Weapons of Vietnam Part I

I've been meaning to submit something like this for several months now. In the past few years, I've developed a strong interest for the Vietnam War, and the weapons used are no exception. I'm going to be doing a series of some of the main firearms used throughout the war, and the type of firearm that this piece focuses is on are the rifles used.

Starting from the top to bottom, I will give a brief description of each rifle.

American Rifles

M14 battle rifle: Production began in 1957; the M14 has the reputation of being the American service rifle with the shortest field use. It was the standard issue combat rifle to U.S. troops during the early stages of the war. It's very similar to the M1 Garand in terms of operation, but with many modifications, most notably a detachable magazine and a selector switch. The intention of creating a selective-fire (semi-auto/full-auto) battle rifle was to reduce the number of different small arms in a single rifle platoon. The M14 supposedly had the characteristics of an M1 Garand, a Browning BAR, and an M3A1 "grease gun." The M14 was supposed to replace all these weapons as a practical and versatile battle rifle. This rifle used the powerful 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge, and it has a rate of fire of 700-750 rounds per minute. Because of the power of the 7.62 round, it was really hard to control the M14 when shooting it on full-auto; there was alot of muzzle climb, so it was almost impossible to get good accurate shots on a target. Also, because of the size and weight of the 7.62 NATO cartridge, a soldier could only carry a small quantity of ammunition, and when firing the rifle on full-auto, all that ammo would be gone almost instantly, and with little to no hits on the target! The rifle itself was too heavy and cumbersome to manuever through the jungles; it was a good rifle, but it wasn't practical for front line military use and the ever-changing battlefield.

Colt AR-15/M16: Designed by Eugene Stoner, the M16 was a revolutionary weapon; it was the first rifle to use the AR-15/Stoner design, it was the first rifle to use the 5.56x45mm cartridge, and it was the first rifle to use parts made of forged aluminum and plastic. When it was officially adopted in the mid-1960s, it was advertised as a "maintenance-free, self-cleaning rifle." The rifle proved to be effective in trials and it had outstanding ergonomics, and troops liked the M16 for its sleek new design and light weight, but shortly after it was issued, lots of problems occurred. In the heat of battle, rifles tended to jam and breakdown after a short period of time. When an M16 would jam too much, some soldiers just resorted to tearing down their rifles right there on the spot in the middle of a firefight in the most inconvenient of settings, where they would try to unclog their rifles by hand. Many soldiers ended up getting killed as a result of their faulty weapons, and the M16 got a bad reputation. The problems with the M16 were traced to three main causes; ball powder ammunition, lack of maintenance, and the fact that the barrel lining, chamber, and bolt group weren't chromed. The original ammunition formula was designed to use a more costly stick powder, but at the last minute the formula was changed to use a cheaper ball powder which supposedly could increase the effective range of the bullet. In turn, the residue created from this cheap powder was what fouled up the gun and caused alot of clogging in the chamber and bolt group. On that note, the pressures built up from the gases of the burning powder increased the rate of fire of the rifle, which caused a decrease in accuracy. The lack of maintainance was a result of the rifle being advertised as a "maintenance-free, self-cleaning rifle." Because it was advertised this way, troops weren't trained to clean and properly maintain their rifles, and so cleaning kits weren't issued. The lack of a chromed barrel lining, chamber, and bolt group caused the gun to break down and foul up quickly. Chroming the chamber and bolt group helps prevent wear and corrosion, and the M16 wasn't initially designed with a chromed chamber.

Colt M16A1: After the problems with the original M16 were realized, the military developed an improved version. The M16A1 (the 'A' stands for 'Advancement' ) had significant improvements over the original M16; the military switched the ball powder formula back to the original stick powder formula. The chamber, bolt group, and barrel lining were all chromed, and they started training soldiers to properly clean and maintain their rifles. The M16A1 featured a cavity in the stock which was used to store the necessary cleaning supplies. It also had a closed "birdcage" flash hider, which was an improvement over the original M16's opened three-prong flash hider.(when a soldier would be trekking through thick jungles, the open flash hider on the original M16 tended to get caught on thin vines and grass and other jungle vegetation, which may not have been problematic, but it could get annoying, so the closed "birdcage" flash hider on the M16A1 resolved this frustrating problem) The M16A1's most notable improved feature is the addition of a forward assist on the right side of the receiver. Whenever the rifle fouled up, the return spring wouldn't have enough pressure to push the bolt carrier forward, and the rifle could only fire when the bolt carrier and bolt group were in the forwardmost position. The forward assist is a button that is used to manually realign the bolt group in the forwardmost position and ram it back into battery in case of foulings or stoppages. The M16A1 managed to redeem itself among the troops, and was given the nickname "The Black Rifle" and "Vietnam's Heaven-Sent Child." It may not have been able to save the United States from defeat, but it continued to remain in service, and the Colt AR-15/Stoner design that the M16 and M16A1 use are still used by the U.S. military and several law enforcement agencies, and the M16 series have become some of the best assault rifles in the world. The M16A1 has a rate of fire of around 700 rounds per minute and still used the 5.56x45mm cartridge, which today has become the standard to all NATO rifles.

North Vietnamese and Vietcong Rifles

SKS Simonov: The Soviet Union's most popular semi-automatic military rifle. Most of the weapons used by the North Vietnamese military and the Vietcong came from the Soviet Union or other communist countries, the SKS was no exception. It was the first rifle to use the Soviet Union's intermediate M43 7.62x39mm cartridge. As with many other Soviet smallarms, the SKS was also manufactured in other Warsaw Pact and communist countries.(alot of SKS carbines were made in Yugoslavia and China) The SKS was gas-operated, tilting bolt, and it had a 10-round internal magazine that was fed from a large stripper clip. I don't know if the Vietcong or the North Vietnamese used the SKS in large quantities, but they still used them. Here's an image of a typical Vietcong soldier with an SKS carbine: [link]

AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle: Designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov and adopted by the Red Army in 1947, this is the Soviet Union's signature firearm and chief export; the Vietnam War was the first conflict to see major use of the AK-47. Just like the SKS, the AK-47 was another mass-produced smallarm manufactured in many communist and Warsaw Pact countries. Quite a few variations of the AK-47 saw use by the Vietcong and North Vietnamese; this particular AK-47 is an AKS-47, an AK-47 with an underfolding-buttstock. The AK-47 and all assault rifles that use the Kalashnikov design have incredible durability and are really easy to use. They use the Soviet M43 intermediate 7.62x39mm cartridge in a 30-round box magazine, (sometimes referred to as a "banana magazine") with an average rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute. The controls for an AK-47 are so simple; the selector switch (which also doubles as a dust cover) is so elementary yet so effective. When set on safe, the switch just blocks the bolt from cocking the gun, but allows the bolt to be pulled back far enough to check the chamber, and switching it down one notch allows full-auto fire, then switching it down one more notch allows for semi-auto fire.

Type 56 assault rifle: As forementioned, the AK-47 was manufactured in several variations in many communist and Warsaw Pact countries. Although alot of AK-47s used by the North Vietnamese and Vietcong came from Europe, China was their main source of AK-47s. The Type 56 assault is, for all intents and purposes, the "Chinese AK-47." It is exactly the same design as Mikhail Kalashnikov's rifle, and it uses the same 7.62mm cartridge. It can be pretty hard to distinguish between a Chinese Type 56 and a Soviet AK-47. It has all the features of a generic AK-47, and is just as reliable and easy to handle. But at the same time, the Type 56 features all the disadvantages of an AK-47; strong recoil, poor accuracy, and bad ergonomics. But either way, the Type 56, like all other AK-47 variants, was an outstanding weapon and the North Vietnamese and Vietcong's weapon of choice. It's important to note a key difference between the Chinese Type 56 and the Russian AK-47, as subtle as it may be; the Russian version has an open front sight, where as the Chinese version has a hooded-front sight.

I know I left out alot of other rifles used in the war; I know the U.S. had some others that I didn't draw, and I know the Mosin-Nagant and German-captured Mauser K98s were used by the North Vietnamese and Vietcong. But I just wanted to focus on some of the main combat rifles used in the war. If anyone has questions, I'll be more than happy to answer, and I'll tell you whatever I know. I plan on making a Weapons of Vietnam Part II, don't expect one anytime soon, but expect one! Next up is submachine guns!

[link]
(Part 2)