is 2700 lbs and this was the Armor Piercing both were on top pf 660 lbs smokeless powder velocities are 2400 fps and 2100 fps as I remember been a long time since I have looked at the powder charts
here are some pics The second one is the projectile and the charge as it would be in the barrel
the last 2 are of a Barrel headed to a display at our local state park Fort Miles in lewes De how does the bore look any guess as what the twist rate is ?9094890947909499095090951

[TheCelt]

Looks like maybe 1 in 20' or there about. Impressive gun, must have been a hoot to shoot!!!

[Dusty Bannister]

Don't those shells wear a brass tutu to engage the rifling and seal the bore? I think you might have to stretch it quite a lot to get past the silver stream, hand poured, and all that though.

[357maximum]

Hey 44Man is that bullet big nough fer deer?

[popper]

Talk about micro groove.

[Crawdaddy]

They are certainly cast but cast iron. Your hands would get a little warm pouring that into a mold.

Great pictures and story. My dad served on a battleship in WWII. He would tell some really neat stories about the big guns. These things were extremely accurate out to astronomical ranges. Seems like he mentioned 20 miles.

Thanks for sharing.

[Menner]

Yeah it was a lot of fun to shoot really fun when you got to pull the triggers on a broadside 9 guns all at once and yes I believe it was a brass ring at the base.

[Menner]

As modernized in the 1980s, each turret carried a DR-810 radar that measured the muzzle velocity of each gun, which made it easier to predict the velocity of succeeding shots. Together with the Mark 160 FCS and better propellant consistency, these improvements made these weapons into the most accurate battleship-caliber guns ever made. For example, during test shoots off Crete in 1987, fifteen shells were fired from 34,000 yards (31,900 m), five from the right gun of each turret. The pattern size was 220 yards (200 m), 0.64% of the total range. 14 out of the 15 landed within 250 yards (230 m) of the center of the pattern and 8 were within 150 yards (140 m). Shell-to-shell dispersion was 123 yards (112 m), 0.36% of total range.
What is MOA at 34,000 yards

[Crawdaddy]

One of the things dad mentioned was when they fired all the guns at once the ship would actually be pushed sideways in the water a considerable distance. Wouldnt want to be next to the rail when they went off.

I cannot imagine what the muzzle blast would have felt like when being on deck. Fatal?

[Menner]

Here is a link that gives a lot of the tech data on the 16" 50 if anyone is interested


http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_16-50_mk7.htm

[Artful]

1 MOA is 1.044 inches per 100 yards so at 34,000 yards, 1 MOA is 340 x 1.044 or 355 inches (9.86 yards), so we are talking about a 22 MOA 15-shot group.

I understand a subcaliber saboted round was also under development at one time. It utilized a spin stabilized 13" projectile weighing 1000 pounds at a design velocity of 3600 f/s and a range of 70,000 + yards.

[Menner]

Yeah that was a common story but as much as I would like that to be true the facts are the facts
She weighs in at 60,000 Tons
Has a 38 ft draft
in a full broadside 15 guns 9 16" and 6 5" guns you are only pushing about 30,000 pounds of projectiles out of the tubes the illusion is the water getting sucked away from the side of the ship when the guns went off OH don't get me wrong She would shake and rattle when those guns went off and we break S@#% lights falling out of the overhead plumming pipes breaking Electrians and HT's hated when fired broadsides BUT MAN ARE THEY COOL

[btroj]

But with that micro groove it will never shoot cast worth a darn.........

[Menner]

Yeah they were working on an 11" saboted round in the 60's the one we were involved with was a 13" they predicted that it would stretch the range out to 50 mi plus but as far as I know they were never brought into service They also had a NUKE round that was actually built and ready for service at one time would not want to be shooting that one

[Menner]

Main deck is cleared during weapons ops but we were doing a Demo shoot for the local dignitaries and I had about 15 or so around Spot 3 on the 05 level which is just above Turret 2 I was on the sound power phones leaning against the Barbett when they fired the left gun they started moving back by the time we fired the right gun they were all behind me it was funny (and VERY IMPRESSIVE)

[Menner]

Micro groves aside I'd like to give it a run can't imagine what a 16" bore 6' Tall Boolit would weigh

[Mk42gunner]

One cold night at Great Mistakes, the midwatch on the Gun School quarterdeck managed to get one of the 16" BL&P display rounds tipped over. It was all we wanted to do to get it standing back upright once we got there for the 04-08 watch, the two guys on the mid had just about killed themselves trying to get it back up by themselves.

It would be interesting to know just how many times those rounds were laid on their sides over the years at the Green House. Almost every GM I talked to had either been involved, or knew someone that had done it.

As I remember the common twist rate of Naval guns is one turn in fifty calibers. I could be wrong on that, it has been a lot of years since I went through A school.

Robert

[mrbill2]

Man just think about the size of the gas checks.:kidding:

[DRNurse1]

Hey 44Man is that bullet big nough fer deer?

I think you could use it on a whole forest and wind up with ready made sausage, vegetables included.

[HiVelocity]

NOW THATS THE WAY TO SHOOT CAST BULLETS!

Thank you for your service,

HV

[Menner]

I never went to the gunnery school at great mistakes just Bootcamp I was an airdale AQ Aviation Fire controlman transfered to the surface as a FTG Fire controlman Guns. I have only seen one 16" round over on its side and it was laying on a GM2 during an underway ammo onload we had to basket stretcher him up five decks up the ammo hatches with the hoist carried him into the Wardroom to await Medevac chopper it landed on his leg and just crushed it ran into him back in Norfolk couple months later he was walking with a cane but walking lost track of him after that but imagine the leg was never the same and the Navy retired him I am sure

[dbosman]

I looks big enough to stuff a white tail into it.


Hey 44Man is that bullet big nough fer deer?

[Menner]

We had Guys that would insert themselves in the muzzle to the waist and re enlist hanging out of the 16" gun