Figure 14-19.--Firing position: Hand-held mode.
burst effect, removes the safety wire/pin, and hands it to
the assistant gunner. As the example fire command
stated earlier, the method of fire is ONE ROUND AT
MY COMMAND; the gunner cannot fire until given the
command. When the gun is ready to fire, the gunner
notifies the FDC or squad leader that the gun is UP. The
gunner then kneels in an upright position. The next
command that the gunner receives is HALF LOAD. As
the gunner repeats the command, the assistant gunner
grasps the body of the round with two hands near the
Figure 14-18.---Firing position: Conventional mode.
center of the round. He inserts it, fuze end up, into the
muzzle beyond the narrow part of the body.
with a total of four propellent increments, he must
remove two of these.
CAUTION
After the round is prepared for firing, do NOT try
to change the fuze. The ammo bearer removes the safety
If a crew member is within one meter of the
(cotter) pin and passes it to the assistant gunner who
muzzle during firing, hearing protection must
does the loading.
be used.
LOADING AND FIRING
At the command FIRE, the assistant gunner releases
the round, passes his hands partly down the outside
In the drop-fire method (conventional mode), as
surface of the barrel while pivoting to his left and
soon as the gunner ensures that the mortar is laid
bending toward the ammunition handler.
correctly, he removes the sight unit and sets the selector
When the firing selector is set at the T (trigger)
to the D (drop) position. This is done only for the first
position, the gunner squeezes the trigger after the round
three rounds or until the baseplate is settled, at which
hits bottom on the command to FIRE.
time the sight may stay on the mortar while firing.
The hand-held mode (fig. 14-19) requires no sight
The gunner kneels on the left side of the cannon and
unit. The range indicator assembly is used to estimate
looks into the sight unit. The assistant gunner kneels on
target range. Use of the range indicator is for
the right side in front of the traversing mechanism,
M720/M888 cartridges only. As the gunner kneels
facing rearward. The ammunition handler kneels beside
directly behind the barrel, he places a glove on his left
the assistant gunner slightly to the rear (fig. 14-18).
hand to hold the barrel. Next, he puts his right hand on
The ammunition handler adjusts the propellant
the trigger/handle and points the mortar toward the
charge for the desired range, sets the fuze for the desired
target. At this time, the gunner reads the range indicator.
14-13
