Tales From the Front

Whilst following up on all things MT I came across this:

http://emtrf.co.uk/index.php?f=articles/armstrong_MT500-Sandy_Sanders.html&x=articles

I found it mildly diverting - I just like the idea of plonking a green 19
year old on a bike, pointing them towards a war zone and saying "Get on
with it".

 

Well, replace "bike" with "gun" and it's business as usual.

 

Love the bit about losing the ammo, then the gun.

 

An excellent read.

 

Simon's a man. He won't cry. The bleeding's likely though...
especially when putting the studs in the tyres or when the studded tyres
run over someone.

 

Heh, amusing that was. Fucking typical of those incompetent c*nts in the SIB to
accuse the poor bugger of selling the rounds. They wouldn't know their arse
from their elbows most of the time.

That does remind me. One of my tuits for this year is the UKRM website.
Articles welcome now (Dodger, can you send some of your RBR articles?). I think
a website revamp is definitely needed. Pointers to templates would be welcome
too.

 

I've been in the same boat with losing ammo - while skiing on Mt Pale
in Bosnia my magazine (from 9mm Browning in a shoulder holster.)
dropped out of the magazine after a fall. Got to the bottom of the
slope and checked it in a panic, found the mag missing and spent a
very frantic half an hour looking for it back at the crash site.
Finally found it hanging in the fold of the jacket where the bottom
was tied tight with its drawstring - missed it in the panic which was
a bit of a fuckup given how heavy 10 rounds and amag are.

I seriously crapped myself...

 

You've never heard of buckshee rounds. ;-)

Seriously though, the SIB must have had a field day when the SA80's came in to
service.

 

Exactly; it's more likely the locals would offer to sell him some.

 

****, now that reminds me of a film scene where one or two particularly
incompetent gun users kept dropping the mags from their pistols.

 

Cos they were shit?

 

There's always some enterprising soul in every unit who has a stash of
ammo saved from a live firing exercise or traded for this and that.
Depending on how many mags he lost he should have been able to replace
them fairly easily on camp in a few hours without resorting to
informing the MP or SIB

--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Inter-Continental Hyperbolistic Missile , CBR600F-W racebike
in the making, TS250C, RD400F (somewhere)
BMW E46 318iSE (it's a car, not one of those 2-wheeled pieces of shite
they churn out)

 

Grimly Curmudgeon wibbled forthrightly:

Were?

 

Scraggy wibbled forthrightly:

That's a whoosh then. Specifically for the 5.56mm bit.

 

Summat about popguns, yeah?

 

This?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EM-2_rifle

Relatedly.
I recall the FN SLR as being the first 'modern' rifle the British Army
got, in my childhood. It's always seemed rather special to me, but then
again, I'm just an old softy.

A nice account of it.
http://www.cybertorpedo.com/africanhunter/firearms/fn_slr_rifle_01.htm

 

Brought back a few memories of playing at soldiers on the odd weekend.

Interesting bits:

"The safety catch on the S.L.R. is definitely superior"; though I can
recall waking up in my sleeping bag with a rifle that was loaded with
blanks and was also cocked, only to find that the safety had got
hooked (again) into the Very Unsafe position. Scary thought.

also:

"If your rifle refuses to cycle, no matter how tightly the gas
regulator is closed, your gas tube is most probably cracked"

or more likely, you've put the gas plug in upside down....

 

I recall a real-life scene wher an Unnamed TA soldier took part in a
FIBUA assult on a house. He vaulted gazell-like over a low wall, but
caught his magazine on said wall. There was a "Sproing!" as the bottom
of the mag pinged off, followed by a slow rattle as all the rounds
cascaded out....

 

Scraggy wibbled forthrightly:

You lucky bugger. I only played with Lee Enfields in the ACF. I don't
ever recall seeing an SLR. And I'm younger than you by quite a margin.