Vickers Bl 8 inch Howitzer cannon of 1917

Edited By mal webber on 27/05/2022 23:11:36

Edited By mal webber on 27/05/2022 23:13:56

pic is from previous page.

Not directly related but the pictures of obturators reminded me of this accident report:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/727954/20180823-Challenger_SI_Castlemartin_Redacted_RT.pdf

In short a sad story of firing the main gun without the obturator fitted excerbated by poor storage discipline.
Apart from the safety lessons there are interesting details of a modern breech system.

Robert G8RPI

Horrifying.

Hi all, managed to broach out the shape for the plug the last couple of nights, next will be the threads and to see if the breech and plug will fit together, a couple of pics on the plug before I start with the threads.

Thanks, Mal.

Hello all, managed to thread the breech plug last couple nights which all wen't well up up to the point of trying the breech ring on, the breech ring didn't want to go on first couple of attempts so bit of shaping here and there with some needle files and it screwed into place,the plug and breech are in scale with the Howitzer except the o/d of the breech ring which is about 25mm smaller,next is to get the plug to swing into the breech all good practice before I make a steel one which will take a lot longer, couple pics on how it turned out.

Thanks Mal

That's some work, Mal - think your post must have slipped by people in all the festivity..

..fascinating watching this take shape..

Even though I may not post replies but I for one have been following the progress on this build and am amazed at the craftmanship involved. I can only imagine how how the threading was done on this and the time involved in producing it.

Many thanks for the updates as the work progresses

I agree, some amazing work on the project.