Weapons of the Vietnam War
In late 1961, America took physical force in the Vietnam War. War is a complex series of political events that leads to physical involvement in the form of armed combat. Technology is a major deciding factor in war, along with the battle tactics used, terrain, experience and professionalism of the opposing forces. By 1961 both the United States and Vietnam had developed a broad array of guns and weapons to fight off one another. Coupled with battle tactics this provides a deadly and extremely hostile environment.
In the beginning of the war the weapon of choice for the support troops was the M1 Carbine. The carbine was half the weight and held a less powerful cartridge than its brother, the M1 Garand. They M1 carbine later evolved into the M2 Carbine, to support the fully automatic needs of the Vietnam War. The Carbines were mainly used by support troops, and other infantry not directly involved in combat. Staff NCO's and officers carried the carbine until later in the war when it was replaced with the M-16 Rifle.
Until the induction of the M-16 rifle, the M-14 rifle was the standard issue for the United States Armed Forces. The M-14 was the par for the Army in 1957 as the successor to the M1 Garand. The M-14 used a gas system and a twenty round detachable cartridge. It was only semi-automatic and could be fitted with a grenade launcher and bipod. Maximum range was 460 meters fired from the shoulder and 700 meters fired with the bipod. A sniper version was fitted with a silencer and gas suppressor, which made identification extremely difficult as the enemy only heard snaps of the bullets around them and no noise of the gun.
The M-16 succeeded the M-14 as standard military issue. Despite early ...
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...mm mortar. It was very popular in the Vietcong army because of the versatility and range of fire.
The 75mm recoilless rifle was very popular with Vietcong forces because of the combined firepower and lightweight. A direct copy of the obsolete US M-20 - it was quite adequate for the needs of the Vietcong.
The Torkarev handgun was introduced in 1930 and was used extensively in WWII by Soviet forces. There was no safety device, yet the hammer could be locked at half cock and was usually carried with a bullet in the chamber. Production in the USSR stopped in 1954 but continued in other countries such as Vietnam. The pistol became very widely used in by the Vietcong.
The Makarov pistol replaced the Torkarev in the early 1950's. The Makarov was a copy of a German police handgun and used Soviet 9mm rounds. The grip was a little bulky making for an uncomfortable shot.
At the beginning of the war Southern Calvary was armed as well, if not better than the Northern counterpart. Carbines were in short supply in both armies. The rebels favorite weapon was a sawed off shotgun loaded with Buckshot. A farmland weapon.
and similar rounds such as .223 and 7.62 x 39mm, as well as soft nosed expanding rifle
Handguns played a major role in the Civil War as far as weaponry was concerned. For instance, the most popular sidearm in the Union army was the Colt Army model 1860, which was a .36 caliber. The Army model 1860 was remodeled after the 1848 Dragoon, which was used in the Mexican War. The Colt model 1860 was a .44 caliber six shot weapon weighing two pounds eleven ounces. During the Civil War, more than 146,800 Colt revolvers were purchased. This made up more than 40 percent of all the handguns bought by the government at that time. In 1851, the .36 caliber revolver was produced by Colt. Colt then sold approximately 215,000 navy models, as they were called. The Star Revolver was a .44 caliber, six shot, double action weapon, which weighed approximately three pounds. 25,000 revolvers were then sold to the government for twelve dollars each. The Figure Eight Revolver was built especially for Civil War use. More than 12,000 of these revolvers were sold to the United States Government in the early war from Great Britain. The most popular pistol was the Le Mat Revo...
...aid the groundwork for the invention of more modern repeating arms, and their mechanisms are in fact still in use in many modern civilian arms. Modern versions of the Gatling gun, such as the .30 cal. Dillon Aero mini gun and the 30mm GAU-8 on the Air Force’s A-10 Warthog, are still in common use in the military today.
...waste ammunition.” During the war colonel Hiram Berdan formed a regiment of sharpshooter for the union army called Berdans sharpshooters. These new soldiers would be better shooters against their enemy and would be save great amounts of ammunition and money. Contests were held across the country to find these elite sharpshooters. To make the cut you had put 10 consecutive shots into a target at two hundred yards. Each shot couldn’t be more than to inches from the center of the bull’s eye. At the end of these contests 1,000 winners were enlisted in the 1st United States sharper shooters. The next generation of breechloaders called magazine rifles would prove ever more deadly to confederate opponents. “Guns such as Spencer and Henry repeating rifles were deigned to carry preloaded magazine of seven to fifteen bullets which could be inserted into the rear of the gun.”3
A popular weapon used by both sides was the rifle. Rifles were invented before the Civil War and were greatly used in the War of 1812. However, more types were built and a larger amount was used during the Civil War. Rifles added a spin to bullets for a greater accuracy at longer ranges. Using this weapon, soldiers could fire 400 yards away, as opposed to the average 80 yards (Robertson 50). Rifles were the fastest and hardest weapon of the time. Rifles allowed their bullets to be shot harder and faster towards its target. New inventions, used by the Union more than the Confederate, included Parrott rifles. They were composed of iron. Robert Parker Parrott, an American soldier and inventor, created these weapons, hence the name Parrott rifles. Despite its name, the Parrott rifle was actually a cannon. Its size ranged from 10 to 300 pounders. It was not favored by most because it was considered unsafe (“Civil War Artillery”). Because of its bulkiness and heaviness, it seldom led soldiers to inaccuratel...
Pike, John. A. The "Mosin-Nagant M1891/1930. " www.globalsecurity.org - www.globalsecurity.org.
Some of these smaller weapons include pistols and rifles. The majority of weapons used in World War II were improved weapons from World War II. Most guns increase in power and abilities. In World War II people thought that pistols were useless, but this was proved wrong due to the fact that the U.S. Military spent a lot of time into making a better sidearm. Pistols were mainly used in emergencies or whenever a soldier ran out of ammunition....
The Vietnam War was a traumatic experience for everyone that fought on the ground. American soldiers were up close and personal with the Viet Cong (enemy) which made them live in constant fear for their lives. They never knew how they would die or when they would take their last breath, and this thought was always in the back of their minds. The Vietnam War was very brutal, and the amount of death from both sides was enormous. Tim O’Brien’s story “The Things They Carried” is an accurate description of the Vietnam War. He paints a good, yet brief, description of what the war was like for the American soldiers who fought on the front lines.
After Vietnam erupted into civil war, both sides started employing clever tactics and new t...
No 7. The guerrilla wins if he does not lose, and the conventional army loses if it does not win.
These kinds of weapons were impractical for military use, but attracted many people to the arms race for weapons that could sweep the battlefield. “They had limitations in practice, among them slow re...
cluster revolver. The only problem was that the revolver blew up when they shot it. The reason
CHARACTERISTICS: The M252 81mm mortar is a smooth bore, muzzle loaded, high angle of fire weapon. Smooth bore meaning it has no lands and grooves like a rifle barrel. Muzzle loaded, because you insert a round into the muzzle of the cannon, allowing gravity to pull the round down, striking the firing pin. High angle of fire because it is capable of firing from within defilade, over hills, and other obstructions.