Weapons of Vietnam



The Vietnam War was a harrying experience for both side with tremendous loss of life on ours. This war was fought in jungles by sneak attack or bold charges. Both sides depended on there weapons in combat, they had to trust them and care for them or else they were finished. Below are some of the weapons the U.S. and the Vietnamese used .
Weapons of the U.S.
Automatics
The M3a3 Grease gun looked like a grease gun used for inserting axle grease into, You guessed it, axles, hence the nickname. They held 20-30 rounds per clip. Its caliber was a powerful .45. It was an automatic weapon and was favored by some for that specific trait.	A grease gun with its clip.
The M-60 was a general purpose machine gun used often in many different attack situations. It was belt fed, gas powered and fired about 550 rounds a minute. Each belt of ammunition could hold almost any number of bullets. It could be fitted with a bipod or tripod. While it was a solid machinegun the weight of the ammunition limited what could be carried onto the field, therefore limiting its use.	An M-60 ready to go.
The M-16 was the machine gun that replaced the M-14(info on the M-14 is available farther along in this report.) It weighed 6.6 lbs, was 36.6 inches long and had a pistol grip. It could fire rifle grenades and .45 caliber bullets. It was also a selective-fire gun, which means the user could chose between a fully automatic weapon or a semiautomatic weapon. The definition of semiautomatic is when bullets pop out as fast as you pull the trigger. It had initial jamming problems, but those were cleared up later, soldiers with this problem simply learned from experience to fill the clip to 27 or 28 rounds instead of fully filling the clip.	MAN WITH M-16
The Colt Commando was a smaller version of the M-16 that saw heavy usage in close range combat. It held about 30 rounds and weighed about 6 lbs. It, like the M-16, had a pistol grip and could fire on full automatic or semi-automatic. Its butt could telescope, and "It was 30.9 inches long when the butt was out and 28 when it was in."
The M-14 was a commonplace site until later replaced by the M-16. It had an optional bipod as well as a rifle fitted grenade launcher that slowly replace the m-79 grenade launcher. Its range was about 200 meters without the bipod fitted, And about 460 meters with it fitted. it weighed about 1 2 lbs and held about 20 rounds.	Soldiers on patrol with M-14
Guns that made big booms on both sides
The T21 was an anti tank weapon that fired an HE or high explosive round and saw heavy usage in 'Nam. Its Rate Of Fire or ROF, was 5 rounds per minute or 5 rpm. Its penetration power on a moving object was about 230mm of penetration, and its powers of penetration on a still target was 650mm. Its was mainly transported by truck and so was pretty much limited to roads.
(to the right is a B10) This large weapon was often used to assault the American tanks that passed near. Its caliber was 82mm and it weighed about 72,2 kg. it fired a HEAT, HE, or a high explosive round (they are all the same thing). It was operated by a crew of 4 and was usually towed behind a truck it usually had its wheels removed when it was up on its tripod.
The B11 was yet another anti-tank gun that saw heavy use in Vietnam. It fired a He or high explosive round and was breech-loaded like a shotgun. It had the GODLY range of 6650 meters. Its Rate Of Fire (ROF) was 5 rounds per minute. Its penetration over all was about 380mm of armor. It had motor car wheels, but these proved so awkward to have on that the where only used for transportation and never for firing off of. It weighed about 305 kg and had the powerful 107mm caliber.
!!!!The Howitzer!!!! This weapon was about the only useful artillery weapon we had and as such, it was often used to assail enemy positions. Its caliber was 105mmm giving it a hefty package to deliver, combined with an ROF of 5 rounds a minute it provided steady and reliable fire. It was often called to launch many different ammunition types but mainly fired a HEAT round. It could be towed by truck but was light enough to be deployed by a helicopter, so this thing could most any where.
And last but Not least the M-79 grenade launcher (above) . While it wasn't an anti tank weapon this still packed a hefty punch, by firing a 40mm grenade between the min range for a mortar and the max range for a thrown grenade this thing had a range of up to 300m and the unbelievable kill radius of 5m. Now lets do the math a 40mm grenade which is TINY, explodes and that kills most Anything in 15 feet. This powerful gun was light weight, only weighed 1 1/2 Lbs. The BOOM and the weight made this weapon favored.
Jon Pierce 8th American History Rossville Jr. High Post-World War II America Project May 2002	BIBLIOGRAPHY