You unlock and turn the "shoulder stock" a quarter, (or half, I forget) a turn, which frees it from the launcher tube. You then place the shoulder stock flat on the ground and place both your feet on it, like a bycicle pump. You then grab the pistol grip and anything else you can get a good hold off and pull up as hard as you can on the launcher tube until the firing mechanism locks into place and the spring is under tension. You can then slide the shoulder stock forward and lock it into place. As I mentioned, you only have to do this for the first shot. I believe the seriously beefy spring is to help give the mortar round a solid strike to prevent it from lifting off the small ring it is placed into. The hard strike will overcome any inertia issues with hitting an object that is literally free to travel forward. You cannot launch anything through this thing other than the proprietary mortar rounds. This is why ATF does not consider them a Destructive Device, like they do most other mortar tubes or Bazooka type devices. I have several friends who own them and are fanatic enough about DDs that they have made rounds with lifting charges but no HE. They are interesting to shoot and I greatly admire any British troop who actually scored kills with these.
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