Soldier thoughts on their weapons

[VOR]

The pictured Romanian PSL/Romak is an ak with larger parts. The action is mechanically identical.

[Suave]

Yep and it fires 7.62x54.

[VOR]

It certainly does. Also chambered in 7.62x51.

[VOR]

I am also tracking the sale of an AK-74 chambered in 6.8 SPC. AK's are also of course chambered in 5.56. At any rate, caliber is irrelevant. They're still all Kalashnikov pattern rifles, i.e. AKs.  

[Charon]

You guys call em Hadji's these days... We called em Rags back in 82/83...
And again in 90/91... I'd be over there with ya now if I wasn't too old...
A troop should fight with the same weapons that he trains with... Its a confidence issue...
In 83, before the barracks bombing, we took small arms fire on a daily basis. The usual Rag tactics... They pop out and empty a Mag at ya, then hide again... Behind those mud brick walls... I'm sure you know the ones that I'm talking about, they're everywhere.... We took a few casualties before we had permission from the Peacekeeper Chain of command, to return fire.... Well, the brand new 16a2's that we were issued were finr for a little while.... Made the F*$Ker's bleed too.... But it didn't take long for them to move back out of range.... Beirut was a mess, shelled by the Isrealis daily... So there was blasted buildings and rubble that they would hide in, just out of reach... Their fire was inaccurate but a major pain, ya know? After some major *****in from NCO's on the parimeter posts... Our company CO had a shipment of 14's flown in on CH53...Some of us older Recon guys had experience with em.... So we put them to good use... One guy would drive them out of their firing position buy pumpin 7.62 in the area...After a couple shots, the 7.62 would penetrate the walls... And the #2 guy would be waitin to pop em when they showed themselves... Worked well too... So well, that the F***er's hit us with a suicide bomb....
Lost many of my friends there, and never got any payback....
I have a little exp too
Semper Fi

I though the A2 entered service FY 1984 with the Marines. The initial order was placed in November 1983 for 26,068 rifles (a month after the barracks bombing) with the first 1500 rifles purchased being sent to USMC Marksmanship Training Unit at Quantico for use in matches in January of 1984.

Charon

[SKJohn]

This is slightly off topic, but something I've often wondered about lately:

Many times on the news, I see US troops going out on patrol, etc., and it appears that some of them are carrying AK's.  Are these issued for easy ammo availibility?  Or perhaps picked up as "battlefield trophies" and used for the larger caliber and better stopping power than the M-16?

I seem to remember that in WWII, using the enemies weapons was discouraged because the sound of one would draw friendly fire.

Does the US military now issue or condone the use of captured weapons?

Again, just something slightly related that I've been wondering about. . .

[OdinGrunherze]

The A2's first started showing up in July 83, in country.... I was soft on the exact date, so I called an old buddy who was there as well.. his recollection is similar to mine... But we had the A2's before the bombing... I remember soaking them in 145avgas to soften the cosmo.... They were BRAND SPANKIN NEW.... Everybody wanted one, not every body got one tho....

OG

[VOR]

SKJohn, they are not issued except to special troops and for limited purposes, and the ones issued are usually captured weapons maintained in unit arsenals. The practice of using enemy weapons picked up is generally frowned upon and sometimes expressly forbidden, but it really depends on the unit as to whether or not it's enforced.

[tedrbr]

What VOR said there, SKJohn.  
If you've seen pictures of coalition troops headed out of the wire with AK's, my guess they were probably actually:  1 - Private Military Contractors, that yes, do buy local AK's for their job. 2 - Operators for Spec Ops, but then, you should not be seeing pics of them at all.  3 - Detached soldiers or operators working and training alongside Iraqi soldiers (MiTT's or SF Green Berets for example), which then often use the same weapons and rounds that the Iraqi's use.  Easier to operate if you don't have many weapons with many types of ammo requirements for small units.

AK's are taken as trophies in country by soldiers, but most often do not make it back stateside, unless as part of a Company's or Battalion's trophy for display.

Now, there have also at times (OIF-II) been ammo shortages experienced by troops (often National Guard or Reserve troops it seems....grrrrr....) in country, where sometimes, illegally, and unofficially, said troops will augment their issued weapons with local weapons and munitions (Russian PKM and over 1,000 rounds).  But then, if said troops could have gotten their weapons' basic load requirements and resupply in the first place...... this would not have occurred at all.  By OIF-5, this should not be an issue any more.

But, in general, it is not the practice for common soldiers in country to make use of non-issue (but not necessarily un-modified) weapons.

[68Hawk]

I've been wondering about the 6.8mm as well.  It sounds like a nice compromise, but I don't know enough to properly evaluate it.  

I gotta say, I've heard so many mixed things about M16 reliability.  I've seen it happen with my friend's AR that he takes immaculate care of.  Not that I'm an expert, or that I'm knocking it.  I've just heard a lot of things.

A high quality AK in 6.8mm with a better sight on it?  That sounds real nice.  Warm for happiness.

BTW, good source VOR.  I look forward to digging into it.