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Thread: Restoring a Bofor

  1. 26th September 2016, 06:04 PM #1
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    Restoring a Bofor

    This is what I have been spending a lot of time on. Restoring a 1942, Mark 12, Bristol Bofor to fire blanks. We have set it up to fire with a combination of oxygen and LPG gas ignited by a spark plug to sound like the real thing. We did this by removing the breech mechs and loading tray to make room for the modifications.

    Having served on these in the 1960's as a gun number, then Bombardier and finally as a Gun Sargent I have been helping two other very talented volunteers at Fort Scratchley to restore the old gun.

    Still a lot of work to do, you may notice the gas cylinders in the enclosed clip at the rear of the gun, these will be reduced in size and placed in a position so as they are out of view. The gun will be repainted in it's original 1960's colour scheme. The aim of the project is to keep it as original as possible.

    Oh, by the way, the old fogey in the army uniform sitting in the Layers seat is me, looking like Dad's Army. Give me a break as I am getting up a bit in years.

    PART OF FORT SCRATCHLEY?S HISTORY BACK FIRING ? NBN News
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  2. 26th September 2016, 06:15 PM #2
    crash
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    Thanks for sharing the video but more importantly Thankyou for helping with the restoration.
    Being a young whipper snipper, I enjoy seeing any old piece of machinery being restored and being displayed in a working order.
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  3. 26th September 2016, 07:23 PM #3
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    You haven't lost the touch Jim, did it feel like you never got off the Bofor?
    If you don't like trucks, stop buying stuff.
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  4. 27th September 2016, 06:58 AM #4
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    It was a long time ago Ian. Of all the volunteers at the fort only four of us served on the Bofors. The bloke giving the interview was also a Gun Sargent on them, but he is very busy with his duties as society president and hasn't worked on the project.
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  5. 27th September 2016, 10:22 AM #5
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    I used to have a Bofor three blow cold header some years ago for making special electrical terminals. It was made in the '30s and still ran fine in the '80s. Superb piece of engineering.
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  6. 28th September 2016, 01:04 AM #6
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    Great work, can I be rude and suggest you get a 20l drum paint it olive drab and cover the gas bottle? It distracts people away from looking at the whole thing as active piece of history.....

    That is a great display and fantastic work guys
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  7. 28th September 2016, 05:48 AM #7
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    Gee they traverse and elevate very quickly
    one of the reasons they mounted them on ships?

    What was the Bofor originally designed for?
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  8. 28th September 2016, 06:23 AM #8
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    This should bring back some memories.

    [ame]https://youtu.be/-Fca00UwCy0[/ame]
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  9. 28th September 2016, 07:22 AM #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by digger View Post
    Great work, can I be rude and suggest you get a 20l drum paint it olive drab and cover the gas bottle? It distracts people away from looking at the whole thing as active piece of history.....

    That is a great display and fantastic work guys
    We will be using a smaller size gas bottle which will be placed out of the way underneath the ammunition rack. At the moment we only wanted to make sure the idea works (it does) before we commit to camouflaging things that are not original.
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  10. 28th September 2016, 07:31 AM #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift View Post
    Gee they traverse and elevate very quickly
    one of the reasons they mounted them on ships?

    What was the Bofor originally designed for?
    Yep, they can traverse up to 65 degrees per second and elevate at a similar rate. The Bofor was originally designed as a light anti-aircraft weapon and used as a manual weapon by both sides in WW2. The version we are working on is called a Bristol Bofor and it is electrified and only needs one layer whereas the manual versions needed 2 layers.......one for traverse and one for elevation.

    The Poms worked on the Bofor in the early 1950's and electrified them by installing motors and batteries. The Australian Army used the Bristol Bofor until 1971, but I believe the navy used them on the Fremantle class patrol boats until the 1990's (Bob, might be able to correct me here).

    Their secondary role was anti-tank, using AP ammunition.
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