"The speed with which tactical forces forget the main lessons from their collected experience, particularly those pertaining to weapons usage, would be difficult to overstate." -- S.L.A. Marshall, Commentary on Infantry Operations and Weapons Usage in Korea, Winter of 1950-51, p. 15
Folks,
I was invited into a new friend's basement the other day to visit his ammunition hoard. It was impressive by newbie standards: about 2,000 rounds of 7.62x39 for his AK clones, 1,000 rounds or so of 9mm for his pistols; 250 rounds of 12 Gauge 00 buckshot and slugs for his Mossberg 590.
It was all stacked nicely off the floor on shelves, cardboard box after cardboard box. Not a steel ammo can in the place. Nothing in bandoleers and stripper clips. No combat harness, load bearing vest, no means of keeping hios weapon shooting and him in the field if necessary. Nothing.
Sigh.
I gave him a gentle lecture on combat packaging, the probable need to displace to somewhere uncomfortable, and the wisdom of not putting all of his eggs in one basket, i.e. caching techniques.
Long time readers will recall I beat the logisitics drum frequently. Well, it is time to repeat some things. Here are some links:
5 April 2008, Strippers.
12 April 2008, Riflemen.
27 November 2008, Praxis: Small Unit Logistics.
20 December 2008, Praxis: "Packaging is everything."-- Stripper clips, bandoleers, magazines, ammo cans and crates.
I thought I had one on caching, too, but couldn't find it so go here for a copy of TC-31-29/A Special Forces Caching Techniques.
There is some duplication and repetition here. All newbies should read them anyway.
Mike
III
12 comments:
Caching ammo and supplies is absolutely necessary. The only things one should keep at home should be 1 rifle and handgun per family member, and enough ammo to carry (200-400 rounds). Thousands of rounds of ammo stored in basements can't serve it's purpose if it's abandoned or confiscated.
Thank you for posting these links to previous articles. Being a "Prime newbie" at all of this, I'm sure they'll instruct me!
Jim
III
Dumb question. I have a few 5.56 rounds that are on some sort of strip. Is this for loading into an AR-15 magazine, or is it for some other weapon?
I guess my question is, I have a limited supply of AR-15 mags. How do you reload those in a hurry?
I keep almost all of my loaded long-arm ammunition in bandoliers and belts and belt pouches.
Pistol ammunition, I always keep them ready in speedloaders (I am a revolver guy :D) .44 Special for plinking and home defense, .44 Magnum for wilderness survival and hunting.
Not keeping all your eggs in one basket...Excellent post and excellent advice. It's like building an interstellar, expeditionary-cruiser class spaceship. You would never situate the ship's computers, lifesystem, weapons, fuel, and propulsion all in one compartment. A single disastrous anomaly, gravitational fluke, or outburst of radiation, would instantly incapacitate the ship and it's crew. The ship's engineer would design the vital systems and separate them, so they are still linked to each other, but are separate entitites operating independantly. That way, the ship would be strong enough to take many hits, and still survive.
Giraffe -
No question s dumb; no three per center should ever look down on another, for we all realize that each of us is continually learningm and each of us also enjoy sharing with others. We ARE in this together, in the most real and serious sense.
That said - I hope that Mike or someone can jumo in with good info for you, as it is kind of a mystery to me. Sounds like they re on little 'rails' called 'stripper clips'm but stripper clips are most often designed to reload an enclosed / internal magazine,,, to very quickly slide the cartridges down into the internal magazine well of boly action rifles, so that the rounds do not have to be fed in one at a time.
I suppose that, if one could block the magazine follower of a removeable magazine open, holding it down with something, then one could perhaps slide rounds from a stripper clip down into a removeable mag but it seems that it would be more complicated than worthwhile.
So... anyone want to step up here?
Qi Ji Guang said...
Pistol ammunition, I always keep them ready in speedloaders (I am a revolver guy :D) .44 Special for plinking and home defense, .44 Magnum for wilderness survival and hunting.I'm more or less a revolver guy too but I've learned to love the auto too ever since I discovered the Guradian .380 for Summertime CCW.
Glad to see another .44 Mag devotee. I think I have about a dozen speedloaders for my N-frame.
Unfortunately, Remington ceased making my favorite load for it years ago.
They used to have a 210gr SJHP with a MV around 1450fps. Remington's ability to bond copper to lead is amazingly good so that loading would expand extremely well while retaining most of its weight.
I've found I can come really close to the same ballistics of that factory loading with 25.3 grains of WW 296.
I've not found any other factory 210gr with as good a bullet design moving at that velocity.
I'm just glad to see there are others who carry wheelguns.
I'm sure there are others,but in this day and age of high-cap autoloaders,it's nice to know I'm not alone.
I've got a few of the others myself,but i'm most comfortable with six.It's what I grew up with.
CIII
No argument here about revolvers! I bought my first one so my girlfriend would have something to shoot when we went to the range.
I was stunned at how accurate it is.
Even firing full-load 357 magnum rounds, I can easily get them all "9-ring" at 20 yds, the limit of the range I go to.
And they're easy to keep clean, and will probably never break.
The Ruger single actions were the first thinng that caught my eye when I was looking around for pistols.
Ever since, I came to think of them not only as combat and defense handguns, but an extension of marksmanship. When wielded and used correctly, a low powered .44 Magnum or a standard .44 Spcl cartridge can be accurate as far out as 100 yards and beyond.
I am not that familiar with semi auto pistols but I would definitely want to get some basic training and knowledge of them.
I am also glad to see other fellow wheelgun enthusiasts in this camp!
Qi Ji Guang said...
When wielded and used correctly, a low powered .44 Magnum or a standard .44 Spcl cartridge can be accurate as far out as 100 yards and beyond.
[SNIP]
I am not that familiar with semi auto pistols but I would definitely want to get some basic training and knowledge of them.
I am also glad to see other fellow wheelgun enthusiasts in this camp!
I used to show off at the range by toting 6 gallon jugs of water out to 100 yards and astonishing onlookers by picking them off one at a time slow fire, single action.
It's not a CQB weapon at all but the .44 mag is a great long-term survival gun as it's packable for quick defense and can also take opportunistic shots at game.
I'm a wheel gunner because my learning path was an old Model 10, followed by a 686 then the 629 classic. Sold each to upgrade to the next. Wish I'd never have done that now.
A great way to get started learning the auto pistol is a Ruger MK II.
I've got a few of the others myself,but i'm most comfortable with six.It's what I grew up with.Yep. I have a 1911 and some others but if I absolutely want to be certain I'm going to score hits. I take the wheel gun.
I need to get me a 4-5 inch .357 (both mine are snubbies) and start shooting IDPA or something like that.
"I have a few 5.56 rounds that are on some sort of strip. Is this for loading into an AR-15 magazine?"
More than likely, yes.
You load the strips into a device called a "stripper clip guide" that slides onto the rear of the AR magazine.
You then push the cartridges directly down into the magazine, then repeat the process until the magazine is full.
It takes practice to do it smoothly, however. The guides themselves are readily available at just about any gunshow or military suplus store.
That being said, you should also seriously consider a "LULA" magazine loader that makes loading single rounds a snap into an AR mag, as well as making unloading incredibly easy.
They also offer a "StripLULA" loader that is probably far superior to the standard GI guide.
http://maglula.tripod.com/lula.htm
http://maglula.tripod.com/Striplula.htm
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