Vietnam era "Special" weapons

Not a rifle, but this one's always been a favorite of mine:

http://www.gunslot.com/pictures/smi...ial-purpose-revolver-qspr-tunnel-revolver-usa

where's the barrel on the 870?

1969 - These U. S. Army 25th Infantry Division snipers in Viet Nam are equipped
with M14 rifles that have Sionics SS-1 suppressors and AN/PVS-2 night scopes.

That pump-action 40mm grenade launcher is wicked.

I've always wanted an M-79, ever since I saw "Apocalypse Now" - which I had the great pleasure of seeing in the theater on it's opening weekend (wide release) in 1979. Mind blowing.

And re: Vietnam individual special weapons, don't forget the Hush-Puppy, too. Kinda sad, actually.

PS - I also fully dig the grunt on the left's footwear. Tres chic, really. Has he not heard about shistosomiasis? I always guard against that when in south Asia.

Not a rifle, a pistol. But still interesting.

During the Vietnam conflict, the US navy sponsored development of the silenced pistol for use by its SEAL teams. Nicknamed the hush-puppy because of its intended function of killing enemy watch dogs, this modified version of the steel framed Smith & Wesson model 39 pistol was put to other clandestine used as well. Called the mark 22, mod. O pistol by the navy, the hush puppy had a slide lock to keep the mechanism closed and silent while firing. It fired a special green tipped 9mm parabellum projectile weighting 10.2 grams (158 grains that yielded a muzzle velocity of 274m.p.s. (900 f.p.s), below the speed of sound. Use of standard supersonic ammunition quickly degrades the effectiveness of the silencer insert. With subsonic ammunition, an insert is good for about 30 rounds; with standard velocity cartridges the insert may have to be replaced after six shots. Official navy designation for the silencer is mark 3, mod.0 . Ammunition and replacement silencer parts are supplied as accessory kit MK26, Mod.0. Each accessory kit includes 24 9mm pistol cartridges MK144, mod.0 and one silencer tube insert.
All the work on the model 39 hush-puppy was carried out by Smith & Wesson before the end of 1968. Subsequently, Smith & Wesson provided two prototype 13-shot pistols made from stainless steel. These weapons were improved to overcome problems such as extractor breakages, which had been experwnced with the model 39. This modified pistol in a slightly different form as later commercially marketed as the model 59 Smith & Wesson 9mm parabellum pistol.


Combination over all length 12 ¾ inch
Total weight with out magazine 34 oz

WOX-1A silencer
Over all length 5”
Total weight 8oz

WOX-13A pmm pistol
Over all length 8 ½”
Total weight with out magazine 26 oz

WOX-13A pmm pistol and WOX-1A silencer
Combination over all length 12 ¾ inch
Total weight with out magazine 34 oz


Form:
Small arms of the world
Page 175 –177
By Edward Clinton Ezell
Publisher: Stackpole Books; 12th Rev edition (December 1983)

Great pictures guys, I got to use the m203 grenade launcher back in the early 80's, have you ever noticed that when Chuck Norris uses them they make a bigger explosion?

Great pictures guys, I got to use the m203 grenade launcher back in the early 80's, have you ever noticed that when Chuck Norris uses them they make a bigger explosion?

Click to expand...

BTW - the same guys that developed the QSPR (see my post above) also developed the M203.

The Seals used whatever they wanted pretty much. I know one weapon they used was a pump action ithaca 12 ga with a drum mag.

Looks like the guys from the 25th Infantry are using XM-21 sniper rifles. The XM-21 did not have an attachment on it for a bayonet while the M-14 did. I know, I used an XM-21 myself for about 7 months while sniping over there.

I'll have to do some digging, but I'm pretty sure I've read an article about a guy using a .444 Marlin over there.

444 was the one that Jerry Shriver was supposed to have taken in to pop bunkers with ,and was the one he jumped in when they lost him

How about the .50 Flechette sabot rifle?

Matrix187: The Seals used whatever they wanted pretty much. I know one weapon they used was a pump action ithaca 12 ga with a drum mag.

Click to expand...

Pics?

How & where would you mount a drum mag on a bottom loading/bottom ejecting Ithaca?







.

thanks dogtown,i read that and was pretty puzzled myself.i just couldn't figure out why,talk about obvious!

So MUCH BS about Nam stuff. I DID see the silent M-29 .44 mag once though, but of course never fired it. I was never around any SEALS so I don't know what they had.

I had a Vietnam vet as a rifle coach not to long ago and he had very similar sandals as the guy pictured above. He said he bought them from some kid in vietnam, who apparently made them from dumped Army truck tires! Thought they were pretty cool

About the weapons, seems like there was a lot of different stuff floating around over there but I'd imagine most of it is legend. Outside of issued M-16's, M-14's, 1911's, shotguns, and S&W revolvers, most stuff was probably pretty rare. And the occasional M70 Winchester and M40 sniper rifles.

this is a thread I can come back too alot and enjoy !! and this may seem sappy too some but those men in the pic have put a lump in my chest with the state of affairs of the US currently .....sorry if I got off topic guys !!!

Just curious...

How did that mag-fed 870 really work?

The mag sits well forward of the bolt, shell lifter, and ejection port.

For a shell to be stripped from that forward-mounted mag and fed into the chamber, both the bolt and chamber would have to also sit in a forward position, locking up in battery somewhere ahead of the forward edge of the magazine.

Unless that mag just dumped its rounds into the standard 870 tubular magazine just forward of the receiver, I can't see how it would work.

What am I missing here?

I was always fond of the Stoner LMG.

G98 - It looks to me like that 870 is set up so that the top shell in the magazine would be in the same place that the rear-most shell in a tubular magazine would be. When you pull the forearm to the rear, it would dump it in on top of the carrier and it would be chambered when you slid the forearm forward.

I'd be more curious to know if the thing was even remotely reliable and what the handling was like.

I've seen pictures of some pretty weird stuff, ranging from the QSPR seen above (it apparently worked fairly well, only the ammunition itself had a high failure rate), to the Vietnam equivalent of the "Liberator" pistol (the "Deer Gun" in 9mm, dropped after they decided that most of them would end up in the hands of the VC anyway), to something that was supposed to be the Vietnam version of the DeLisle Carbine, a Rem 700 chambered in a short 458 Winchester cartridge and with an integral suppressor. I've also seen something that looked absolutely PAINFUL to shoot, a 40mm M79 sawn off to about 5 inches, with only a pistol-grip left to hold onto.

I almost fell out of the chair at the sight of the pump action grenade launcher. I never liked the single shot ones or the revolverish style (to thick IMHO) but pump action. DROOLS

We made a replica of the Sionics suppressor for a special customer. It was a pretty cool project. I don't think he's taken photos of the entire M14 project, yet, however.