Italian mortar shells close the Woden cop shop

dungfungus said :

They are not mortar shells – no visible sign of a percussion cartridge where the fins are.
I believe they are hand grenades that are thrown so they spin (like a grid iron football) which gives them superior accuracy and distance.
No doubt an ordanace expert will prove me wrong.

I was wrong. Wikepedia says:
The Brixia light mortar is a 45 mm calibre light mortar mounted on a legged base and designed for operation by two crew. The rear legs are fitted with a pad for the gunner to lay forward on behind the mortar, or sit upon when the situation allowed. A lever allowed for operating the breech and firing the weapon, while ammunition was fed in by the loader. Well trained teams could reach up to 18 rounds per minute, although operational rate of fire was less intense to avoid damage to the firing tube. One interesting feature which set the Brixia mortar apart from comparable WW2 weapons was that it was trigger fired with the help of separate ignition cartridges to be fed into a special magazine, making the weapon more similar to modern cannon-mortars that conventional parabolic grenade launchers of the time.

The Brixia was a complicated weapon and it was costly and lengthy to produce, but, in the hand of skilled operators was superior to other WW2 mortars and could lay down very precise and intense curtains of fire. One lacking feature, however was in the shells, which fragmented poorly and, due to the limited calibre had a very light and low-yield warhead. The weapon, however served on every front where Italian troops were involved (North Africa, Balkans, East Africa, Southern Russia) and was also employed during defence of the homeland against invading allied troops and during clashes between RSI formations and Italian partisans, on both sides, due to many Italian partisans having a former military background it was one of the few support weapons which could be found in the hands of the local Resistance.
Good pics on Google Images for The Brixia light mortar is a 45 mm calibre light mortar mounted on a legged base and designed for operation by two crew. The rear legs are fitted with a pad for the gunner to lay forward on behind the mortar, or sit upon when the situation allowed. A lever allowed for operating the breech and firing the weapon, while ammunition was fed in by the loader. Well trained teams could reach up to 18 rounds per minute, although operational rate of fire was less intense to avoid damage to the firing tube. One interesting feature which set the Brixia mortar apart from comparable WW2 weapons was that it was trigger fired with the help of separate ignition cartridges to be fed into a special magazine, making the weapon more similar to modern cannon-mortars that conventional parabolic grenade launchers of the time.

The Brixia was a complicated weapon and it was costly and lengthy to produce, but, in the hand of skilled operators was superior to other WW2 mortars and could lay down very precise and intense curtains of fire. One lacking feature, however was in the shells, which fragmented poorly and, due to the limited calibre had a very light and low-yield warhead. The weapon, however served on every front where Italian troops were involved (North Africa, Balkans, East Africa, Southern Russia) and was also employed during defence of the homeland against invading allied troops and during clashes between RSI formations and Italian partisans, on both sides, due to many Italian partisans having a former military background it was one of the few support weapons which could be found in the hands of the local Resistance.

Google Images have good pics of the M39 Brixia (Breda) mortar.

If Italian Mortars are anything like Italian cars, then the risk of them working properly is minimal. More chance of the car blowing up.

They are not mortar shells – no visible sign of a percussion cartridge where the fins are.
I believe they are hand grenades that are thrown so they spin (like a grid iron football) which gives them superior accuracy and distance.
No doubt an ordanace expert will prove me wrong.

c_c™ said :

What an absolute idiot. Who in their right mind would carry these around? Guy is lucky he didn’t blow himself up much less the cops on the front desk.

In fairness, he’s lived with these for all his life (70 years ago)

“Only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity. And I’m not so sure about the unverse.”
Albert Einstein

What an absolute idiot. Who in their right mind would carry these around? Guy is lucky he didn’t blow himself up much less the cops on the front desk.