[SLB]

The injured victim in the last pic is not from this incident. This has been posted elsewhere for years.

Correct you are. If I am not mistaken this is the second post to FR. The first time this circulated was several years ago. No matter, the guy was fortunate.

I was involved in an incident of a 175mm round prematurely detonating in the tube of a gun (not a howitzer) in Vietnam. The crew survived, but with ear problems and minor cuts from shrapnel. The lot of fuses that had been put in the round had a manufacturing defect. I wish I had some pictures, it looked similar to this, just with a barrel that was 31 feet long. (I was a mechanic and had a new tube installed and the gun was firing again within 48 hours. Support maintenance flew out to inspect the cradle and recoil system, but there was nothing wrong with it)

[The KG9 Kid]

Good gravy. I can't believe those soldiers weren't blown into cat food. I've seen 155mm downrange impacts from many miles away and they're practically nuclear.

I bet their kids were born dizzy.

[The KG9 Kid]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the man actually holding the boresight device fragment in his hand in the first picture was the actual shooter.

[NVDave]

Holy crap....

Did the fuse detonate as a result of the acceleration shock, ie, was the round on its way out of the tube when it went off?

Was this a M107 SPG?

[Still Thinking]

I was involved in an incident of a 175mm round prematurely detonating in the tube of a gun (not a howitzer) in Vietnam. The crew survived, but with ear problems and minor cuts from shrapnel. The lot of fuses that had been put in the round had a manufacturing defect. I wish I had some pictures, it looked similar to this, just with a barrel that was 31 feet long. (I was a mechanic and had a new tube installed and the gun was firing again within 48 hours. Support maintenance flew out to inspect the cradle and recoil system, but there was nothing wrong with it)

That must have been something to see. At least once they had a shower and changed pants.

[Still Thinking]

Proximity fuze? Those things have like 10 different safeties. Geez, you wouldn’t think even with a manufacturing defect that could happen.

[Squantos]

Crazy stuff huh.......:o)