A Troop 4th Squadron, 12th US Cavalry, 1st Brigade 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized)

WEAPONS & AMMUNITION Return to Tools of the Trade index

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A

1919 30 CAL. Machine Gun: Used on early models of the M48 tank as coaxial machine gun.Mills

1911A1: 45 Cal. Semi-auto pistol. Mills Uses .45 caliber bullets with an 8 round clip. Only used on Semi-Auto, a very powerful handgun and was very popular in the U.S. Army.Coop

82mm Mortar: Manufactured in North Vietnam and is a copy of the US 81mm MI Mortar. Very popular with the VC as it could be broken down into three one-man loads.Coop

175mm gun

175mm Gun:The projectile for the 175mm weighs 147 lbs and the projo for the 8" weighs an even 200 lbs. The range of the 175mm gun is 32,700 meters and the 8" is 16,800. Good
Skee's photo of 175 firing

AK-47

AK: 7.62mm assault rifle: The Soviet version was easily recognized with its high front sights, large selector/safety switch on the right side and the long, curved banana magazine, and wooden buttstock. The AK-47 is a gas-operated, magazine-fed rifle which has a semiautomatic rate of fire of 40 rounds (effective range about 400 meters), increasing to 100 rounds on fully automatic (effective range about 300 meters). It has a 30 round detachable box magazine. Renowned for it's durability, the AK-47 is shorter and heavier than the M-16 but with a lower rate of fire and muzzle velocity.Coop
Photo of Dan (Dirty Dan) Lohman with a captured AK also holding an M79 Grenade Launcher Trooper Dan Lohman took AK from NVA duing one of A Troop's first sweeps on the DMZ (Dan went into a bunker and dragged this NVA out after disarming him) - this took place late '68 or early '69.Coop

ARTY: Artillery Coop

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B

BEEHIVE: A tank or artillery round filled with flechettes which could be set to detonate at a pre-determined range. Rather than cannister rounds which began spewing out their flechettes as soon as they left the muzzle of the gun, a Beehive round could go a kilometer or two and then detonate just before it got to a group of enemy soldiers and spray them with hot steel.Good

BOUNCING BETTY: Antipersonnel mine with two charges: the first propels the mine upward and the second one is set to explode at waist high. Coop

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C

C-4: Plastic explosive; burns like sterno when lit and was used to cook with in the field.Coop

CANISTER: Tank, Anti-personnel round. Used for close in troop support. Mills

CLACKER: Hand-held firing device for claymore mine. Coop

claymore

CLAYMORE: M18A1 Claymore antipersonnel, portable, tripod-mounted mine. Claymores were frequently used to form a perimeter around the troop's Night Defensive Position. When triggered by a tripwire or a manually operated clicker, the mine released a charge of 700 steel balls in a 60-degree arc, with an effective range of about 50 yards. Coop

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D

DAISY CHAIN: Several claymore mines connected with demolition cord (Det cord). In the troop, most tanks and PCs would have at least 3 daisy chains in front of them at night in the NDP. Each daisy chain usually had 1 claymore angled to the left, one straight ahead, and one angled to the right. Good

DUSTER: Twin 40mm anti-aircraft guns mounted on an M-47 tank chasis. Mainly used for guarding bridges or perimeters of firebases, the duster could put out a huge volume of HE rounds out to a distance of about 5 kilometers.Good
The twin 40 were mounted on the old M41 light tank hull. In the 50"s Recon Units had the M41s. The M42 Dusters were used as Anti aircraft guns. sgt B

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E

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F

FLARE: Illumination projectile; hand-fired, mortars, air or artillery. Coop

flechette

FLECHETTE: Small dart-shaped projectile clustered in a canister round ( Tank or M79). Choice of weapon for close in action. Coop

FOO GAS: a mixture of gasoline and powdered laundry soap. Foo Gas was mixed and put in metal artillery containers and placed in front of the bunkers. The mixture was detonated by a blasting cap and worked much like napalm. Taylor

FRAG: Fragmentation grenade. Coop

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G

GANGBANG: Claymore ambush. An unmanned or mechanical ambush using claymore mines, an old PRC-77 battery, and a home-made trip wire device to detonate it. Since we don't know who might visit this web site, I won't go into the details of how simple this effective device was to set up.Good

GARAND: M-1 RIFLE.Coop

GREASE GUN: 45 Cal. Full Auto weapon, issued to tank crews in case they had to dismount and leave their tank.Mills Uses .45 caliber bullets, a maximum capacity of 20-30 rounds per clip. Only has a full auto mode. Usually found with Tank crews.Coop

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H

HE: High explosive (Tank, Mortar and M79 rounds).Coop Story and photo of 81mm HE round Photo of tank HE round

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I

ILLUM: An illumination flare (hand held Ð mortar Ð artillery). Coop

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J

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K

K-BAR: Combat knife. Coop

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L

LSA

LSA: Lubricant, Small Arms. Used as an all purpose lubricant for weapons. Tillman Practical application report from Sgt. Barrows: "I found a case of popcorn in an abandoned bunker at Cua Viet while we were pulling duty there and when our platoon had gone back across the river, I decided to pop some corn. Having no pot, I fired off a box of .50 cal for a container and used a little LSA for oil to keep the kernels from burning. Then I hit a hot butt to the C-4 and enjoyed fresh popcorn."
Barrows, 1st Plt 69-70
Trooper Reflection: "I kept mine in a metal canteen by the .50 cal. Everything went fine until the day I took a drink out of it by mistake. No, I didn't swallow, I spit it out, but do you know how long it takes to get rid of the taste of motor oil. As I recall, the men on my track thought it was pretty funny that the LT had screwed up again." Charlie Brown
Cooling a .50 down Coop

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M

M 1 CARBINE: Uses .30 caliber bullets with a maximum capacity of 15-30 rounds. The M1 only has Semi-Auto mode.Good M-2 CARBINE: 30-Cal. M-1 Carbine with a selector lever to chose from Semi or Full Automatic mode. In full automatic the M-2 had a cyclic rate of fire of 650-750 rounds per minute. Mills

155mm howitzer

M109 155mm:artillery weapon which lobbed shells through indirect fire over a long range Good Go to our web page for the M109

M 14 RIFLE: Uses .308 caliber bullets with a maximum capacity of 20 rounds at a time. It can be used on Auto or Semi-Auto; this weapon is accurate but very heavy.Good

M 16A1, 5.56mm ASSAULT RIFLE: This is the weapon most commonly associated with US troops in Vietnam. The 5.56mm M16A1 is a gas operated magazine-fed (maximum capacity of 20-30 rounds) capable of semi-automatic (3 round burst) and automatic fire with an effective range of 300 meters and a practical rate of fire of 60 rpm.Coop

M-2

M-2

M-2: The M2 .50 cal. was developed as a WWII anti-aircraft weapon, introduced into service in 1938. This makes it the oldest weapon still in the Army's inventory. Tillman and Earl (40) Ma Duce, the mother of all machineguns. The incomparable Browning .50 Cal. M-2 HB. Mounted on the TC hatch of tanks and ACAVs, it put out a tremendous amount of firepower, and was quite reliable.Good You could also dismount the .50 using a tripod. See photo of Don Walker (photo also shows an RPG screen, a 155 and an M548). Taylor
50W: Crankcase oil; a container of 50W was kept handy to cool the M2 down. When the M2 .50 cal. got heated up we would pour the 50W direct on the barrel to cool it down (when you first poured in on the barrel it would throw off a lot of smoke and sometimes a flame would flare up Ð real cool looking at night). Upon resuming firing of the M2 you would have to watch out for the hot oil splattering all over you. Duke and Earl (40)

M60

M-60, 7.62mm GPMG: The M60 general-purpose machine gun proved its mettle in countless combat situations. Gas operated, air cooled, belt fed, and with a quick-change barrel to counter overheating during sustained firing. The M60 has a practical rate of fire of 200 rpm (550 rpm maximum) and effective range up to 1,900 yards. The M60 could be fired from a bipod, from the hip, or mounted on a track. With the bipod the M60 weighs 23 pounds and combine this with the additional weight of carrying extra ammunition you have perhaps the greatest limitation while carrying one on patrol.Coop

M 72, 66mm LIGHT ANTI-TANK WEAPON (LAW): Primarily carried by the Infantry, the LAW was designed as a discardable one-man rocket launcher weighing 5.2 pounds complete. In Vietnam the LAW was used almost exclusively as a bunker buster or for attacking entrenched enemies. When carried, the smoothbore launcher tube was carried closed and was watertight. In action, removing safety pins opened the end covers and the inner tube was telescoped outwards. This cocked the firing mechanism. Held over the shoulder, aimed by the simple sights, the weapon was fired by pressing the trigger button. The LAW fired a 1-kg rocket to a maximum effective range of 300 meters. The rocket motor was fully burnt out by the time it left the launcher and resulted in a large back-blast danger area behind the firer. Once fired the tube was discarded.Coop

M-73: 7.62 mm coaxial MG on M-48A3 tank which replace the 30 Cal. On earlier model M48's.Mills

M-79

Duffy holding M-79

M-79: U.S. military hand-held grenade launcher. Coop Go to our web page for the M79

MARKER ROUND: First round fired by mortars or artillery. Used to adjust the following rounds onto the target. Coop

mortar

mortar

MORTAR: Muzzle-loading cannon with a short tube in relation to its caliber that throws projectiles with low muzzle velocity at high angles. Coop Go to our web page on the Mortar.

How cool all that shit was

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N

NAPALM: Jellied petroleum substance, which burns fiercely and is used as a weapon against personnel. Coop

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O

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P

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Q

Quad50

Quad50

Quad50

QUAD-50: An anti-aircraft weapon consisting of a powered mount which the gunner could rapidly elevate or rotate, with four M-2 .50 Cal machineguns mounted to it. Used primarily for convoy escort and bridge or firebase security. With all 4 machineguns firing at the same time, concentrating a high volume of fire into a small area, they were quite effective at discouraging the enemy from continuing an attack.Good

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R

RPG: Rocket-propelled grenade; Russian-made portable shoulder fired anti-tank grenade launcher. Coop

RPG-7 ROCKET LAUNCHER: The RPG-7 (CHICOM Type-69) is muzzled loaded, shoulder fired antitank grenade launcher. The VC and NVA used the RPG-7V, a Soviet produced short-range, anti-Armour, rocket-propelled grenade, from 1967 against armored vehicles, defensive positions, personnel and even helicopters. This smoothbore, recoilless weapon consists of a launcher tube fitted with a simple iron sight or more sophisticated telescopic range-finder sight, and a HEAT rocket grenade projectile with a caliber of 40mm. The RPG-7 has an effective range of 300 meters against moving targets and up to 500 meters against stationary targets. The projectile explodes either on impact of at its maximum range of 920 meters. Coop

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S

satchel charge

SATCHEL CHARGE: Explosives pack used by the enemy that is dropped or thrown. Coop

SHAPED CHARGE: Explosive charge, whose energy is focused in one direction. Coop

SHRAPNEL: Pieces of metal sent flying by an explosion. Coop

SIMONOV 7.62mm SELF-LOADING RIFLE (SKS): A 7.62 mm semi-automatic carbine with an effective range of 400 meters, the SKS has a 10 round magazine and an rate of fire of 30-35 rounds per minute. The SKS resembles a conventional bolt-action rifle but is equipped with a folding bayonet under the muzzle. Used extensively by the VC, it weighed 3.86kg and a muzzle velocity of 735 meters per second. Coop

SMOKE GRENADE: Grenade that released brightly colored smoke only; used of signaling. Coop

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T

TRACER: Round of ammunition chemically treated to glow or give off smoke so that its flight can be followed (Great for walking you weapon fire into a position). Coop The tracer has a hollow portion inside the copper cover. When the round is fired it ignites this material. Some rounds e.g. Duster 40mm had tracers that were multi-colored and burned out at different ranges so the anti-aircraft crews could judge the range to the target.ÊÊ Jerry Malan

TRIP FLARE: Ground flare triggered by a trip wire used to signal and illuminate the approach of an enemy at night. Coop

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U

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V

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W

WILLY P: meant white phosphorus a particularly nasty type of incendiary that looked like a puffy cloud with harmless looking "fingers" emanating from the explosion. If it ever got on your skin, it would burn to the bone, and water didn't affect it at all. Usually used as a marker for air support.Pineapple

white phosphorous

WP delayed fuse at 75m out Skee

WILSON PICKETT: Another slang name for white phosphorous.Good

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X

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Y

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Z

ZIPPO: Slang for flame thrower (mounted on track or backpack carried by a trooper). Mills

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This site is in no way connected to, or sanctioned by, any official Army or Government entity. This is, and will be a work in progress; we apologize now for any errors and/or mistakes. Information for this site has been and will continue to be gathered from many different sources. It is intended as a place for fellow troopers, family and friends of A Troop 4th Squadron 12th Cavalry (Vietnam Era) to visit, seek contact with, gather information or some insight into the history, language and jargon of the people who were part of A Troop, then and now. A Troop 4/12 Cav (Vietnam Era) invites and encourages trooper's family members to participate in the troop's reunions, memorial services, remembrances of our fellow troopers who have passed on to Fiddler's Green, and to continue the camaraderie of the BROTHERHOOD....Long Live the Cav and its BROTHERHOOD!!