Really BIG Guns!

Handgun: 45/70 out of a Thompson Center pistol (I love this one)

Rifle: 12 gauge magnum rounds (the novelty wears off after a few)

45/70 Thompson Center Pistol, 450 marlin, 458 weatherby, 375 H&H, 60 cal machinge gun, 50 cal, machine gun, grenade launchers, 105 howitzer, 155 m109A1 howitzer, and and 8" howitzer that spits out a 200 lb. projectile.

As a lucky civilian in a few different incarnations ....

Mk-19
M-60
Bradley 25mm

Almost: the M61A1 20mm gatling gun on the F-16B; I once flew back-seat on an F-16B and was the squadron's first civilian guest - they were going to start the flight with a trip to the Avon Park gunnery range in Central FL and shoot the gun, but then the commanding officer walked into the briefing, did a double-take on the mission plan, and nuked that idea. Oh well .... I figured the mission cost exceeded my federal income tax that year, so it was a "plus" year.

As a TC in the Central Highlands of RVN, 1969, I was issued an M48A3 tank with a 90MM main gun. I shot it a lot. I don't actually remember the gunner ever firing the main gun. I also shot a lot of .50 cal, 7.62 and .45acp along with a fair number of LAWS rockets. I also used quite a few pounds of C4. Not much 5.56 as I was not issued an M-16. I was also trained on the M60 tank, with 105MM gun and the M551/Sheridan tank with the 152MM gun. The recoil of that stubby 152MM gun was really impressive. You'd better be holding on to something when you fired the 152MM and that relatively light tank recoiled around you. I have since wondered how much it cost the American taxpayers to have me in RVN for a year...

ms6852 said:

60 cal machinge gun

Click to expand...

A 60 cal machine gun? Can you tell us more about that?

I totally love big guns, In fact at any of the Machine Gun Shoots we go to I always gravitate towards the Destructive Devices and generally ignore the MG's.
So far the biggest thing Ive got to fire was a 37mm anti tank cannon at the Dragon Mans machine gun shoot in Colorado (Not sure what make/model it was but it had seats on the legs that supported it, It looked like a m3 but Im not quite sure).
Other than that plenty of 37mm Flares, 40mm practice grenades, and a couple 20mm rifles.



--Candice

Big guns...

I got to sit inside the turret of a 16" gun and a 5" gun on the U.S.S. Massachusetts when I was in the boy scouts, but they wouldn't let us fire either one

I've also sat in the gunners chair of a WW2 Sherman, a Vietnam era M-48 and a modern M1A1 tank and wasn't allowed to fire them either

Biggest production handgun was a Taurus .500... Kicks like a rabid mule!
Non-production was the "Mad Max" 12 gauge pistol a buddy of mine made. He ended up cutting his hand open with that stupid thing.

Biggest long arm was an antique #2 bore punt gun. I still have a scar and hearing damage from that un-Godly beast and that was over 20 years ago!
When the smoke cleared and I saw what it did to the jugs of water, I finally understood the full meaning of the word: "Obliterated"

I distinctly remember firing a .505 Gibbs from under a firing range roof and seeing flecks of rust getting rattled off and flaking down. I also distinctly recall the RO telling me to stick the muzzle further out so the blast wouldn't bother the other people on the line.

I would love to fire a vehicle or ship based BIG gun, but I'll have to make due with a little Bond Arms derringer chambered in .357 magnum firing Buffalo Bore ammo. Firing the little rascal is a hoot!!

I have shot both a McMillan and Barrett .50 cal rifles. That's been the upper limit for me.

M198 - 155mm
Mk19 - 40mm - my favorite - "ping pong shooter"
M2 - .50
All the lesser others in service - USMC 91-98

300 Winchester Magnum out of Savage big box special - my least favorite. Why would anyone subject their shoulder to this abuse for use on deer? Makes all the others seem like rimfire.

I have personally fired a truck drawn 105mm howitzer and a tractor drawn 155mm howitzer. These were fun times in the Army National Guard a long time ago.