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The Bangalore Torpedo is a deceptively simple weapon.
I can’t imagine having to use one for real.
What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done? For most of us, that might be a daunting project at work, a particularly onerous scholastic pursuit, or perhaps some self-inflicted physical challenge. Young soldiers in combat, however, take that to a whole new level. There is little in the vast pantheon of human experience more grueling than breaching an enemy’s prepared defenses.
That we as a species invest so much time, effort, and treasure in ripping the very life out of our fellows is honestly pretty darn weird. However, that is indeed our sordid lot. It has forever been thus.
Having spent eight years in uniform myself, I can tell you that some military jobs are tougher than others. Flying helicopters in the Army meant living in a tent and going long periods without a shower. However, that was nothing compared to the year I spent with a light infantry brigade. Grunt life is everything it is rumored to be.
Those guys were not necessarily the sharpest knives in the rack, but they sure had heart. There is a bond among infantrymen that the rest of the world simply cannot understand. That’s because these hard, fit, young troops are called upon to do some very, very difficult things.
What follows is more accurately the responsibility of the combat engineers than the infantry, but the concept is common between the two professions. Even this deep into the Information Age, sometimes the only way to accomplish the mission is to have some brave young stud creep up into the machine gun fire and just do the deed. The fortitude it takes to do that simple thing under fire is simply breathtaking. Now, hold that thought …
The original Bangalore Torpedo predates World War I.
Etymology
Bangalore is the capital and largest city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. Despite sporting a population of 11 million (about twice the population of Arizona) people and being the 27th-largest city in the world, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who has been there. This sprawling metropolis lends its name to one of the simplest yet most audacious weapons mankind has ever devised.
In 1912, a British Army officer named R.L. McClintock was a member of the Royal Engineers attached to a Madras Sappers and Miners unit of the Indian Army posted in, you guessed it, Bangalore, India. A sapper is a specially trained combat soldier whose job is to breach fortifications, build bridges, emplace and clear minefields, and blow stuff up. Sappers are also trained to fight as provisional infantry. In my experience, they are all just a little bit crazy.
Capt. McClintock was faced with the unenviable task of clearing mines and booby traps left over from the Second Boer War as well as the Russo-Japanese conflict. Modern war will hopelessly contaminate a space. What might have begun as a pastoral countryside ends up a deadly hellscape of lethal contrivances that far outlast the original scrap.
There are large swaths of Europe that remain uninhabitable even today because of residual detritus from World War I. In Capt. McClintock’s case, he grew weary of having to get so close to these derelict explosive devices. He needed a way to render them safe from a position of relative comfort. His answer was an exceptionally simple yet timeless weapon.
The Tool
Capt. McClintock’s contrivance has come to be known as a Bangalore Torpedo. You may also hear it referred to as a Banger, a Bangalore or a pole charge. In its most basic form, the Bangalore Torpedo is simply a steel or aluminum pole packed with explosive and threaded on the ends. A blunt cap can be affixed to the far end to make the rig easier to shove across dirt and obstacles. By threading various sections together, the Bangalore can be made as long or short as desired.
The theory is that sappers can creep up to a combat obstacle, most commonly concertina wire or something similar, slide the Bangalore underneath the tangle, and prime it with a standard military blasting cap. Touching this puppy off, then blows a 3 to 4-meter-wide path through the wire to make way for assault troops. Check out the Steven Spielberg classic “Saving Private Ryan” for a visual example.
The problem is that all such obstacles are covered by fire. Think mortars, artillery or machine guns. Getting close enough to shove a big honking pipe into the wire while somebody is shooting at you is easier said than done.
The Bangalore Torpedo remains a viable weapon even today.Modern Treatment
WWII-vintage Bangalore sections were five feet long and weighed 13 pounds apiece. Each section contained nine pounds of 80-20 amatol explosive with a TNT booster. These evolved versions were held together via spring clips rather than threads.
Today, the U.S. Army still maintains the M1A2 and M1A3 Bangalore Torpedoes in inventory. The Brits call theirs the L26A1 Advanced Performance Bangalore Torpedo. Rocket-propelled versions make things a bit safer, I suppose, but not by any great margin. At the end of the day, even in modern war, some poor, unfortunate slob still has to creep up to the front and just get the job done. I find such bravery simply breathtaking.
Now really, outside of Military & Police Snipers. Who in their somewhat normal mind. (Yeah I know that I am talking to gun nuts like you & me) With all due respect folks, what possible use is this!?!Grumpy
BY JOHN TAFFIN
Two of the finest .44 Specials ever produced, the Smith & Wesson
Triple-Lock and the Freedom Arms Model 97.
At the dawn of the 20th century America Smith & Wesson introduced the New Century revolver. This beautiful sixgun had other names such as the Model of 1908, the .44 Hand Ejector 1st Model but it is more widely known to both collectors and shooters as the Triple-Lock.
Both Colt and Smith & Wesson had produced double-action sixguns in the 1870s and 1880s, however in the 1890s they started looking forward at what would become the first modern double-action revolvers. For Colt their premier design was the New Service while Smith & Wesson came up with the smaller-frame Military & Police. Both of these revolvers featured swingout cylinders and simultaneous ejection. The S&W Police was first chambered in the .38 Special in 1899 or 1901, according to which expert you choose to believe, and in 1907 they expanded the medium-frame Military & Police to a large frame .44.
Top to bottom: Smith & Wesson’s 1st, 2nd and 3rd Model Hand Ejector .44 Specials.
Smith & Wesson
The Triple-Lock featured an enclosed ejector rod and the cylinder locked in three places — at the rear, at the front of the ejector rod and with a beautifully machined third locking feature at the front of the cylinder on the frame. Even today this Smith & Wesson is still regarded by many as the finest revolver ever produced. Smith & Wesson already had the superbly accurate .44 Russian and could have easily chambered the new sixgun for this cartridge. However, they chose to lengthen the .44 Russian’s 0.97″ length to 1.16″ and the result was a new cartridge, the .44 Special.
They did not know it at the time but Smith & Wesson was on the brink of perfection. They now had a beautifully crafted sixgun and a new cartridge that could easily be safety loaded to eclipse the .45 Colt. But, as so often happens, instead of making a real change in sixgunning the .44 Special was loaded to the exact same specifications as the .44 Russian using the same round-nosed bullet. Instead of a 250-grain bullet that could easily have been loaded to 900—1,000 fps, the .44 Special stayed at the same 750 fps as the .44 Russian. It was an accurate and easy-shooting load but could have been so much more.
The .44 Special may have started as a sedate sixgun cartridge, but did not stay this way very long. What S&W and ammunition factories did not do, handloaders did. Starting in the 1920s men like Elmer Keith, Gordon Boser, Ray Thompson, John Lachuk and others who were members of the .44 Associates experimented and traded information on the .44 Special. Foremost of these was Elmer Keith who spent 30 years selling the attributes of the heavy-loaded .44 Special.
Using balloon head brass, which had a larger capacity than current solid head brass, Keith started first with #80 powder and then when it arrived, #2400 powder loaded under his #429421, a 250-grain semi-wadcutter bullet. Keith claimed 1,100 fps with #80 and 1,200 fps with the new #2400 powder. I have duplicated his loads using the original style brass, both powders and his bullet and found him to be correct.
The Smith & Wesson Triple-Lock was only produced until 1915, and then to save $2 per gun, they dropped the third locking feature and the enclosed ejector rod and the result was the 2nd Model Hand Ejector. Dedicated sixgunners asked over and over again for Smith & Wesson to bring back the Triple-Lock. In 1926 the 3rd Model Hand Ejector arrived with a return to the enclosed ejector rod, however not the third locking feature.
After World War II the 4th Model or Model of 1950 arrived and this would be used in a few short years as the platform for the .44 Magnum. The 1950 Target Model .44 Special is probably in reality an even better sixgun than the Triple-Lock. These were offered in 6-1/2″ for target shooting and outdoor use and the 4″ version for an easy packing sixgun for self-defense or general everyday carry. A very few 5″ were also offered. The 1950 Target was dropped in the mid-1960s. However, in the early 1980s Smith & Wesson brought it back as the Model 24-3 and also a stainless version, the Model 624. Both of these were offered in standard 6-1/2″ and 4″ versions.
The true classic .44 Special, the 1950 Target from Smith & Wesson.
The Horse
Colt chambered their New Service in .44 Special both in standard and Flat-Top Target versions. I have found the latter to be a superbly accurate sixgun. Colt also chambered all three generations of their Single Action Army in .44 Special and the 2nd and 3rd Generation New Frontiers were available in .44 Special.
The .44 Special New Frontiers make exceptionally good hunting sixguns. During the 175th Anniversary of Colt in 2011 I acquired one of the 5-1/2″ New Frontier .44 Specials and found it to be an excellent shooting .44.
Today, if you want a .44 Colt about the only way to get one is to search gun shops and gun shows for a used example. USFA also offered both Single Action and Flat-Top Target versions in .44 Special before they closed their doors. These were beautifully finished and fitted Specials.
One of the last Colt New Frontier .44 Specials was this one produced in the 175th year of Colt.
Special Hunter
The .44 Special with heavy loads in the early Smith & Wesson and Colt Revolvers was the first true hunting sixgun cartridge and remains an excellent choice today for deer-sized game at reasonable ranges. I have taken some large feral pigs in the 500- to 650-lb. class with the Keith Heavy .44 Special load. As an everyday working load today, my standard choice is now Skeeter Skelton’s load of a 250-grain semi-wadcutter over 7.5 grains of Unique for right around 950 fps. This will do all I require of a sixgun at this stage of my life. To duplicate the original .44 Special I use the same bullet over 6.0 grains of Unique, 5.5 grains of W231, or 4.5 grains of Red Dot or Tite Group. The more I shoot, the more I enjoy this easy shooting and accurate load.
As a self-defense proposition it would be hard to find a better cartridge than a properly loaded .44 Special. The Keith load is definitely not the best choice nor at the other end of the spectrum, the standard original 246-grain round-nose bullet load which has been the standard for over 100 years. There are a few offerings such as the Speer 200-grain Gold Dot HP offered as a self-defense load.