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Hand held claymores and the Davy Crockett ON THE MOON!

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  • Hand held claymores and the Davy Crockett ON THE MOON!

    Here is a previously classified document of such epicness, I had to share.

    Ever wonder what the range of the Davy Crockett nuclear recoilless rifle would be on the moon? How about a hand-held claymore mine on a stick? Did you know you could easily survive standing next to a 2 lb high explosive charge on the moon at a distance of only 6 to 8 feet or so, because the blast does not propagate? And do small arms really work on the moon? How about nukes? The answers are surprising.

    Project Horizon (9.6 MB PDF file) - The year is 1959. A group of scientists and ordnance people were tasked to determine the best way to defend an American lunar outpost from those pesky Soviets... believe it or not. The resulting document is fascinating.

    And the illustrations = right out of flash gordon!

  • #2
    Davy Crockett range...

    BF will be happy to see it.
    No such thing as a good tax - Churchill

    To make mistakes is human. To blame someone else for your mistake, is strategic.

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    • #3
      Would the recoiless rifle projectile be able to reach escape velocity? The chart makes it look like it would eventually come back down to the lunar surface.

      I like the antennae sticking out of the top of the spaceman's helmet!
      "There is never enough time to do or say all the things that we would wish. The thing is to try to do as much as you can in the time that you have. Remember Scrooge, time is short, and suddenly, you're not there any more." -Ghost of Christmas Present, Scrooge

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      • #4
        Would the recoiless rifle projectile be able to reach escape velocity?
        There was a sci-fi short story once along these lines. The USA and the USSR got into a firefight on the moon which only lasted an hour or two, but in reality it ended up lasting for years. Every few hours, the survivors would have to take shelter because a certain number of bullets from the fight had achieved orbit, and a few would impact the station! They'd patch the holes, then go about their business.

        The velocity required to orbit the moon (thanks google) is about 1500 m/s, call it 4600 fps, which is significantly faster than a 5.56 round from an M4. But the bullets would definitely carry, perhaps partway around the moon if fired at an angle. The Davy Crockett wouldn't reach orbit.

        What I found interesting is the notion that small arms might not work on the moon. I had always supposed they'd work fine, but the document says that normal impact primers might not function in a vacuum. You'd also have issues with intense cold and heat, making firearms problematic.

        One of the more eye-opening parts was the conjecture than nukes would have a problem initiating, because the vacuum would cause cracking in the HE implosion charges, and the HE detonators' timing would also be off. You'd getr low or no yield. This could easily be solved by encasing the nuke fully, and charging it with dry nitrogen.

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        • #5
          An Infantry or Armor colonel with a tactical nuclear weapon was a bad idea on Earth.

          Its frickin' nuts on the Moon!!!
          “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
          Mark Twain

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          • #6
            My god... sounds like the plot of a 1950's science fiction B-movie!!

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            • #7
              Now if only the Davy Crockett came loaded on a Lunar Gavin!

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              • #8
                Originally posted by citanon View Post
                Now if only the Davy Crockett came loaded on a Lunar Gavin!
                You're going to give Sparky a hard-on.
                “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

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                • #9
                  You're going to give Sparky a hard-on.
                  this has got to be in the top 10 list somewhere, "things you don't want to imagine."
                  There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

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                  • #10
                    A.R. Reply

                    "An Infantry or Armor colonel with a tactical nuclear weapon was a bad idea on Earth."

                    Too true. Two artillery 2LTs with PAL authorization? Priceless...
                    "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
                    "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by S2 View Post
                      "An Infantry or Armor colonel with a tactical nuclear weapon was a bad idea on Earth."

                      Too true. Two artillery 2LTs with PAL authorization? Priceless...
                      I just wet my pants thinking about that!!!
                      “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
                      Mark Twain

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