One of those just curious moments.... What kind of accuracy should one expect from a mortar? Say 60mm-81mm at roughly mid maximum range.
It primarily depends upon the skill of the crew and secondarily on the design of the weapon system itself. The US 60mm Mortar M2 used a baseplate and bipod so it was a very stable platform, had reliable, consistent quality ammunition and good sights. A decent crew could drop 90% of its rounds within a 10 foot radius of the target, well within the 15 yard burst radius. An expert mortarman with LOS to target could probably get 4 out of 5 rounds in a 55 gallon oil drum at 1000-1500 yards after a couple of ranging rounds. The 81 was a similar system with longer range and more powerful rounds. Accuracy would be similar.
My thanks, Gentlemen. I was curious about unguided rounds. What type of sight is typically used with these?
AFAIK, only 120mm rounds are GPS guided, there has been talk of scaling this down to 81mm and 60mm, but as near as I can tell, this has only just been talk.
I have read the USMC is in the process of acquiring a guided round for 81 mm rounds but I don't know how far they have gone with this.
Yes, there is a wide spectrum of abilities, at the expert end is this guy: at the lower Darwin Award end is this guy:
