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The length of the bore can be expressed as a ratio of how many bullet diameters long it is.
Let me compare the effect. My 'beer-can' caliber mortar has a bore length of about 2 or so diameters. A sand filled can will go at most about 130 meters. My friend's 'beer-can' caliber mortar is 3' long. He can chuck a 1/2 length can filled with concrete about 400 meters with about 100 GRAINS of powder, where I'm using about an ounce to go 130 meters.
So the question is two-fold - on the one hand you can have a highly portable machine with short range and loud report, or you can have a much larger device with longer range and the familiar 'thunk' of a mortar.
Let me compare the effect. My 'beer-can' caliber mortar has a bore length of about 2 or so diameters. A sand filled can will go at most about 130 meters. My friend's 'beer-can' caliber mortar is 3' long. He can chuck a 1/2 length can filled with concrete about 400 meters with about 100 GRAINS of powder, where I'm using about an ounce to go 130 meters.
So the question is two-fold - on the one hand you can have a highly portable machine with short range and loud report, or you can have a much larger device with longer range and the familiar 'thunk' of a mortar.