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With the idea of press-ganging Marv into making a Funny New Guys character, I decided to look up the loadouts for the various weapons carried in Vietnam.
What I'd found in my research into the web gear made me think that 9 20-round magazines were carried for the M16.
He's saying they lugged around 20.
He's also carrying 200 rounds of spare ammo on 10-round clips.
Plus 200 rounds for the M60.
I'd encountered the carrying ammo for the M60 before.
I'd made characters who lugged around ammo in their packs to reload magazines later, an idea that Willard dissuaded me of, but it persists.
But, he was there, I was not.
Now I'm trying to figure out HOW he carried 20 magazines. 1 goes in the gun. A magazine pouch will hold 4 each. An ammo bandolier has 7 pockets and each will carry one magazine. Three pouches and a bandolier will do it.
That bandolier came from an ammo can and was packed with 14 10-round clips.
I wonder if he was really carrying 140 spare rounds instead of 200 in clips.
Also of interest is the grenadier carrying 25 40mm grenades. The standard bandolier carries a whopping 6. A vest would tote 24. There are many bags available to carry them around loose though.
Most photos of grenadiers in 'Nam I've found are wearing the same LBE as the other grunts, and that makes me think that some were carried in the standard ammo pouch; 2 easily, maybe 3 but you'd need a DX roll or a Fast-Draw -4 to get just one out without pulling all three out.
This dude can lug around 30 grenades with his vest and bandolier.
FWIW, Claymore bags were prized after the mine was expended, because a grenadier could tote about half to a dozen loose 40mm rounds in one, and fit a couple of the larger smoke/flare rounds in the flap pouches.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the canvas butt pack coupled with a GP strap also made a handy grenade tote bag, for both 40mm and M33 "lemon" grenades.
The usual answer was "Claymore bags".
ReplyDeleteThere's even a claymore bag in the illustration.
ReplyDelete