M6 mortar

The M6 Mortar is a 60 mm lightweight infantry mortar made by Hirtenberger AG of Austria.

Models

The mortar is of traditional design with a smoothbore barrel, round baseplate (350 mm diameter), bipod and sight unit and is generally available in three different ballistical barrel lengths, which is usually stated in the model's name:

Maximum rate of fire with all models is 30 bombs per minute, when loaded by two people alternately, or 12 bombs per minute, when loaded by only one person. Naturally, the maximum ranges differ depending on the ballistic barrel length and the maximal allowed charges.

For all three ballistic barrel lengths a conversion kit is available to fire the mortar in a handheld mode (without bipod and sight) as a commando mortar. The conversion kit contains a small round basepiece, an alternate, slightly bigger rectangular basepiece for soft ground, a carrying belt, an aiming device to set the firing range and a handgrip with a trigger, which has a safety device, so that the commando mortar may be carried with a bomb inside the barrel. Commando versions are called M6C and are portable by one person. With these versions, the operation is restricted to a maximum operating gas pressure of 300 bar. This limits the mortars to using charge 3 as a maximum; however, it is recommended not to go above charge 2 due to precision (therefore the aiming device is for charge 0, charge 1 and charge 2 only).