Worst Environment For a Gun/Gun Fight?

[Blain]

Worst Enviorment For a Gun/Gun Fight?

Was just watching the "Heroic Afghan Freedom fighters" in Rambo III and it got me thinking. That desert is a pretty mean and harsh enviorment. Harsh baking heat and the terrible jams along with wear tear and corrosion from the sand.

Surely, it is no ideal place to be in a gunfight, as our boys have found out.

However, thinking about the terrible conditions of desert warfare also got me thinking about the other horrible environments for a gun to be in. Pondering the matter, I came up with a selection of what I could think of as being the worst possible conditions for guns to remain functional. Along with the desert there is;

A) The Jungle - Hot, humid, damp, wet, gunk, mud, growth, bugs, etc. Not a gun friendly place. Our boys in Vietnam know all about the problems a good ol Jungle can bring ya.

B) The Artic/Cold snowy climates - Can you say, freeze? Many guns cannot function well, if at all in the severe cold. Remember the reports of GIs having to urinate on their Garands in Korea to keep them functioning? The M1 is one of the most durable guns I know. Not to mention what the cold does for a shooter, or their trigger! Ever try to operate a trigger with gloves on? Believe me, in the extreme cold you NEED gloves or you won't have any fingers to pull the trigger with!

C) Marine Environments -Everyone knows the horrors that water and sand alone can do to a gun....in a marine type environment, these two blessings can team up to cause combined havoc. Not to mention that the water is no ordinary water. The salted water will help rust and corrode your gun faster than you can believe.


So there are the four main choices. Feel free to post telling not only what you picked as the worst environment, but also why you picked it. This should prove interesting. Also please feel free to mention any other environments you think I left out that deserve to be put in. I thought of a lot, and those seemed the worst bar none. Things like swamps/marshes are too close to jungles or marine type environments so they are not listed.

Have fun, and keep those guns clean!

 

[Mizzoutiger]

I think nowadays the environment doesn't play all that much a factor in the function of your weapon. Sure, you'll have your occasional jam for whatever reason, dust et al, but the degree of maintenance kept on the equipment keeps that from happening regularly.

The worst environment for me to have a gunfight is wherever I have the disadvantage compared to my enemy.

 

[Blain]

I think nowadays the environment doesn't play all that much a factor in the function of your weapon.

....I see that you have not had much experience in any of these enviorments....Fighting with your gun in the field in them is a LOT different than sitting on the range firing them. A LOT.

 

[Mizzoutiger]

Doi! Perhaps you could tell by my SN that I am a college student. You can further extrapolate from that that I am a ROTC cadet. No, I didn't freeze my ??? off at Chosin. I haven't seen time in Nam. I haven't had the "privilege" to be sent to Baghdad, yet.

I am however, training to use state of the art equipment. Improved since the days of all these grizzled Nam vets. They have been made to be more weather resistant.

But don't tell those Glock people that their weapons may function differently in harsh environments. They'll hear nothing of it.

 

[Mike Irwin]

All and every one of the above.

 

[WonderNine]

My Browning Hi-Power has done ALOT of rounds in the sub-zero temperatures (no gloves) and has never jammed once even with the grab bag of cheap Hi-cap range mags I use. With modern gun lubrication such as Breakfree CLP (which I use), I think that cold would be the least problematic environment for guns. And you can fire them that much more without them getting too hot.

The only problem I ran into was my front site breaking off and flying backwords (missed my face somehow) somewhere in the middle of my 4th magazine or so back in February

I assume it became brittle from all of the shooting in the cold....

 

[Nightfall]

Worst enviroment?

Hmm... I bet fighting in an active, erupting volcano would sure suck...

Yea, I wouldn't want to fight in an active volcano.

 

[WonderNine]

What about in space?

 

[Feanaro]

I picked Artic for the "frozen finger syndrome" and because of my intense hatred for all that is cold.

 

[Gordy Wesen]

I think the worst environment for a gunfight would be inside a car.

 

[goalie]

Between Panama and the Gulf (part 1 in '91) the Gulf was much worse. That sand in Kuwait is finer than you can imagine. I think I was farting sand out of my -ss for a few years after that!!!

 

[firestar]

I would guess the marine enviornment because you have to find someway to shoot your gun under water without it jamming on you. This is where a Glock would come in handy.

 

[Matt G]

From our armed forces' point of view, it's any urban environ.

 

[WonderNine]

I still stand by my statement that space is the worst place for a gunfight!

 

[ACP230]

The first place that came to mind was the "no static area" of a black powder production plant.

OUCH!

 

[Ala Dan]

Howdy Folk's-

I voted for the jungle; as I would rather be cold,
wet or both as opposed to being hot, sweatty and
infested with leeches!

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member

 

[Smoke]

I'm going on the exact opposite of Ala Dan...

I would rather be hot and sweaty than cold any day.

I have no experience fighting in any enviroments. I have no expereince shooting in the desert, above 112 degrees or below 17 degrees. Those are the limits of my extremes.

I HATE cold.

 

[Horsesense]

The worst environment…. Pure oxygen

I picked cold because in any of the other environments, you can clean and be reasonably sure that you're good to go for a while at least. The cold can ice up things no matter how clean you keep your weapon.

 

[Hypnogator]

The WORST environment for a gunfight would be in a crowded mall. I could fight in any of the given environments. Would hate to make the choice about how many bystanders would be "collateral damage."

 

[mephisto]

Bathroom.

 

[jdkelly]

Worse enviroment

A marine enviroment, in the artic, wearing jungle fatigues, and desert gloves.

jkelly

 

[natedog]

A preschool...

 

[Andrew Wyatt]

space is the perfect enviornment for a gunfight.


no grit and junk to tie up the action, no air to slow down your projectiles....

 

[Hkmp5sd]

The marine environment that occurs in a marine vessel, aka ship, would be the worst choice for me. Back when I rode submarines, we carried M16A1s and these were issued to "repel boarders" and "nuclear weapons security." Picture an M16 on full auto with 30 rounds of FMJ fired inside a steel people tank.

Of course, this brings to mind one of my favorite machinegun scenes from the movies. In UnderSiege, Segal takes two subguns, one in each hand, crosses his forearms and runs down a passageway firing both weapons. Gotta love Hollywierd.

 

[gudel]

jungle... like in vietnam.