M14 Forum

Albud3

Nov, 1980, FT Dix, NJ. Going thru basic training when our company was tasked with Post Magazine Guard. Received quick 15-20 minute course on shotguns, went to arms room and was issued an old, beat-up 870 riot gun. Armorer slid the slide half-way back, barely looked at the chamber and gave me the gun. I racked the slide back hard, shook out an old paper-hulled 00 buck round, turned to my DS and asked if it was normal to issue loaded weapons out of the arms room. DS proceeded to chew-out the armorer for failing to check the weapons properly. I got rewarded by becoming the "Supernumerary" for that mount; sat around the warm guard room drinking coffee, watching TV and BSing for twelve hours.

Gray Mane

Carried a Mossberg 590 multiple times. Used it for breaching and less than lethal on the SRT and patrol supervisor carried one in their patrol vehicles while working the road. Also had them in OIF 07-09 didn't see much use though except with our gunners who used the m for less than lethal.

sgtterry309

Yep, used Remington 870's as an Armory Guard in the '90's.

CPTKILLER

We had a bunch in my infantry company when I took over when the old CO was relieved for incredible stupidity on his part. We had everything from a Winchester Model 97 and practically every other type in the military. Essentially most were not on the property book in Vietnam.

I traded a bunch of Kabars (also not on the books) to a ARVN LTC somewhat we could use his range for everything from LAW training to weapons qualification. It was sad because most ofmthe young troopers were clueless about LAWs. It was even worse with shotguns. My company had the majority of the troops drafted from urban areas. I found out that their platoon SGT was loading their weapons & chambering a round. Beyond that the kids from the cities treated it like a single shot shotgun. They had no clue how to aim it or chamber the following shells.

We took care of that in an ARVN rifle range outside of Danang. I had the entire company requalify with everything from 1911's to LAWs. It amazed me how poorly trained these E-2 & up EM were. I had to train them on the fly & it worked. The late Vietnam War draftees were not well trained in Basic or AIT prior to getting in country. I did the job of the Drill SGT's in a war zone. All of the Platoon Leaders, 1st SGT, & I were close. It really disgusted us with their insanely poor training. I also restructured the company. The old CO had an all Black Platoon, an all Puerto Rican Platoon, an all White Platoon, and ome mixed with White & Mexican American. It was so and that the Puerto Rican Platoon, most of the soldiers couldn't speak much English at all.

Putting the troops in mixed platoons worked out better & eventually resulted in better company performance. I also had a number of E-5's who had been in country for 5 years plus with families in Vietnam. They were my best intel.

When we were planning to stand down, the Easter Invasion kicked off. They sent several squadrons over to stop the invasion. A Marine LTC (A4 Squadron) remembered my company's reputation for scrounging. His squadron arrived with zero small arms or edged weapons. We had enough shotguns, M-16's, M-14's & 1911's to take care of their needs. The Squadron Commander told me that he'd plan to carry a Model 97 in his A4. I bet ejection would have been interesting with a shotgun in an A-4.

gryan

I was in an armor unit in the 70’s. We had a few Win 1200s with 00 buck for guard duty. The dang things were unserviceable in every arms room I ever took over.

CPTKILLER

My infantry company was one of the first in Vietnam and one of the last to leave. The unit must have had some designated scroungers. When I got there, we had close to double the # of 1/4 tons. The same was true with every weapon in the TOE. We had "extra M-16's, shotguns, 1911's, bayonets, Marine Kabars, & about anything you can imagine". I traded a few bayonets so that I could upgrade and improve unit effectiveness on am ARVN rifle range.

Some of the guys with shotguns didn't understand how to use them at all. We trained and trained. It turned all of the urban guys into shotgun troopers. I was quite surprised how ignorant those men were prior to training.

During the Easter Invasion in Vietnam, we were preparing for an Armor attack (since I'm still here it didn't happen). They rapidly shipped a Marine A4 squadron from the West Coast. My company's scrounging reputation saved their bacon. When they got to Danang, they realized that their small arms never made it. My company before my tour was with the Marines at Khe Son. The squadron commander looked us up and said he needed help. Our reputation for scrounging was well known. I had my supply Sgt. bring out all of the weapons not on the property books. We stacked up a very large pile of rifles, pistols, edged weapons (some looked like WW1 bayonets) and a few other items. The squadron commander spotted a Model 97 shotgun and grabbed it up. He said that he planned to carry it in his A4. The pistols include several revolvers that I didn't know that we had. It was a case of one unit helping another. They were happy and we managed to get rid of a lot of excess weapons.

CharlieEcho

I recall them using shotguns at Tustin MCAF in 69. It was believed rifles would, or could do more damage to the aircraft if they were used than a shotgun. There were a couple of organized rabbit hunts when I was there and shotguns were used for that too. I do not know what models.

While Sgt. of the Guard at NAS Glenview we had shotguns available for use though not carried, and the SOG carried a 45. To the best of my "recall" we had Ithaca and Remingtons. All were parkerized and looked nearly new. I once got a look-see into the Navy Armoury in hanger one at Glenview. I recall shotguns, Thompsons, Carbines and Garands. On one wall I recall seeing the machine guns and I believe there were 30cal's as well as 60's. The Marines had 14's for parade. This was around 1971.