How Marines Feel About Their Gear
Military.com | January 23, 2007
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(Editor’s note: This piece was forwarded to the Military.com staff without attribution, which is usually a show-stopper for us, but it has such good detail that we wanted to share it with readers of Warfighter’s Forum.)
1) The M-16 rifle: Thumbs down. Chronic jamming problems with the talcum powder-like sand over there. The M-4 carbine version is more popular because it's lighter and shorter, but it has jamming problems also. Marines like the ability to mount the various optical gunsights and weapons lights on the picattiny rails, but the weapon itself is not great in a desert environment. They all hate the 5.56mm (.223) round because of its poor penetration on the cinderblock structures common over there. Even torso hits can't be reliably counted on to put the enemy down.
2) The M243 SAW (squad assault weapon), .223 cal. Drum-fed light machine gun: Big thumbs down. Universally considered a piece of junk. Chronic jamming problems, most of which require partial disassembly (not fun in the middle of a firefight).
3) The M9 Beretta 9mm: Thumbs neutral. Good gun, performs well in desert environment; but Marines don’t like the 9mm cartridge. The use of handguns for self-defense is actually fairly common. Same old story on the 9mm: They’ve seen bad guys hit multiple times but continue to fight.
4) Mossberg 12ga. Military shotgun: Thumbs up. The Marines use this weapon frequently for clearing houses with good effect.
5) The M240 Machine Gun: 7.62 Nato (.308) cal. belt fed machine gun, developed to replace the old M-60: Thumbs up. Accurate, reliable, and the 7.62 round puts 'em down. Originally developed as a vehicle mounted weapon, more and more are being dismounted and taken into the field by infantry. The 7.62 round chews up the structure over there.
6) The M2 .50 cal heavy machine gun: Thumbs way, way up. "Ma deuce" is still worth her considerable weight in gold. The ultimate fight stopper, and the most coveted weapon in theater.
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Military.com | January 23, 2007
Article Link
(Editor’s note: This piece was forwarded to the Military.com staff without attribution, which is usually a show-stopper for us, but it has such good detail that we wanted to share it with readers of Warfighter’s Forum.)
1) The M-16 rifle: Thumbs down. Chronic jamming problems with the talcum powder-like sand over there. The M-4 carbine version is more popular because it's lighter and shorter, but it has jamming problems also. Marines like the ability to mount the various optical gunsights and weapons lights on the picattiny rails, but the weapon itself is not great in a desert environment. They all hate the 5.56mm (.223) round because of its poor penetration on the cinderblock structures common over there. Even torso hits can't be reliably counted on to put the enemy down.
2) The M243 SAW (squad assault weapon), .223 cal. Drum-fed light machine gun: Big thumbs down. Universally considered a piece of junk. Chronic jamming problems, most of which require partial disassembly (not fun in the middle of a firefight).
3) The M9 Beretta 9mm: Thumbs neutral. Good gun, performs well in desert environment; but Marines don’t like the 9mm cartridge. The use of handguns for self-defense is actually fairly common. Same old story on the 9mm: They’ve seen bad guys hit multiple times but continue to fight.
4) Mossberg 12ga. Military shotgun: Thumbs up. The Marines use this weapon frequently for clearing houses with good effect.
5) The M240 Machine Gun: 7.62 Nato (.308) cal. belt fed machine gun, developed to replace the old M-60: Thumbs up. Accurate, reliable, and the 7.62 round puts 'em down. Originally developed as a vehicle mounted weapon, more and more are being dismounted and taken into the field by infantry. The 7.62 round chews up the structure over there.
6) The M2 .50 cal heavy machine gun: Thumbs way, way up. "Ma deuce" is still worth her considerable weight in gold. The ultimate fight stopper, and the most coveted weapon in theater.
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