And extraordinarily dangerous to reload 105mm, I should think!
Pretty good sized die...
Yeah.
The primer stick in the canister is roughly six inches long, and the primer button only needs two pounds of pressure to go off.
We were taught that while carrying the round to the howitzer before handing it to the #1 man you make sure you hold onto the canister like it's your life.
The round itself can hit the ground if you trip, it won't blow up.. usually.
The canister though, it hits the gound, anything can set it and the powder bags off.
A pebble, sand, twigs or sticks, your boot.
Catching a face full of fire fountain didn't sound like fun to me, plus the fact that the powder would blow the canister into little shards that would've fraggo'd the rest of my gun crew made me make darn sure I didn't drop the puppy.
Heard tales of people dropping the canister and it going off.
Didn't want to add to the statistic.
I think the linen used in the powder bags is hard to come by as well.