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Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 9,283 Likes: 3
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 9,283 Likes: 3 |
Yep, in the Jungle
Last edited by JohnnyLoco; 04/22/21.
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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 13,534 Likes: 4
Campfire Outfitter
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OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 13,534 Likes: 4 |
Getting some trigger time on the M60. El Salvador, 1984.
MSG duty? Yep. I was down there from Oct '83 to Jan '85. Did you ever see Colonel North?
Dog I rescued in January
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 56,274 Likes: 37
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 56,274 Likes: 37 |
The -60 was the primary weapon for Aeroscout gunners in the OH 6 and we wore more than a few of them out. Carried a spare barrel, used it now and then. Standard ammo load was 1,500 rounds. Standing orders for the gunner were to save the last couple hundred rounds in case we had to walk home. Average fella would be surprised by how much an experienced gunner could accomplish with a very few rounds.
I am..........disturbed.
Concerning the difference between man and the jackass: some observers hold that there isn't any. But this wrongs the jackass. -Twain
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Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 9,450
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 9,450 |
That's a great picture.
It sounds like it brought out a LOT of history here to put as the caption
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Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 9,450
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 9,450 |
.
Last edited by Happy_Camper; 04/22/21.
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Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,742
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,742 |
Twin stripped down butterfly handle 60's on the back of the Guntruck box. Thinking about it now , I should have mounted both those 60's without any modification .
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Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 8,355 Likes: 7
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 8,355 Likes: 7 |
I was thinking about this quite abit lately. I fondly remember a dear friend who passed away now, he was from Arizona, moved up here after 3 tours in Vietnam, he loved that machine gun.
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 7,485 Likes: 9
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 7,485 Likes: 9 |
Anybody here ever lug one around? Yep. Bad ass weapon.
You only live once, but...if you do it right, once is enough.
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 42,435 Likes: 81
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 42,435 Likes: 81 |
Had a good friend that was a door gunner on a helicopter in Viet Nam. He spoke highly of it.
Make Gitmo Great Again!! Who gave the order to stop counting votes in the swing states on the night of November 3/4, 2020?
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 50,170 Likes: 2
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 50,170 Likes: 2 |
The only thing worse than a liberal is a liberal that thinks they're a conservative.
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 11,530 Likes: 6
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 11,530 Likes: 6 |
I wonder why they never made a 5.56mm version of it. Smaller, lighter, carry more rounds. Just like an M16 vs. an M14. If you're worried about terminal effects from the 5.56, then why bother with 5.56 in rifles in the first place?
Don't blame me. I voted for Trump.
Democrats would burn this country to the ground, if they could rule over the ashes.
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,364
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,364 |
,. A lot of fun to fire when it worked. I would rather carry one than be an AG. They really got loaded down. I also thought it was easier to carry than a SAW. . Two questions: 1) what is an AG? 2) I thought the M-60 was the SAW back in the day, no?
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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 13,534 Likes: 4
Campfire Outfitter
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OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 13,534 Likes: 4 |
I wonder why they never made a 5.56mm version of it. Smaller, lighter, carry more rounds. Just like an M16 vs. an M14. If you're worried about terminal effects from the 5.56, then why bother with 5.56 in rifles in the first place? Terminal effects? Bigger is better for beating through things. 7.62 offers some things that the 5.56 can't do.
Dog I rescued in January
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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 13,534 Likes: 4
Campfire Outfitter
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OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 13,534 Likes: 4 |
,. A lot of fun to fire when it worked. I would rather carry one than be an AG. They really got loaded down. I also thought it was easier to carry than a SAW. . Two questions: 1) what is an AG? 2) I thought the M-60 was the SAW back in the day, no? 1. Assistant gunner 2. more of a medium machine gun, at least in my opinion.
Dog I rescued in January
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 4,413 Likes: 5
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 4,413 Likes: 5 |
Haven't packed one around and have no real world experience like a lot of you, but did get to shoot one about 3 weeks ago. I liked it a lot!
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 28,433 Likes: 10
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 28,433 Likes: 10 |
My "brother" was a 60 gunner in the Marines in RVN from mid-late 1968 through the first part of 69. Carried it about six months and then was promoted to squad leader and traded it for a M-16.
He explained how he'd carry it balanced on his right shoulder with a six round stringer in it. When they got hit he'd throw it down and then attach the rest of the belt, that was a lot easier and faster than opening the feed cover and not as likely to give away his position (assuming they didn't already know where he was). We had a snapshot of him like that someone took while they were going through a village, M-60 on his shoulder and a pack of Winstons in his helmet band.
Except for it being heavy he was apparently quite fond of it and proud of his skill with it. In fact the Marines were going to make him a truck driver but he specifically requested to be a machine gunner and go to Vietnam, so he got his wish.
I only qualified with one in 1972 and and fired one a few times thereafter. I'm a lefty and they made me shoot it right handed due to the feed cover latch being on the right so I wasn't particularly accurate with it. Shooting it is fun, it just gently rocks back and forth in recoil. Muzzle blast from behind it isn't bad at all, however being the assistant gunner sucks since you're off to the side and the muzzle blast is truly obnoxious.
Gunnery, gunnery, gunnery. Hit the target, all else is twaddle!
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Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 6,412
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 6,412 |
Tracer burnout and grazing fire was 600 meters?
Rapid rate of fire - 200 rounds a minute changing the barrel every minute.
Sustained rate of fire - 100 rounds a minute changing the barrel every ten minutes.
17.5 inches high in the Me tripod. T&E for defensive positions and use with range cards.
Oh to be young again, and in the America I grew up in.
Me solum relinquatis
Molon Labe
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 13,464 Likes: 9
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 13,464 Likes: 9 |
I wonder why they never made a 5.56mm version of it. Smaller, lighter, carry more rounds. Just like an M16 vs. an M14. If you're worried about terminal effects from the 5.56, then why bother with 5.56 in rifles in the first place? Armalite tried with the Stoner but most of the military were not interested ... except the Navy SEALs. They loved it, or so my good friend who was on SEAL Team One in Vietnam told me. L.W.
"Always go straight forward, and if you meet the devil, cut him in two and go between the pieces." (William Sturgis, clipper ship captain, 1830s.)
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Joined: Oct 2017
Posts: 1,011 Likes: 1
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Oct 2017
Posts: 1,011 Likes: 1 |
,. A lot of fun to fire when it worked. I would rather carry one than be an AG. They really got loaded down. I also thought it was easier to carry than a SAW. . Two questions: 1) what is an AG? 2) I thought the M-60 was the SAW back in the day, no? The AG stood for Assistant Gunner. He got loaded down with the tripod, spare barrel and several hundred rounds on top of the already burdensome weight a grunt carried. The M-60 was a GPMG(General Purpose Machine Gun) in 7.62 that came into service in the very early 60’s to replace the 1919A6 and A4 Brownings in service at that time. There were also some BARS still in service as my uncle carried a BAR in Ranger school in 1961. There was a automatic version of the M-14 that was supposed to function as a squad automatic weapon in that timeframe but it wasn’t very successful as it was hard to control. The M249 SAW came into service in the early to mid 80’s and was chambered in 5.56. The 82nd Airborne was one of the first units to get the M249. Until the M249 was introduced, the M-60 filled the gap wherever it was needed for close to twenty-five years. So yes, I guess you could say it was the SAW back in the day.
Last edited by JTrapper73; 04/22/21.
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 61,400 Likes: 35
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 61,400 Likes: 35 |
I shot one at summer camp, I thought I fired three rounds, on the ground were three cases.
The 50cal BMG sounded like a corn sheller by comparison.
These premises insured by a Sheltie in Training ,--- and Cooey.o "May the Good Lord take a likin' to you"
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