Now THAT'S a BIG bullet!

[David2011]

It's a projectile at the USS Texas display at the Lone Star Flight Museum in Houston, near NASA. The bore is 14"45 caliber; the projectile weight is around 1400 pounds and the maximum powder charge was 425 pounds.

287454

There's a good video of the 16" gun propellant from the New Jersey on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2oDJDgEGGU.

[Ithaca Gunner]

I can't afford to reload for that.

[Froogal]

That would definitely have some stopping power.

[thegatman]

Great deer cartridge

[MrWolf]

Pest control

[OS OK]

I remember another item that came off the 'Battleship Texas', or more formally 'USS Texas (BB-35)'...her propeller. It is massive, I was but 8 years old in 1958 when I first walked up on it and touched it. It boggled my small brain!


https://i.imgur.com/etYfBE3.jpg

[fecmech]

I vaguely remember the ballistic coefficient on that round is 5+, not .5 but 5.! Also rounds could be kept inside a football field at 20 miles.

[lightman]

Casting for that would get into your lead stash pretty quick!

[Conditor22]

https://allthatsinteresting.com/schwerer-gustav-railway-gun


"It was more like a small building than a gun. From the ground up it was almost four stories tall, was over 150 feet long including the barrel, and weighed over 1,300 tons – for scale, the Space Shuttle weighs 2,000 tons. This was no tiny tank.

The shells alone, which had been designed with pure destruction in mind, were taller than two men, twice as wide as one, and weighed 20,000 pounds each. It took several men just to load one into the barrel. For the gun to move around, the body was built on two parallel sets of rail wheels, allowing it to travel across special tracks.

Ultimately, the high command ordered two of these weapons, the Schwerer Gustav and a smaller model they called “Dora.”"

[waksupi]

Needs a bigger meplate. Powder coated?

[gwpercle]

I just gotta see the boolit mould !

[2A-Jay]

I would love to add that to my Ammo display. My largest is my 8" 38 dummy projectile, Last used on the USS Chicago CG11.

[Hogtamer]

Copper gas check?

[Bloodman14]

Group buy! I want a 6-cavity![smilie=w:

[JSnover]

Caterpillar makes a dipper for that cartridge 287461

[Omega]

Caterpillar makes a dipper for that cartridge 287461
Now you started a "color" war.
RCBS will license this one.
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.deere.ca%2Fassets%2Fimages%2F common%2Fproducts%2Floaders%2F5r_series_r4g013501_ large.jpg&f=1&nofb=1
Of course Dillon.
http://www.bluediamondattachments.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/TractorBucket1.jpg
Oh, and of course the economical Lee.
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tedsrentit.com%2Fitemimages%2 F6407.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

[Finster101]

My mother used to work at a powder plant in Indiana sewing bags for the powder charge. They were not allowed to bring anything metallic in to the sewing room and it seems I remember citrus fruits were forbidden as well.

[higgins]

How can a flat base bullet be accurate, or maintain any velocity, at 20 miles?

[Shanghai Jack]

On a visit to Iwo Jima many years ago there was a pill box facing the beach that took a direct hit from one of these, ostensibly fired by the New York. There was a crater on the side of the pillbox parallel to the beach that had a depth of an arm's length and extended 6 feet or more from side to side. There was rebar the size of a large man's forearm peeled back like limp spaghetti. It appeared that the entire pillbox had been shoved backwards by the force of the impact. One wonders what it was like inside when an metric boatload of explosives decided to visit.

[Shanghai Jack]

I vaguely remember the ballistic coefficient on that round is 5+, not .5 but 5.! Also rounds could be kept inside a football field at 20 miles.

Here's a link that shows the calculation of BC for a 16 inch round to be 15!!!?

https://www.mathscinotes.com/2013/10/16-in-battleship-gun-ballistic-coefficient/

[myg30]

David thanks fer posting. Very impressive round to say the least.

Mike

[chuck40219]

My pops was the forward driver on this monster and he was there when it fired, no wonder he said I glowed in the dark. He met my mother while at Ft Sill and I spent my early years out in the pastures there. They shot it off in the desert out in Nevada. Mom would not let him come close to me for a while when he got back. The man was eat up with skin cancer but he lived to 91. Hope I can go that long without the cancer.

My only claim to fame and it had nothing to do with me, got to take them as they come.
287466
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_Zozvmxat0

chuck40219

[David2011]

I remember another item that came off the 'Battleship Texas', or more formally 'USS Texas (BB-35)'...her propeller. It is massive, I was but 8 years old in 1958 when I first walked up on it and touched it. It boggled my small brain!

I remember the prop being on the deck when I was young; not sure it was there last time I visited. It did seem enormous.


https://i.imgur.com/etYfBE3.jpg


Copper gas check?

That’s one function of the copper ring. It also engaged the rifling.

[Burnt Fingers]

How can a flat base bullet be accurate, or maintain any velocity, at 20 miles?

EXTREMELY high ballistic coefficient and lots of mass for the velocity. Accuracy comes from knowing the gun and the million-dollar optical sights they used.

[fecmech]

Here's a link that shows the calculation of BC for a 16 inch round to be 15!!!?
So much for my memory!

[gwpercle]

Group buy! I want a 6-cavity![smilie=w:

LIKE !
Aluminum or Brass ? :drinks:
Gary

[Mk42gunner]

When the Gun School was still in the Green House at Great Lakes; the Quarterdeck had a display of Dummy rounds for most Naval Guns from 3"/50 to 16"/50 cal. The only one I can think of that was missing was for the little 5" that was on submarines.

I think it was a rite of passage for young Gunner's Mates to tip the projectiles on their side and then back up on the midwatch. Sometimes this entailed waiting for the next watch to show up and all four young men straining to get the 16" one back up.

The difficulty was compounded by everyone being in Dress uniform.

Robert

[Bloodman14]

LIKE !
Aluminum or Brass ? :drinks:
Gary

I was thinking 'unobtainium'!!:bigsmyl2:

[David2011]

I remember another item that came off the 'Battleship Texas', or more formally 'USS Texas (BB-35)'...her propeller. It is massive, I was but 8 years old in 1958 when I first walked up on it and touched it. It boggled my small brain!


https://i.imgur.com/etYfBE3.jpg


When the Gun School was still in the Green House at Great Lakes; the Quarterdeck had a display of Dummy rounds for most Naval Guns from 3"/50 to 16"/50 cal. The only one I can think of that was missing was for the little 5" that was on submarines.

I think it was a rite of passage for young Gunner's Mates to tip the projectiles on their side and then back up on the midwatch. Sometimes this entailed waiting for the next watch to show up and all four young men straining to get the 16" one back up.

The difficulty was compounded by everyone being in Dress uniform.

Robert

I would like to see four guys that could right a 16” projectile. They weigh anywhere from 1900 to 2700 pounds. Even lifting the pointy end it’s still a bunch of weight. Not saying that they couldn’t; just thinking they had to be big ol’ boys.

[Buck Shot]

I'll see you your 14" and raise you one RAILGUN! :p

100 nm at MACH 7.5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58MmOpSm4LY

They've been testing them here in Virginia, you hear some strange sounds offshore sometimes!

[1hole]

It appeared that the entire pillbox had been shoved backwards by the force of the impact. One wonders what it was like inside when an metric boatload of explosives decided to visit.

One thing for sure, yellow ears would be ringing.

[1hole]

How can a flat base bullet be accurate, or maintain any velocity, at 20 miles?

It helped a lot that most of the trajectory occurred high in "outer space".

[2A-Jay]

8inch-38

[Mk42gunner]

I would like to see four guys that could right a 16” projectile. They weigh anywhere from 1900 to 2700 pounds. Even lifting the pointy end it’s still a bunch of weight. Not saying that they couldn’t; just thinking they had to be big ol’ boys.

Not really, we were all pretty much average to slightly above average. I think I was on the larger side of most every time I was involved, and at the time I was slightly over six feet and about 190-200 pounds.

What we were was fit, most of us had graduated Boot Camp a few months prior. Also don't underestimate the Adrenaline, as in "If we don't get this up, we're all in trouble." The stupidity of late teen early twenties American Males also can't be forgotten.

I met very few GM's in the fleet that wouldn't eventually admit to joining in the fun.

Picking up the twelve pound bronze naval war trophies was another story. No one I ever heard of was successful in that evolution.

Robert

[varmintpopper]

I remember another item that came off the 'Battleship Texas', or more formally 'USS Texas (BB-35)'...her propeller. It is massive, I was but 8 years old in 1958 when I first walked up on it and touched it. It boggled my small brain!


https://i.imgur.com/etYfBE3.jpg

As I remember, That prop moved the Ship at a rate of 6 inches per gallon of fuel !

[Burnt Fingers]

It helped a lot that most of the trajectory occurred high in "outer space".

Are ya sure about that?????

Range is ~20 miles. Outer space starts at 60 miles high.

[popper]

https://allthatsinteresting.com/landkreuzer-p-1000-ratte
Beat ya.
CG11 had a single 5"/54. And the Al. superstructure with the elevator didn't work well.

[bedbugbilly]

Just remember to keep that puppy between the minimum and maximum loads - I checked my loading manual but the page for that one seems to be missing? :-)

I used to shoot with a group and we had a 10 pound Parrott Rifle (3" Civil War cannon). We did live fire with it and we hit a junked out National Guard pickup at a mile and a quarter at an "Artillery Through The Ages" shoot one time - just about maximum range for a 10 pounder rifled tube with a service load of 1 pound BP. That thing makes it look like we were playing with tinker toys!

Thanks for the photo - very interesting!

[rintinglen]

8inch-38

I carry a 38, but it's only a 3 inch.

[Cargo]

My family and I was on her deck Nov 18 2018 for the laying of the wreath. They were handing out poppies and I purchased a piece of steel from the repair work. I'm glad my children were able to experience it.

[David2011]

As I remember, That prop moved the Ship at a rate of 6 inches per gallon of fuel !

That makes the Queen Mary sound downright economical at 9”/gallon.


Just remember to keep that puppy between the minimum and maximum loads - I checked my loading manual but the page for that one seems to be missing? :-)

I used to shoot with a group and we had a 10 pound Parrott Rifle (3" Civil War cannon). We did live fire with it and we hit a junked out National Guard pickup at a mile and a quarter at an "Artillery Through The Ages" shoot one time - just about maximum range for a 10 pounder rifled tube with a service load of 1 pound BP. That thing makes it look like we were playing with tinker toys!

Thanks for the photo - very interesting!

Minimum charge is two bags; max is four bags. A bag was 105 pounds.

Remember, this was 1914 technology.

Be sure to check out the video on the New Jersey’s 16” powder linked in the original post.

[1hole]

Are ya sure about that?????

Range is ~20 miles. Outer space starts at 60 miles high.

I was afraid some new scientist might chose to pursue that. Okay, but notice the quote-unquote marks; they are meant to convey that while it wasn't literally in outer space (as defined by a modern text book) but those shells flew higher than anything had previously flown.

I've read that the WWII navy gunners felt they were indeed firing that shell through outer space. Thus, no matter how high it actually flew, for this discussion I'm satisfied with seeing the trajectory and quoting it the way those young men saw it.