Still "gittin' 'er Done!"

The "before & after" photos on this blog heading were taken 42 years apart. The first one was taken at Camp Pendleton, California in early 1967. The second was taken last year in our backyard here in Mountain Home.

Like most old war horses, I've put on some pounds and gotten grayer over the last 40 years, but the M-14 has not. It was my weapon of choice back then, and STILL is today.

Introduced in 1957 to replace the old M-1 Garand, the M-14 was essentially an "improved M-1" It fires from a 20-round magazine instead of an 8-round clip, and has a flash supressor, to be a little "stealthier" in subdued lighting. It is also chambered in the slightly smaller 7.62x51 (308 Winchester). The old Garand was a 30.06.

Apart from that, the "new rifle" was mostly still a Garand. Ruggedly-built, powerful even at long range, and EXTREMELY reliable, which is the first thing ANY combat rifle has to be.

Stateside, I had trained extensively with both the M-14 AND the older M-1 Garand. Within hours of when I first set foot in DaNang, I was issued this new "gee-whiz, black plastic, 22 caliber wonder weapon", the M-16..........which was supposed to be replacing our now "outdated" M-14.

There were still a few M-14's floating around over there, but all of us "replacements" were being issued this............this "Mattell-looking thing."

The "jamming" history of the M-16 in Vietnam has been well-documented, and many different causes have been named, like using the wrong powder, not chrome-plating the chamber, and other things.

The major problem though, and still IS even in Afghanistan, decades later, is that the gun was/is too precisely built. It was tested in very clean environments, and "sold" to DOD under the premises of being lighter in weight, due to all the aluminum alloy in it, and with the smaller .223 ammo, the troops could carry more ammo. And being able to carry more ammo is fine----------as long as the GUN keeps working!

But Mikail Kalashnikov knew, as did John C. Garand......combat rifles have nothing in common with the shiny new, gleaming Remington 270 you might want for Christmas. They have to LIVE in the field 24/7. They have to be able to perform reliably in snow, rain, mud, sand and who knows what else.

To DO this, it is critical that the moving parts have some "freedom" to move around in there. The M-1, M-14 and AK-47 all DO.............and they work just fine, know matter HOW dirty you get them. These weapons were well-thought-out and purposely built to "loose tolerances", so that nothing binds up from excessive carbon during battle.

Pick up a brand new AK-47 in any gun store and shake it. You'll hear things move around a little in there. That's by DESIGN.

ANYWAY..........back to Vietnam, it didn't take long to see the problems. Didn't take much to jam a '16.........even rain water during the monsoons.........this was one finicky piece. When they DID work, you sometimes had to shoot the enemy 2 or 3 times to take him off his feet. The 223 drills fast little holes through people, but that high speed 22 wouldn't always take "Charlie" down, before he could toss something back at you, especially if he might be hopped up on a little opium.

The M-14 was chambered in 308 Winchester, which will put an ELK down and flatten any mule deer at 600 yards. North Vietnamese soldier?....no problem.

The turning point for me came on Hill 861 at Khe Sanh, during the initial siege, when my own M-16 says "I ain't workin' for you anymore, pal", and STOPPED about halfway through an ejection. While I was desperately trying to clear it, I caught what was either an AK-47 round or a piece of exploding shrapnel through the top of my helmet. An inch or so lower, and I wouldn't be writing this blog. The Corpsman treated the gash this next morning, and I'm here today to tell about it.

I left my "stuck rifle" out in the dark, and scurried down the trench. I was still bleeding but able to function ok, and jumped into a bunker with a guy from 2nd Platoon, who'd been firing from his position with one of the few remaining M-14's in "K" Company. I told him my '16 had quit, and could I somehow help HIM?

"Yeah.....Keep my empty mags loaded for me."

When it finally got light, everything had pretty much settled down, and they DIDN'T overrun us as they had originally planned. We eased out from our positions and covered the hill, checking out the dead & wounded on both sides. Not surprisingly, my M-16 wasn't the only one on that hill that was laying on the ground, jammed............and some were still in the hands of dead Marines. That M-16 was a costly little "rifle" (to this day, I still use that term loosely).

I picked mine up, went back to my own hole, and by the light of DAYLIGHT now, took it apart, cleared the jam, cleaned & oiled it as we normally did, and got it working again. Passing by the bunker of that 2nd platoon guy later that afternoon, he was cleaning his M-14-----------STILL ankle-deep in empty brass from it, the night before. It was filthy now, but had never missed a beat all night, (as you'd expect from a Springfield).

Talking a bit with him, I found out that if and when we ever got back to DaNang, he'd be rotating home, his tour of duty would be up. For the next 3 months, I never let that guy out of my sight---so to speak---and when we finally DID get back, I traded my rifle for his at the Armory before he got on the plane.

Technically, the gun was supposed to be handed in, because they wanted EVERYBODY "weined" off the old gun, and on the "same sheet of paper" with this new one. But the guy at the Armory didn't care, as long as the guy going home had SOMETHING to turn in. He just changed the numbers on our issue cards and that was it. (this was long before the days of "political correctness" you might say-------we went by our own rules most of the time).

So, my "2nd Platoon buddy went back to the states", and I had a DEPENDABLE rifle for the rest of MY tour. My main function had always been the bazooka I carried, but only for the long range or hardened implacement shots. The rest of the time, your rifle was your immediate "go-to" weapon, and everybody took their turn at patrol duty and night ambush.

We already knew how good the AK-47 was. The few we had captured were long-abused and some nearly rusted shut, but still fully operational. You couldn't GET one dirty enough to quit.

Although skirmishes were fewer and farther in-between for me, over my last 4 months, the M-14 was still a sheer comfort. It was about five pounds heavier than the M-16, but it worked! And......when you're packin' 70 or 80 pounds of gear anyway..........who cares! The gun WOULD be there for you if you needed it!

Ammo for it was never an issue either, since our M-60 machineguns shot that same 308 cartridge.

The only problem I ever had with it was when it was MY turn to rotate back to the states. You had to turn in your weapons before they took you out to the big "freedom bird."

Knowing the M-14 was being phased out of the Marine Corps, I offered Battalion S-4 $500.00 for a rifle I KNEW the Navy Department only paid $168.00 apiece for.

No go.

Why not? "You guys are just gonna toss 'em in a warehouse somewhere, and they'll either get chopped up or collect dust"

Some officer told me that the main problem, was the full-auto selector, which technically makes it a machinegun.

"So have your armorer WELD IT SHUT! I want this rifle!"

No go. So I got on the plane the next day and left.

Three years ago, at one of our Khe Sanh Survivor's re-unions, a few of us were having coffee, and the subject of privately-owned weapons came up. I remember one of the guys talking about how 40 years ago, they trusted us with Cobra helicopters, F-4 Phantoms, tanks, machineguns, mortars, grenades, flame-throwers (and in my case, bazookas).........they supplied us with all the ammo and backup we wanted, and we could create all the mayhem we wanted with the "government's blessings' and get PAID to DO it!

.............today........here in the "land of the free.", they don't trust us with a .22........without paperwork, registration & background checks...........just something to ponder.

ANYWAY.............Springfield makes "M-14's" for civilians, if you want to lay out a few bucks for one. The Feds made sure it could NOT be built with a selector. They call it the M1A now. Built from the same blueprints as they did originally, it is still an M-14, (except for the lack of a selector and a bayonet lug).

The "later" photo on this blog heading is a brand new M1A from Springfield. Everytime I take it the the range, it's like a re-visit to Camp Pendleton, the scent of linseed oil in the stock like the perfume of your first girlfriend.

PS..............for the record, even the MILITARY is finally doing a bit of a "re-think." As we speak, they've been raiding the warehouses for the last few years, resurrecting and reconditioning old M-14's for sniper and special ops use in Afghanistan. They are also very popular now with the Navy SEALS.

I would LOVE to know whatever happened to old number 1159313.