It doesn't make any sense how automatic fire is allowed. The average US infantryman carries 210 rounds of ammuntion. An M16 can clear a 30 round magazine in just under 4 seconds. 210 rounds is 7 clips, 7*4 is 28. In 28 seconds a soldier can completely exaust his ammunition supply, if you don't factor in the time it takes to reload.
Absolutely, but you won't be sitting there just holding down the trigger with the barrel pointed in the general direction of the enemy. In the average firefight you're typically going to be firing in one of three ways depending on the situation, the enemy's tactics, your ammo state and the fire control orders given by your Section/Squad Leader (SL): - 1. short, controlled bursts of no more than 3-5 rounds (with sufficient training this is easily achieved) 2. double-tap - firing one round at the enemy immediately following it up with a rapid second shot, you typically aim a little lower than normal on the first shot (again with sufficient training this is easy to achieve, even more so now with 5.56mm, I learnt on 7.62mm NATO) 3. single, well-aimed shots
If the Section/Squad is firing at a distant target that is unlikely to be hit by single shots, the SL may order the entire group to fire short bursts onto the target. The idea is not so much to get killing shots from individual riflemen (because the distance would be negatively affecting the ability to clearly sight the target), but to put enough rounds downrange that some injuries or deaths are likely to occur. It's basically using the entire Section like it's a machinegun.
There's a few harsh realities about infantry rifles and their affect on a war in the modern day: - 1. Most enemy deaths are not caused by riflemen using their issued weapons, something like 60-70% are caused by explosives and shrapnel. Individual riflemen account for something like 20% and the other 10-20% is from various means such as burning, asphyxiation, crushed by falling debris, being run over and so on 2. Most modern armies work on the principle that you will use up the greater portion of your ammo in just one firefight, then you will stop somewhere safe to get a resupply from your Company supply. After a few more firefights, the Company will be getting it's own resupply from the Battalion or Regiment ammo supply.
Ugh.... all that waste just disgusts me... Those tactics may be well and good for an occupying force, but that's going to be terrible if we have to fight an extended frontline war. Especially when you couple that with the face the US uses, or was using as of 2005, 250,000 rounds for every insurgent killed. http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2005/050925-israel-bullets.htm
Joined: Apr 2010 Gender: Male Posts: 1,888 Location: The Mojave Waste Karma: 23
Re: Guys, firearms are ilegal here !! « Reply #16 on Jan 9, 2011, 3:51pm »
Pump-action shotguns(or .22s) are pretty good to have. Also I still say look for loopholes in the laws or things the laws don't cover. And see if you can get a license to have semi-autos and full-autos, I plan on getting a ffl and class 3 license later on when I get the money(25,000 starting then 5,000 or so every year after). Also see what the laws are on explosives, while I doubt you will be allowed them you should still check. Also look into getting into reloading, that will save you a lot of cash. And if you can get it, get a SKS.
Ugh.... all that waste just disgusts me... Those tactics may be well and good for an occupying force, but that's going to be terrible if we have to fight an extended frontline war. Especially when you couple that with the face the US uses, or was using as of 2005, 250,000 rounds for every insurgent killed. http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2005/050925-israel-bullets.htm
Yeah that's the big joke about "modern" warfare, it is probably the most wasteful event we can engage in. Just the amount of fuel used in a typical tank battle would keep some communities running for months. For example, the M1 Abrams has a fuel capacity of 500 gallons and it will uses all of that to travel just 290 miles.
In the past, even to the time of blackpowder weapons, troops in the field could still be fairly economical to run (they'd hunt & forage to supplement the supplied food for example). These days, everything you can think of to run a modern army is likely to be flown into the warzone (or for the heaviest gear, sent by ship or rail transport) and some nations, such as the USA, have a policy of accepting that anything that enters the warzone is likely to be damaged or lost so a replacement will be considered even before the loss/damage has occured. The amount of wastage is staggering to comtemplate but we as a species seem to love finding more and more technological ways to kill each other. We in the Western World will happily send a multi-million dollar aircraft, using thousands of dollars worth of fuel, to drop $20,000 bombs onto a mud hut worth 20 bucks.
Ugh.... all that waste just disgusts me... Those tactics may be well and good for an occupying force, but that's going to be terrible if we have to fight an extended frontline war. Especially when you couple that with the face the US uses, or was using as of 2005, 250,000 rounds for every insurgent killed. http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2005/050925-israel-bullets.htm
Yeah that's the big joke about "modern" warfare, it is probably the most wasteful event we can engage in. Just the amount of fuel used in a typical tank battle would keep some communities running for months. For example, the M1 Abrams has a fuel capacity of 500 gallons and it will uses all of that to travel just 290 miles.
In the past, even to the time of blackpowder weapons, troops in the field could still be fairly economical to run (they'd hunt & forage to supplement the supplied food for example). These days, everything you can think of to run a modern army is likely to be flown into the warzone (or for the heaviest gear, sent by ship or rail transport) and some nations, such as the USA, have a policy of accepting that anything that enters the warzone is likely to be damaged or lost so a replacement will be considered even before the loss/damage has occured. The amount of wastage is staggering to comtemplate but we as a species seem to love finding more and more technological ways to kill each other. We in the Western World will happily send a multi-million dollar aircraft, using thousands of dollars worth of fuel, to drop $20,000 bombs onto a mud hut worth 20 bucks.
Bullseye. In 1997 I was still in the U.S. Army. I was stationed at Fort Drum, New York. I was assigned to the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry). My battalion was the 110th Military Intelligence Battalion.
Anyway in September of that year we spent a couple weeks in the field doing live fire small unit training. We were really focused on break contact drills. I was a team leader at the time. I was responsible for three soldiers. We had three M16A2 rifles and one M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (5.56mm NATO). My team alone probably went through 1,500 rounds of 5.56mm.
Near the end as teams completed their scheduled iterations they were helicoptered back to the garrison. My team was literally the last team scheduled to go through the night fire training. As a result there were three teams and the range staff waiting for darkness that last day. We had done all of our scheduled shooting.
Well guess what? The new fiscal year (budget) begins every October for the United States Federal government. This range was being done in September. That means a very hard look is taken at how much a unit has expended. If a battalion returns a surplus of ammo then that means the unit will get less ammo for the next year.
The officer in charge of the range realized we still had a large amount of ammo left over and the range was basically done. Part of the idea of the live fire training was to provide training (of course) but to also burn up all that ammo that the battalion had so carefully hoarded. So the ammo necessary for fifteen soldiers to go through their training that night was pulled out. We were then put on line and given the rest of the ammo to expend.
I think I alone went through three or four hundred rounds. I simply lost count. And I was going back and forth between semi-automatic and three round burst. My rifle was amazingly hot by the time I was done and it was also a mess. I must have spent a couple hours cleaning it before I fired it again.
We were literally cutting down small trees downrange. Now that is what I would call resource expenditure. It was at that point I began to understand that the best armies in history have been well lead, and trained, but also the best equipped and supplied. Since I was a shooter I also realized that we had literally sent a bunch of money downrange.
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