Did some Spec Ops Units use the Model 66 in the Nam?

W

Will Beararms

New member
Maybye I am mistaken but I think I remember seeing operators with Model 66's in a Richard Marchenko book. I am curious how they (the 66's) worked in this application if I am indeed correct. Thanks.
 
Last edited:
Spec ops get to use anything they want.

These S&W revolvers may not have been issued by uncle Sam. It is very likely that these S&W M66 revolvers were personal weapons taken to war from back home.
 
I have no reference but I thought the stainless Smiths were introduced in the middle/late `70s which would be right after Nam. So another question. When did they first come out?
 
I dimly remember drooling over them in catalogs during my high school years, which ended (mercifully) in '74.

If they had them, it probably wasn't official issue.
 
A LOT of unofficial sidearms were carried during 'Nam; Magnum revolvers in particular were quite common (I would venture a guess that so-called tunnel rats might want something more powerful than a standard Colt 1911, since a pistol was the only weapon they carried).

SOG teams often brought along a .22 for capturing enemy prisoners when possible.
 
Thanks for the info. One would think the .357 Magnum would make an excellent sudden entry weapon against a small number. If anything at dawn and dusk, the muzzle flash would scare the body fluids out of em' any way.
 
Thompsons and Grease Guns were also good for holdin reville. Thompson available at least through 67. Grease Guns in both .45 and 9x19 available even later. (not both same gun, different guns for different cartridges.)

Sam
 
Striderteen

When I was in the 1st Cav in the late 60's, Model 10 Smiths "disappeared" from avation units and were used for tunnel exploration. Later other units found .22's to use for "tunnel rats". The folks who went into these tunnels wanted the least noise and flash they could get in these tiny enclosed spaces. A .357 firing full pressure ammo would be the last weapon i would take into a small enclosed area.

It should be noted that being a tunnel rat was not a full time job nor was there any training for it except in some engineer units. the responsibility usually slid downhill to the smallest guy in the infantry squad or platoon that encountered a tunnel.

In one of Marcinkos books there is a picture of some of his troops friing M-66's from baracade positions behind some large poles with the caption that his team had a larger allocation for training ammunition than the entire Marine Corps. Marcinko is a great guy and a fastastic teller of tales. His stories are so good that they should be measured by entertainment value rather than reality. I eagerly await his next book!

Yes, there were many unauthorized weapons in viet nam. During my three years there, two of those in a safe rear area job, I traded and accumulated many, including 2 thompsons, AK's, a Swedish K, and several Hi-powers, one of which I still have. One piece that I steadfastly refused to acquire was the M-3 Grease gun, even though I was offered one for a carton of menthol cigarettes.

A quick word about entering buildings in a war time sceanario. You DO NOT! and stay alive. The building is the object of indirect fire of any nature, then direct fire. Someone then gets close enough to then blow it up or burn it down with a WP grenade or a trip flare. If anyone inside is left alive, you kill them when they run out to escape the fire.

As I have posted before, the ideal handgun in combat would be NONE. They are usless. Use the weight to carry a couple of extra mags or a frag. Handguns are great when you do not need a gun, like walking guard duty in the motor pool or visiting the village to see the ladies, but a unneeded burden in combat.

Jay
 
dinosaur,

Smith & Wesson gave birth to the very first stainless
steel model 60 (.38 Special) in 1965. They weren't
plentiful; but still they existed. Ultimately, we refer
to it has a "stainless chief's special".

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, Life Member N.R.A.
 
Remember the scene in "Apocalypse Now"

Where the Chief Of The Boat is waving around a stainless S&W revevolver when the patrol boat stopped the sampan?
I know it was Hollywood, but the scriptwriters seem to have had some background info on those Riverene patroles.
 
According to the Standard Catalog...:

Model 60: 1965
Model 64: 1970
Model 65: 1972
Model 66: 1970

(Crimper-D: could have been nickel. ;) )
 
It must be selective memory loss then. I can remember about 1978 a friend of mine bought a Model 60 as an off duty piece. I shot it and didn`t like it. He was a corrections officer and they had more leeway than the NYPD afa off duty guns. Live and learn.
 
Team 6 used 66s for several years. However, Team 6 didn't exist during Vietnam. I'm sure some 66s made their way into the inventory in Vietnam, but probably didn't last long given the defects in the original design.
 
A guy that worked for my father-in-law's steel company in Shreveport, LA was a LURP. He refered to carrying a personal weapon as "rolling your own". This guy had a Hi Power that he used. I will ask him about the use of a Revolver in spec ops. He actually stayed in long after Vietnam and is under orders to this day not to write, speak or reveal any info about some of his exploits carried out after Kissinger sold us out in Paris.

Jay South is in the screws imo about a handgun but I am still curious as to how effective a .357 magnum would be in modern combat. One would believe that in a situation where there are no tunnels, it would offer great close-in knock-down power as a back up to a rifle or shotgun.
 
Will Bear Arms

Opinions are like noses, you have one, I have one, so does everybody else. Certainly, the last thing I want to do is to talk someone out of a closely held and highly cherished opinion.

However, in my personal experience as a young grunt in a hostile environment, a handgun is useless if you are in a situation where a real gun is needed, i.e. ground combat. Where most of your enemy contact is minefields, mortar, rocket and artillery shells that five pounds of handgun, extra mags, ammo, holster, and cleaning equipment does not even give you the comfort of feeling good about having it. When contact is closer, ambushes, etc., you want everything you can throw back. When SHTF big time, you do not need a personal back up, if you are still alive and unwounded, there are plenty of serious weapons laying around the battlefield, take your pick. If you were in a night defensive position and you fired a .357 mag. at something in the dark, your friendly platoon sergeant would kick your ass big time for giving away the position of the defensive line.

Having said that and having my personal opinion about the subject, were realistic training provided instead of famaliarization, I would feel good if the goverment gave every young groundpounder his choice of any hand gun that he wanted to carry and that made him feel good. However, at the present level of training, you would get more friendly fire casualties from mishandled handguns than casualties you could inflict on the enemy with handguns. Speaking of which, just how many enemy do you think get killed with handguns? It is a pitifully small number.
But I would support and sympathize with the grunt who wanted to turn his back after humping a month or two in the bush.

Jay
 
Seal 6 bought the S&W M-66 because they wanted the .357, and wanted stainless so they could swim with their guns. These early guns were almost 100% stainless, including the rear sight.

SEAL 6 and the other teams wanted a sure one shot stop weapon, and they were heavily influenced by early Spec Ops operators who used the Magnum in combat. The were very influenced by Roy Boehm, the SEAL founder, who's trademark was a .357. There are a number of written accounts of Army and Navy Spec Ops people using the S&W and Colt Python in combat.

After being screwed over by some fool years earlier, who bought the first SEAL teams S&W M-15 .38 Specials when they ordered .357 M-19's, Marchinko personaly ordered the M-66's from S&W.

By the time the M-66 was available, the last SEALS had left Viet Nam. Officially, that is. There are rumors of SEALS doing "clean up" operations in Viet Nam until the late 70's. There were people to be extracted, equipment to be recoverd or distroyed, and Russian takeovers of U.S. bases to be monitored.
 
I gotta go with jaysouth on this one. For the average Grunt a handgun of any sort is strictly a feel good piece of equipment. If your humping 1,000 clicks a day over hill and dale w/full combat load: extra ammo: a LAW, Claymore, extra radio batteries, etc; plus it's 110 in the shade or worse 15 below zero; the last thing you want is an extra 3lbs on your hip. On the other hand if your humping an M60, Radios, a Dragon, or a 60 mortar along w/all your regular gear a high capacity handgun is alot handier to lug around than a rifle and extra magazines since it's not your primary weapon anyway. When I humped a radio in Nam I started with an M14, went to a riot gun, ended up with a 1911A1. I found I was to busy calling in fire support, sitreps, or medevacs to pop caps at Sir Charles. Machineguns and mortars were in the same boat. To address the original issue, in the 60's it was not unusual to see representives of Air America and the Alphabet Company carring nickel plated handguns of various types to include one character in DaNang who carried a nickel plated cowboy pistol. Those who worked in the bush prefered a much lower profile. HTH.
SgtMaj13
Semper Fi
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top