My favorite vintage military small arms weapons
- Thread starter Cypress
- Start date
This one is fun to shoot.
I am not a WW2 weaponry expert, but I would guess that this was one of the most popular infantry rifles of the war.
Extremely lightweight, semi-automatic, and I think it has a 15 round clip. By WW2 standards, those specs are a remarkable tactical advantage for infantry units.
I am not a WW2 weaponry expert, but I would guess that this was one of the most popular infantry rifles of the war.
Extremely lightweight, semi-automatic, and I think it has a 15 round clip. By WW2 standards, those specs are a remarkable tactical advantage for infantry units.
NiftyNiblick
1960s Chick Magnet
I had one of those when I was a young kid.
Fun to plink around with as there was cheap war surplus ammunition way back then.
No way you could hunt with it.
Only fully jacketed military ammo was available,
so it would just wound animals instead of put them down,
then they'd run off and bleed out in agony.
Even if somebody loaded soft point rounds for it,
it didn't have adequate stopping power for anything deer-sized.
No matter to me because I didn't hunt.
Light and fun to shoot at inanimate objects, though.
I ended up giving it away when I got a similarly sized Ruger M44 carbine...
which I've still got somewhere in storage.
Good points.
I only used to target shoot with it, and never heard of anyone hunting with the carbine.
US Military doctrine generally does not translate to hunting. Because, from what I understand, US Military doctrine is to wound and maim as many enemy on the battlefield as possible - rather than outright killing them. Because wounded enemy soldiers are more of a drain on the resources of the enemy force, requiring them to expend effort to rescue and render first-aid. Or, so I have heard.
NiftyNiblick
1960s Chick Magnet
Also, there are the Geneva Conventions.
Soldiers are gathered up my medics.
The conventions demand fully jacketed bullets.
Using hunting bullets is a war crime.
Animals don't have medics, but they can run away and bleed out after they're hit instead of dying more quickly and humanely.
Most hunting laws require soft point bullets and prohibit fully jacketed military ammo.
Both rules are meant to be more humane in the given situation.
Police, on the other hand, are in fact allowed to use soft point ammo in their service weapons.
What would be a war crime in battle is OK downtown.
Armed criminals don't get the same consideration as soldiers, I guess.
Armed lawful civilians are also allowed to use soft point ammo.
Early bullets were just cast lead without jackets anyway.
Thanks for the great insights.
However you slice it, the M-1 Garand and carbine are the rifles that won world war 2. The designers of these rifles should have gotten a Congressional Medal of Honor.
I cannot imagine trying to shoot Bambi with either an M-1, and AR-15, or any other rifle designed and engineered with military ballistics. One shot, one kill should presumably be the motto of the skilled and humane hunter.
Now, in the even of a Zombie apocalypse, my weapons of choice are the triad of the 12 gauge shot gun, the PPSH-41 submachine gun, and the AK-47. To keep the undead at bay, I cannot really be worried about appropriate weapons for Bambi.
signalmankenneth
Verified User
US M14 Service Rifle
I used this rifle in basic training, great rifle, I would take this rifle over a M16 anyday!
On your favorite vintage weapons, in my small arms book, it says the PPSH-41 was crude and clumsy, yet the most affected submachine gun ever made. It would be my weapon of choice even today for house to house and room to room fighting, 71 round mag of course?!! I have an M1 carbine, I would like to have a BAR too?!! That russian pistol sucks?
I used this rifle in basic training, great rifle, I would take this rifle over a M16 anyday!
On your favorite vintage weapons, in my small arms book, it says the PPSH-41 was crude and clumsy, yet the most affected submachine gun ever made. It would be my weapon of choice even today for house to house and room to room fighting, 71 round mag of course?!! I have an M1 carbine, I would like to have a BAR too?!! That russian pistol sucks?
I used this rifle in basic training, great rifle, I would take this rifle over a M16 anyday!
On your favorite vintage weapons, in my small arms book, it says the PPSH-41 was crude and clumsy, yet the most affected submachine gun ever made. It would be my weapon of choice even today for house to house and room to room fighting, 71 round mag of course?!! I have an M1 carbine, I would like to have a BAR too?!! That russian pistol sucks?
Thanks for the good intel on the M-14, I do not know much about that rifle.
The PPSH-41 was pretty crude indeed, but it's rate of fire was so incredible, it put out such a hailstorm of lead, that German troops were keen to take them from captured Soviet soldiers to use on the battlefield themselves.
The World War 1 revolver is pretty pathetic. Just a nostalgic favorite, but I would not want it as my chief fire arm during an alien invasion or zombie apocalypse.