Author Topic: Military ammo question (Read 1266 times)

Mustaine · « **on:** July 19, 2006, 12:31:31 PM »

has anyone here been in actual combat?

here's why:

how many magazines do you carry going in for your rifle?

when ammo is dropped at the supply depot are the magazines filled already?

what exactly comes in an ammo box?

the reason I ask is i was out having a smoke thinking about "when we were soldiers" the movie and the helo dropping off ammo boxes. those flat wooden crates with rope handles on each end. is it just raw bullets packed in those or actual filled magazines ready to use? I know bullets aren't "light" so i was thinking how many does a typical combat soldier carry starting out? you can fire off 1000 rounds easily in a firefight I am guessing, and what does a mag hold? 30 rounds? thats 33 mags. that's got to be 50lbs or more.

Monk · « **Reply #1 on:** July 19, 2006, 12:41:58 PM »

Carry as much as you can. You can never have enough.

Dichotomy · « **Reply #2 on:** July 19, 2006, 12:48:01 PM »

My brother in law told me when he was loaded out with his SAW he was carrying over 100 lbs. I'll see him this weekend and get a more specific answer to your question if it's not already done by then.

AquaShrimp · « **Reply #3 on:** July 19, 2006, 02:05:57 PM »

In Vietnam, you filled your own magazines from a big box of bullets. 15-20 magazines of 18 bullets (weapon might jam if 19 or 20 rounds were loaded) was a standard load. Sometimes troops would carry up to 40 magazines.

BlueJ1 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 19, 2006, 02:10:08 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by AquaShrimp
In Vietnam, you filled your own magazines from a big box of bullets. 15-20 magazines of 18 bullets (weapon might jam if 19 or 20 rounds were loaded) was a standard load. Sometimes troops would carry up to 40 magazines.

Filling the bigger magazines to the max will make the spring inside weaken and also increase the tendency for jam or along those lines. Had a Marine tell me that when we were cleaning M16's. Im pretty sure he knew what he was doing seeing he just got back from a tour in Iraq.

rabbidrabbit · « **Reply #5 on:** July 19, 2006, 02:12:50 PM »

usually the rounds come in cardboard boxs on stripper clips. The boxes are in cloth bandoleers and those are contained in metal ammo boxes which can be crated. You load your own mags. You take what you want to carry or what you are ordered to carry. rule of thumb is as much as reasonably possible especially if its a movement to contact.

Mustaine · « **Reply #6 on:** July 19, 2006, 02:51:06 PM »

so in a firefight it may be where you are crouching and snapping rounds into a mag?!

jeebus with the advancement in technology and everything you'd think there would be no need for that.

BlueJ1 · « **Reply #7 on:** July 19, 2006, 02:55:43 PM »

You fill your mags up bfore you leave. But Im sure your "group" will bring along extra full mags. Depending on how long you will be out in the feild you might bring along a few ammo cans full of the individual rounds to refill your mags.

Automatic weapons such as .50 cals and M240 have their ammo come already together.

Maverick · « **Reply #8 on:** July 19, 2006, 03:08:39 PM »

Ammo redistribution is a normal task after a contact has ended. Some will have used a considerable amount of ammo and others not. Ammo is carried for replenishment in cases or boxes but it will not be already packed in magazines. That would make the ammo heavier and bulkier to transport, not a good situation. It's the individuals responsibility to top up his own ammo supply / mags and the NCO's responsibility to see that the individual does so.

BlueJ1 · « **Reply #9 on:** July 19, 2006, 03:12:48 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Maverick
Ammo redistribution is a normal task after a contact has ended. Some will have used a considerable amount of ammo and others not. Ammo is carried for replenishment in cases or boxes but it will not be already packed in magazines. That would make the ammo heavier and bulkier to transport, not a good situation. It's the individuals responsibility to top up his own ammo supply / mags and the NCO's responsibility to see that the individual does so.

Yup.

I meant by "your "group" will bring extra full magazines" by that each individual will carry more for himself.

Edbert1 · « **Reply #10 on:** July 19, 2006, 03:16:13 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Mustaine
so in a firefight it may be where you are crouching and snapping rounds into a mag?

The strippers make that easier/faster than you might think.

Mustaine · « **Reply #11 on:** July 19, 2006, 03:18:36 PM »

I guess I am just suprised that in 33 years I have never seen that issue brought up anywhere in my life. of course hollyweird would never show someone reloading in a war movie

well you learn something every day.

rabbidrabbit · « **Reply #12 on:** July 19, 2006, 03:24:28 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Edbert1
The strippers make that easier/faster than you might think.

Dang straight! Never forget to bring your favorite stripper along to reload your mags! They do have other uses too when they are not busy reloading.

Edbert1 · « **Reply #13 on:** July 19, 2006, 03:41:59 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by rabbidrabbit
Dang straight! Never forget to bring your favorite stripper along to reload your mags! They do have other uses too when they are not busy reloading.

...and would that be helping you unload your gun?

CptA · « **Reply #14 on:** July 19, 2006, 03:54:17 PM »

Having just come home from Iraq, I can tell you that in the U.S. Army, the official standard basic issue is 7 (30 rd) magazines per soldier armed with a 5.56mm M16 varient (M4, M16A2, M16A4), for a total of 210 rds per soldier.

However, as others have pointed out, soldiers find a way to "acquire" as many as they think they will need, or can physically carry. I personally never left the FOB (Forward Operating Base) without at least 14 filled Magazines...twice the official basic load. Some were carried in pouches attached to my MOLLE (Load Bearing) gear, while others were carried in a ruck or other bag.

In addition to our personal basic loads, we carried 25-30 additional filled spare magazines in ammo cans on each of our vehicles, and several thousand rounds of additional "loose" ammo (also in cans) for reloading magazines.

Replacement ammo was issued to us in a variety of packaging depending upon what the ASPs (Ammo Supply Points) in our area had available.

In the familiar wooden cases, you almost always found the usual NATO metal or plastic cans, filled with either cardboard boxes of pre-filled 10 rd stripper clips in cloth bandoliers, or separate 20 rd cardboard boxes in bandoliers without strippers.

5.56mm Ball and Tracer was issued separately, and had to be mixed 1-in-5 and loaded into strippers and magazines by hand.

As we always loaded our own magazines, the strippers were preferred, but because of the demand, they were less likely to be issued. Most often we would receive 20 rd boxes that we would then load into re-cycled strippers ourselves for future convienience.

We also carried FRAGs, Colored SMOKE, Thermite, Flash-Bangs, and AT-4s.

Finally, on each of our vehicles we had several thousand rds of spare belted (disintegrating link) ammo for the vehicle mounted crew-served weapons, be it 7.62mm (M240b), .50cal (M2HB), or 40mm (Mk 19).

None of this is unique to Iraq, as this is the way the U.S. Army has done it for all of my 26 years of service, and from what I've read or heard from those who came before me, that's the way it's been done since at least the 2nd World War.

There's nothing glamorous about Warfare, it's an ugly, dirty, miserable, business.

God Bless the USA!

CptA