M14 Forum

hamchuck

First, I love boonie hats too, but in these days of relatively comfortable and lightweight helmets, is there any reason NOT to be wearing the thing?

Second, and I don't mean for this to turn into a bash of any rifle type, but he seems to be spending more time un-screwing rifle problems than anything else. Crappy magazines, maybe?

http://www.military.com/video/operat...1323763405001/

All that said, whoever they were shooting at, I hope they pasted the living snot out of them.

Quicksilvergoat

Piss poor weapons maintenance is my guess first and foremost.

RAMMAC

They break up your outline better then a hard hat.

Beavis1971

+1 On piss poor weapons maintenance.

leadbug

Well I have a different opinion on just piss poor maintenance. That is exactly why I refuse to own or depend on that platform.

That is just the nature of that beast.

jbrooks

Those weren't exactly aimed shots, either...

JWB

82nd ABN

Reminds me of my M16 I was issued. POS. however the AR-10 and Ar-15 I built I have not had one FTF or FTE yet knock wood. Just used and abused.

hamchuck

No argument there, but so does a 7.62 to the noggin.

RAMMAC

Whatever, it's neither here nor there. You and I weren't there so our opinions don't matter. I was simply pointing out the fact of why some people, and more often than not special ops types, prefer soft hats. If I were sneekin' and peekin' I would probably wear the soft hat because the bad guys can't hit what they can't see. If you are stealthy enough they will never see you and wearing the soft hat is stealthier than a hard hat.

Besides, hard hats are irritating, hot, sweaty, and they always seem to be in the way at the worst possible time. They can also make sound direction a little tough because things tend to echo a little. They take a lot of getting used to. Soft hats are so much more comfortable, lighter, and easier to pack around.

brycom1

He was having one helluva time getting the rifle to operate. He was pretty much out of the fire fight which is a bad thing.

RAMMAC

Check out more of the videos from that site and you'll notice a lot these guys just sending lead down range without aiming. I don't know if they were just trying to suppress the bad guy's fire or just trying to look good for the camera. Maybe the old Spray and Pray technique is back.

I watched one video where they were firing across a river and the impacts from their auto weapons were so far apart that there was no way you could ever hit a point target. Either some of these videos are staged or there is a some pretty poor weapons discipline going on out there.

Of course I don't really have any business criticizing anybody, I'm not the guy sitting in the dirt and ducking incoming fire.

brycom1

I would consider that moderatly aimed fire. Not like the videos of the vietnam guys just dumping their mags over their heads in full auto.

I'm no vet but I have read and heard that the GIs going into WWII had to be somewhat "untrained" to fire at enemy that they can't see.

How they explained it was that you had to concentrate a certain volume of fire on a area to keep bad guys down, so you could out maneuver the enemy.

If I was him I'd probably do the same thing.

hamchuck

All true, but if you get a chance, check out the newer-model Kevlar being issued these days. They're a long ways better than the old PASGT kevlar, and probably light years better than the steel pots. With bits of, say, worn-out uniform scraps stuck on them, we could find both of our concerns are solved.

bigbang

An ambush is an offensive operation. You choose the time and the place and surprise factor is on your side. No need for rapid fire when you have an optic sight on your rifle.
Wolf

M1A's r BEST

The weapon/caliber used doesn't make you a better rifle shooter.

I carried (as did everyone else in my outfit) and M14 while I was in the US Army. During one ARTEP my squad leader came to me and my buddy and told us that the next exercise was a timed road march followed by a live fire exercise. He wanted me and my buddy to concentrate on the long range targets while the rest of the squad engaged the closer targets.

When we got to the range they explained the exercise in more detail. The long range targets ended up being as far off as 350 meters/yds?? across a field in the tree line from the majority of targets that were around an APC fairly close to the firing position. Up to that point not a squad that had been through the exercise had hit all the targets. We did. Everyone had M14's. They just didn't know how to shoot them. Heck, 350 yds. ain't very far away.

All those lasers, optical sights, free float tube, heavy bullets, etc. don't make up for learning how to judge distance, compensate for it with hold over/hold off and shoot smaller groups.