A Troop 4/12th Cav

WEAPONS & AMMUNITION        Return to Tools of the Trade index

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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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K

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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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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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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!!