57mm recoilless

[dano1917]

I bought this 57mm recoilless projectile sans fuze from Indiana Surplus for 5.00. Attempts to locate a fuze failed (fuze would appear to me to be a rare bugger. Well after several failed attempts, I am finally at least semi satisfied with the result. It is a cool looking little Vietnam (1973 dated) era projectile and I would like to find an original fuze and also the shell casing (so many holes in casing looks not unlike swiss cheese. Well I took a kitchen funnel that was close in size and started shaping. Lots of filling and sanding and this is the end result. for 5.00 investment I ended up with this projectile that don;t make me want to puke when i look at it. I had to hand fashion a stopper to fill in the hole end of the now defunct kitchen funnel (wife will have my ass if she finds out). I realize it did not turn out all that great, but after the hours I put in it, i'll take it. Quite a bit of history behind the recoilless rifle in itself. Still would like to have an original fuze, but I am very happy with it as a filler piece in the mean time. Anybody still awake after reading this boring tale should brew a pot of coffee about now..Thanks for indulging me...Always...Dano P.S. Thought a picture of "Buster" to be appropiate as he ate my first funnel attempt..

 

[Fragman]

Looks good Dano. I have a few casings but no projectiles (attached is a photo of a couple so people know what you're looking for). To be honest I've not put a lot of effort into looking for the projetiles of fuzes over here. If anything turns up I'll let you know. Cheers

 

[dano1917]

57 flash n find

Thanks Colin, good to hear from you bud. That is one wicked looking casing for the 57mm. The recoil blast was alleviated by venting through the holes, leaving trigger man with a nasty flash that hurt and also aided in giving away the shooters position! Definateely a "gizmo"...Best....Dano

 

[Mongo]

I do WW2 living history, and there're 2 57mm's that our guys own, one is a war time one with all the correct fittings, and the other is a wartime one re-fitted for Korea etc. Very pokie bits of kit, extremely heavy though!!!

 

[ordman]

Hello
I'm looking for 2 57mm recoiless casings to finish of my collection.
I will keep and eye out for fuzes will the solid dummy fuze surfice
I may have one in the ordnance room

 

[kimmer6]

If you can't get it fake it

Yo Dano, that's the best use of a funnel I have seen. Be careful with the home brew or you might get carried away like me.

I am looking for a 57mm body for my holy case and figure I will have to fake a fuze. I am getting pretty good at replacing unobtanium with plastic, metal, epoxy/glass, using molds and a beat up wood lathe. I made very single projectile in these pictures (except one) of epoxy resin. The bits in the first pics are all cast in resin in silicone molds taken from real cartridges and shells. Note the casting flash still on the 30mm Apache gunship cartridge and the corrosion pits on the 40mm AP. The silicone even picks up the lettering in the turning bands and the painted over screw in the Japanese 25mm.

Paint is a pain but lettering is worse!

The 30mm with the silver case has a steel and aluminum projectile that I made. The rest are plastic. The other day I began making an 88mm for my empty case. It needs final sizing and some more lathe work after the epoxy stabilizes in a few weeks. Good enough for me for now... until I get the real ones.

I joined BOCN to get detailed photos to scale up for making my missing bits and discover details from the experts. I am learning techniques that will allow me to have a glass fibre 16"-50 sitting on my kitchen table some day.
No WHYffe, no worries. She put the WHY in whyffe!

Cheers...Kimmer ...32 miles East of San Francisco