Another one of the things I missed last year was the live mortar fire demonstrations. These folks were very, VERY good! The K-3 and Bigma rose to the occasion in capturing the shells in flight. They are MUCH easier than birds!

A couple with just muzzle flash

This one's a siege mortar. It fires a 45-pound ball!!


Field mortars








You'll have to look through the smoke to spot the ball in this one.




Look in the trees for it in this one.






There were two target areas. The first one was 100 yards out and the second at 250 yards. That stack of hay bales is about 300 yards and was used as a "grand finale" target for the demonstration.

Before - Notice the hat on the pin? One of the park rangers dared the gunners to hit it.


After -- Yeah... the hat was still there... INTACT!