I was looking for a blog post of mine referencing the bowling ball mortars which visited Boomershoot a few times. A day or two later Bing Chat sent me an alert on my cell phone with with a link to the following:

Boomershoot mortars are a type of homemade artillery that can launch projectiles such as bowling balls, paint cans, or even stuffed animals at high velocities and distances. They are often used by enthusiasts of the Boomershoot event, which is a long-range precision rifle shooting event with high explosive targets¹²

Some of the key features and uses of boomershoot mortars are:

• They are made from steel pipes that are welded to a base plate and have a breech plug at one end. The breech plug has a hole for inserting a fuse that ignites the propellant charge inside the pipe. The propellant charge can be black powder, smokeless powder, or other combustible materials³
• They can launch various types of projectiles, depending on the size and shape of the pipe and the amount and type of propellant. Some common projectiles are bowling balls, paint cans, stuffed animals, watermelons, or even pumpkins. The projectiles can be modified to have fins, parachutes, or other features to enhance their flight or impact³
• They can achieve impressive ranges and velocities, depending on the factors mentioned above. Some boomershoot mortars can launch bowling balls over a mile away or over 1,000 feet in the air. The velocities can exceed 300 miles per hour or 500 feet per second³
• They can create spectacular effects when they hit the explosive targets at the Boomershoot event. The targets are filled with a mixture of ammonium nitrate and aluminum powder that detonates when hit by a high-velocity projectile. The explosions can produce loud booms, bright flashes, smoke clouds, and fireballs¹²
• They can also be used for recreational purposes, such as launching fireworks, water balloons, or other harmless objects. However, they should always be used with caution and respect for safety, legality, and environmental impact. Boomershoot mortars are not toys and should only be handled by responsible adults who follow the proper procedures and precautions³

I hope this helps you learn more about the fascinating world of boomershoot mortars. If you want to see some examples of boomershoot mortars in action, you can watch this video: BOWLING BALL MORTARS AT THE BOOMERSHOOT.

The narrative is not too far of from reality. But it certainly isn’t correct either.Some obvious inaccuracies are:

• Mortars have never been used to hit our reactive targets.
• I do not recall anything other than bowling balls being used for projectiles.
• No projectiles have been launched further than about 400 yards. And that was at an angle across the range rather than directly downrange.
• To the best of my knowledge no one as estimated the altitude of the projectiles and I am very skeptical any of them have been near 1000 feet.

Keep all this in mind when you use or read something generated by the new chat AIs.