| From: | David Hinkley <dhinkley@***.ORG> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: [OT] Weapon damage (was Re: 3G3) |
| Date: | Thu, 25 Dec 1997 13:36:31 +0000 |
> I'm in DPM camouflage, on my belly, in a treeline. I paid proper
> attention to camming up my face, hands and personal equipment, too.
>
> How far away can you see me, even on a good day?
About as far as you can see me similarly attired, properly cammoed up
in the opposite tree line. Which means that first of us that
leaves his respective tree lines is likely to be dead. At which point
the shooter will likely be engaged by the other members of the dead
mans squad (soldiers tend to come in squads). The shooters squad will
start shooting. Now we are in a fire fight. Which weapon, assault
rifle (AK, M-16) or battle rifle (G3, M-14, M-1 FAL) is more
effective is a product of the terrain. I have trained on a wide
variety of terriain, some was quite open , 200+ meters between tree
lines and some that was very tight, scrub covered hill sides that you
spent most time crawling along game trails because it was faster then
brush busting. I have carried both types of rifles in both, while
the M-16 is lighter and easier to carry then the M-14, I still
prefer the battle rifle. I like that extra 200 meters of reach.
>
> One reason for the switch to assault rifles was the discovery of how
> rarely soldiers engaged effectively at anything much over 100
> metres. It's downright disheartening when actual versus theoretical
> accuracies are compared, and the rare occasions when soldiers had
> both targets at 400+ yards, and time and leisure to engage
> accurately, were too infrequent to make them a priority (rather than
> a nice-to-have - I can still hit a Figure 11 with ten of ten at 400
> yards, with an L85A1)
What is a Figure 11? In the US Army the standard target is a "E" type
(head and shoulders, waist up) and qualification is on a range of
pop-up targets running from 25 to 300 meters. One to three targets
appear at once the allocation is one round per. If memory serves me
the 300meter target appears 4 times. I normally hit it 4 for 4 with a
M-16. With a National Match M-14 I was able to keep them in the black
at 600 yards.
But choice of rifles aside, it is the type of training the soldier
receives, that conserns me the most, an individual that is taught to
shoot well and to a high standard can get more out of his weapon,
then a troop that is taught to put it on rock and roll and burn up
the ammo. One of the complaints I had with the Us Army was the lack
of range time with live ammo, 4 times a year does not cut it.
>
> If you've got unalerted enemy in the open, don't play sniper, call
> in mortar fire.
>
Only if the Artillery is busy with someone elses fire mission.
David Hinkley
dhinkley@***.org
******************************************************
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a
little temporary safety deserve niether liberty or
safety.
Ben Franklin
