Scratch made 37mm at WWII Reenactment

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Andy Cole
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Scratch made 37mm at WWII Reenactment

Post by Andy Cole » Wed Jan 25, 2023 7:45 am

This past weekend we attended and participated in a WWII reenactment in Enfield NC. It was called "Watch along the Rhein". This was the first event I have been able to take the 37mm Anti Tank gun that I made. I made the first cut in April 2014 with the armor. This has been a LOOOOONG time coming.
My son Michael (the loader) and two other young men who are his friends helped man the anti tank gun.
We get pretty busy during the day, so I didn't get tons of photos or videos, but I strung together what I had.
Like most things, it's hard to get the big picture from one point of view. There were close to 250 participants in this event, although you only see our "Little" view of the big picture.

It is firing blank 12 gauge shotgun shells using the custom made sub-caliber insert that I made.
It is firing 12 gauge hulls filled with FFFG Black powder from primer to crimp. It makes a decent report. You can hear it pretty well in the short clip of our "Shoot and scoot".

The gun ran really well, with a few minor bugs. My biggest issue was the cocking lever not wanting to return when the breech block was raised. I'll fix that. This was it's first real test. Overall I am really proud of it.
Two of the boys had not seen the gun complete before Saturday. Over the spring and summer, we are going to train until we can unhook and put the gun in firing position in a minute or so. Same for putting it back into travel lock and hooking to the jeep.

The gun turned a lot of heads! It was huge hit among the participants, as is was the first US artillery to be brought to this little event. Tons of photos taken of it, and with it.

Most did not know it wasn't original. There was one man there who had been in a Tank Destroyer Battalion over 40 years ago. Their unit had one 37mm remnant gun that he said he trained on a little. He was super excited to see it. He thought it was original. That made my day!

I don't know what the best part was......shooting the thing, or seeing people's faces when they learned that I machined it from scratch.

The jeep is a 1943 Willys MB

What other teenage boys (in 2023) get to experience such things?

When you have 4-5 minutes....enjoy the video.

Andy
https://youtu.be/v3XpCX5mNs8
1943 Willys MB285433 D.O.D. 12-3-1943
1951 M100 trailer D.O.D. 3/51
1951 M37 Truck D.O.D. 5-28-1951
M3 37MM ATG
M3A4 Hand Cart
Wife D.O.Delivery 7-21-1979
Boy D.O.Delivery. 2-15-2007
Girl D.O.Delivery. 4-9-2009
Girl D.O.Delivery. 10-23-2012


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W. Winget
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Re: Scratch made 37mm at WWII Reenactment

Post by W. Winget » Wed Jan 25, 2023 4:05 pm

Excellent Andy looks like they had a great time too.
V/R W Winget
Looking for 1918 Standard B 'Liberty' truck parts

mvdude1
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Re: Scratch made 37mm at WWII Reenactment

Post by mvdude1 » Fri Jan 27, 2023 8:24 am

Hi Andy,

I watched your video. Amazing! Beautiful job on the cannon. I just spoke with Jon S about it yesterday. I am sending you a PM. Thanks for the great video. Bob MVPA # 3986 (40 year member LOL)
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Re: Scratch made 37mm at WWII Reenactment

Post by 70th Division » Fri Jan 27, 2023 9:08 am

Andy Cole wrote:
Wed Jan 25, 2023 7:45 am
This past weekend we attended and participated in a WWII reenactment in Enfield NC. It was called "Watch along the Rhein". This was the first event I have been able to take the 37mm Anti Tank gun that I made. I made the first cut in April 2014 with the armor. This has been a LOOOOONG time coming.
My son Michael (the loader) and two other young men who are his friends helped man the anti tank gun.
We get pretty busy during the day, so I didn't get tons of photos or videos, but I strung together what I had.
Like most things, it's hard to get the big picture from one point of view. There were close to 250 participants in this event, although you only see our "Little" view of the big picture.

It is firing blank 12 gauge shotgun shells using the custom made sub-caliber insert that I made.
It is firing 12 gauge hulls filled with FFFG Black powder from primer to crimp. It makes a decent report. You can hear it pretty well in the short clip of our "Shoot and scoot".

The gun ran really well, with a few minor bugs. My biggest issue was the cocking lever not wanting to return when the breech block was raised. I'll fix that. This was it's first real test. Overall I am really proud of it.
Two of the boys had not seen the gun complete before Saturday. Over the spring and summer, we are going to train until we can unhook and put the gun in firing position in a minute or so. Same for putting it back into travel lock and hooking to the jeep.

The gun turned a lot of heads! It was huge hit among the participants, as is was the first US artillery to be brought to this little event. Tons of photos taken of it, and with it.

Most did not know it wasn't original. There was one man there who had been in a Tank Destroyer Battalion over 40 years ago. Their unit had one 37mm remnant gun that he said he trained on a little. He was super excited to see it. He thought it was original. That made my day!

I don't know what the best part was......shooting the thing, or seeing people's faces when they learned that I machined it from scratch.

The jeep is a 1943 Willys MB

What other teenage boys (in 2023) get to experience such things?

When you have 4-5 minutes....enjoy the video.

Andy
https://youtu.be/v3XpCX5mNs8

Hello,

WoW !!

Looks like a great time !

Outstanding work, so very well done !


Best Regards,
Ray


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