Soldiers carrying civilian weapons as secondary armament.

[Jim K]

I would never question any of those stories - would an American service member lie? Of course not.

But I was around after WWII and I would be well off if I had had $20 bucks to buy every Luger, P.38, PPK, etc. that GI's "took off" Hitler, Goering, Himmler, German Field Marshals, etc. (The Wehrmacht, like the Confederate Army, had no rank lower than General.)

At that time, bringing back captured enemy small arms (except full auto) was legal; many of the stories about how they were acquired were, well, inventive.

Jim

 

[MICHAEL T]

AS A MP in 73-74 I worked off base with a Police Dept dressed in civvies . I was authorized to carry my personal 1911 Combat Commander . I was told to only use Ball ammo .

Returned to base little over year later . All new 1sgt CO and XO . When I reported back in . Long hair and all 1st Sgt ask if he could help me . I told him who I was ,and he looked surprised. Your the one no one has ever seen.
That's correct. He next statement Get a haircut and proper uniform You patrol supervisor on 3rd shift starting tonight.

 

[Coop45]

There was always the possibility of stealing a revolver off the air wing guy in the Seaknight when he was distracted shooting his .50 into the LZ. But it was an antsy time for us too.

 

[Barry the Bear]

My father in Vietnam carried his ruger Blackhawk in .357 but when I was in, there was no way to do that.

 

[jstert]

a small, self-packed, old style, well-worn, locked metal tool box had room in 28 years of overseas govt moves for a variety of hand tools.


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[Deanimator]

When I was in the Army in the '80s, I carried my Series 70 Colt.

I also shipped my Ithaca 37DSPS to Korea in '80. I used it to teach the Korean civilian guards at Camp Howze how to shoot the Winchester 1200s that they were issued when their M-14s were taken away.

 

[Tallball]

"I do have two spare mags for my 1916 Lee Enfield. I'm not saying I found them in Baghdad in the spring of 2003. Just saying I have two spares."

Good for you! My cousin was over there in that time period and he is still annoyed that he couldn't bring any found items home with him.

 

[Nature Boy]

What's the point of war if you can't bring home some war trophies?

 

[eastbank]

on my brothers second trip to vietnam, i gave him a S&W blue md. 39 in 9mm and four boxes of winchester power point bullets as he was a E-7 it was not a problem going over or comming back at that time. after he retired i had the pistol engraved for him. eastbank.

 

[Bayoubulldog]

So many good posts here by veterans... not to derail anything, but thank you all for your service!

Back on topic, I'd always wondered about this topic! LE experience only, no military!

 

[TikkaShooter]

The serious disadvantage of non-issue calibers for military is where does one get ammo for it? The resupply bird doesn't bring it.

LE can buy their own ammo; WWII, Korea, Vietnam and the sand box were and are quite a different story.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Easy problem to solve -- I brought 5 100-round boxes of .357 with me my first tour.

 

[TikkaShooter]

Easy problem to solve -- I brought 5 100-round boxes of .357 with me my first tour.

Vern
Interesting answer. How did you get 500 rounds and the pistol on MATS?

500 rounds was an interesting load out. I imagine you carried less??

My first tour or so, I carried a Browning High Power and Swed-K or Port Said until plausible denial ability wasn't an issue.

I did know of one guy who carried a Ruger SA in 30 Carbine. As the ARVNs used 30 Cal Carbine ammo wasn't an issue.

 

[cvhjr]

In RVN in '69-'70 as USArmy MACV advisors (1Lt) we carried whatever we wanted. I carried a battlefield scrounged officers Chinese K-54 pistol but relied on my M-16 and other goodies in combat. We were not issued sidearms by the Army.


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[Sistema1927]

Folks reading this thread will find this from the NRA-ILA interesting:
https://www.nraila.org/articles/20160812/brit-gun-amnesty-gone-wrong

It isn't just US soldiers who are prone to obtain unauthorized weaponry.

 

[TikkaShooter]

cvhjr
In MAVC-V as RTs we carried what we where issued. As you know, there was 3 groups; CCN, CCC and CCS. Or Command and Control North. Central and South.

Depending on when you where there; SOG stood for Special Operations Group or Studies and Observation Group. The Spec Ops Group was the earliest.

In the early years, the standard issue for the RTs was a Swede-K or Port Said (which I never saw) and a Browning High Power. Clancy's book "Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces" has pictures of the typical load out.

http://www.modernforces.com/weapon_swedish.htm The whole claim to the Swede K's modern fame is SOG used it.

After the plausible denial ability era was over we were issued the CAR 15. The early ones lacked the muffler and were hard on the ears.

Hatchet Forces were different and they came later when "sterile" was no longer required. As I never worked with a Hatchet team, I am clueless as to what they carried.

Did that help?

 

[eastbank]

the aussies had plenty of 9mm ammo, they had a modified sten gun with the magizine inserted from the bottom. eastbank.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Interesting answer. How did you get 500 rounds and the pistol on MATS?

In my duffle bag.

500 rounds was an interesting load out. I imagine you carried less??

I carried an old-style first aid pouch full of ammo.

 

[jeepnik]

I noted two things regarding handguns.

First you could find the darnedest things in the darnedest places. An amazing plethora of stuff could usually be found (or contracted) right outside the gate.

Two, things got traded around, especially by those leaving. My first and really the only handgun I used (I did experiment with a Hi Power) was a Remington Rand 1911. A fellow leaving just handed it to me, I did the same when I left.

 

[WVGunman]

I'm a bit mystified as to why the military is so strict about this. As long as soldiers carry, use, and maintain their issued weapons properly, who cares what else they have?

 

[Dr.Rob]

I inherited a Colt Lightweight Commander carried by a 2nd Lt in Korea. He told me it wasn't a big deal to buy your own at the time provided it used .45acp ammo.. which limited your options. I got it from him in 1990 still covered in cosmoline by a quartermaster in Korea back in 1954 who confiscated the magazine as THAT might have been US property.

His name rank and serial # were on a tag attached through the ring hammer.

It cleaned up nice, I still shoot it.

Edit: Forgot to mention he also had a box of steel case (I think WW2) ammo. Think it just came home in his duffle bag. I foolishly shot it up and in doing so broke one of the bakelite grips.

 

[jeepnik]

Gets all mixed up with those pesky Hague convention rules. And, it's totally believable that in today's world the family of some terrorist is going to sue in US court for killing their loved one with an "unauthorized" firearm.

 

[FL-NC]

WV- a lot of reasons. Safety- as in, there are some guns out there that either due to design or lack of maintenance are unsafe, as well as the safety aspects of people carrying firearms that they are not trained on. Logistics, when it comes to parts, ammunition, accessories, etc. Legal- ITARS, and use of military ammunition in non-military guns. Also, I guaranty that at some point, someone is going to show up with a gold plated desert eagle in 50 cal, or something else equally impractical.

 

[X-Rap]

There are thousands of LEO who purchase and carry their own sidearms every day. Granted they don't have an unlimited range of choices but in most cases there is a reasonable variety of types and calibers.
I can see some logistic issues with parts but that could be all but alleviated with a simple parts kit. With modern package delivery I don't see ammo as a problem at all if USPS would allow in their flat rate boxes.
IMO it boils down to control.

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[Tallball]

My uncle said that they were SERIOUSLY STRICTLY not allowed to use AK's in The Nam because the sound was distinctive and it would draw friendly fire.