Backyard artillery project nears an end.
Looking for trigger assembly for our "M65" [nuclear] cannon...anyone got a
spare? Could use diagram and make our own I guess, but would rather use
NOS. Hey, I learned early on in my military career, it's "safety first"
when it comes to weapons that fire nuclear warheads.
Since this cannon is mostly just for display and occassional plinking, we
decided not to use the 15-kiloton (97 lbs) rounds as is standard (far too
heavy to reload). We are reloading just the 10 kiloton rounds (68 lbs)
cheaper and yet still fires about 15 miles...more bang for the buck, you
might say. (Suggest using Omark's newer "280 mm" carbide dies, if you're
into reloading your own M65 cannon shells) Before I forget, special thanks
to Omar F. in Iran (mvpa member) for the surplus U-235. Hey, our mail box
glowed for 20 days...still laughing about that one!
Only problem with the M65 nuclear cannon, is towing. At 47 tons this cannon
doesn't tow very well. Especially at highway speeds (using my M151 Mutt).
It starts a pretty bad side to side wobble at about 8 mph and then gets
remarkably worse with speed, until I am doing involuntary lane changes, any
thoughts why? Time for an alignment?
Stopping from a speed of 35 mph requires about 10 minutes notice, but a
slight downhill and forget it, you're pretty much going where the M65 wants,
which reminds me of this funny story that began when we crested the 7000 ft.
elevation mark at Donnor Pass. We're on our way home with the cannon from
the GL property site, but I digress, I should save that story for another
time. Besides, you probably already saw the headlines, "UFO decends on Hwy
50" or "Green UFO Whizzes Through Ag Inspection Checkpoint" and my favorite
"UFO, Looked Like Cannon Towing a Jeep?" (Yep, that was us.)
I think the stopping problem is centered around the M151's notoriously weak
brake shoes, right? Any thoughts?
OK...in case you haven't guessed, I'm just kidding...it's a slow news day
here. lol C'mon, put down that phone to Homeland Security... hey, this is
weird, there is this black helicopter hovering abo