Has anyone ever fired a .308 rifle full auto from the shoulder?

Jim K...,

I would suggest you should be afraid of any fire, sprayed or aimed. One of those bullets might just be dumb enough to not realize it wasn't aimed and hit you anyway.

As someone else said, it's called supressive fire and as the name implies it makes the enemy duck. You see, they too know that unaimed fire can still kill you!

PS: Shot a M-14 in Nam with a selector switch. Damn hard to control. I still wouldn't want someone shooting at me with one!
 
Yeah I've fired all of the common 7.62 weapons and the m-14 on full auto was not very good even in E2 form. Of the lot, the FAL on full auto was the best, probably because of the weight of the standard weapon.

I feel that part of the problem of full auto in any caliber or any weapon is the training. Just like it takes a lot of time to develop a good machine gunner, it takes a lot of time to train anybody to shoot at a rapid rate - no matter what the caliber or the weapon design. Most armies don't make the effort.

In the US, the Marines do the best overall job of training riflemen. And, in Nam had the best fire discipline both individually and on a unit basis. Too many times GI's raised their rifles above their heads and just "sprayed and prayed".

Don't know if any impartial studies were ever done or even if it would be possible to measure, but it would be interesting to see if any of McNamara's whiz kids tried to analyze "effective fire" vs "rate of fire" etc. Seemed like d they tried to ANALyze every other damed thing about the stinking thing except what it would take to win it!
 
Try renting one ...

Nightcrawler, I can't tell where you're located, but ...

in Scottsdale, AZ we have a shop called Mandall Shooting Supplies - see http://www.mandallshooting.com .

Fascinating place to visit, and ... they rent full auto. I took my son and a friend there, and we rented an M-14 and a Thompson. A lot of fun, and very interesting. Didn't bust the bank either - well worth it.

I can see why folks commented as they did - full auto is clearly a different cup of tea. ;)

Not on point for your question, but the full auto class at Front Sight is also a kick - Uzi's (9mm). See http://www.frontsight.com .

Regards from AZ
 
Hi, Dave T,

Suppressive fire is better laid down with machineguns than rifles. Still, there were reports from VN (I don't know if true) that suppressive fire did not always suppress. One report had US and RVN soldiers firing FA wildly while the VC walked toward them and shot them at close range. Of course the VC took casualties, but they accomplished the mission.

According to official reports, in Korea, the US laid down artillery fire, then raised it just before the troops went in. The pause was enough to let the Chinese get set. The Turks kept up the artillery barrage while their troops were attacking and Turkish troops killed the Chinese in their trenches. The Turks took casualties from their own artillery, but ended up with fewer casualties than the US. But the US could not do what the Turks did, because it would have been politically incorrect and would have looked bad to have US troops killed by their own artillery.

Jim
 
I fired an HK91 with a registered sear conversion. It was not what I would call "controllable", but it was very managable in short bursts. Tons-o-fun too.
 
OK, now I'm part of the club now. Went out today with a few of my friends machine-gunning and one happen to have a M-60. There was snow on the ground, so there was only two ways to firing. Hip or shoulder. To my surprise the gun was extremely manageable, with very little recoil. Got more tired from holding it up than shooting it. I shot it both ways. Even one of the boys, age seven, got a crack at it. You should see this kid handle a MP5.

Some of the most wonderful days in life are just like this one. Best part about it was. Not my Ammo!

Robert
 
The biggest fully automatic weapon I have fired is the M242 Bushmaster 25mm Cannon. 200 rpm of HEIT (HE) or APDSIT (Sabot). Even the TPT (ball) is fun!
 
Renting a full auto

I would very much love to rent some full autos and have a ball. But, alas, in Michigan, it is illegal for a mere peasant, I mean, a civilian, to fire a machine gun of any sort.....
 
Post by Jim Keenan
"""""""""One report had US and RVN soldiers firing FA wildly while the VC walked toward them and shot them at close range. Of course the VC took casualties, but they accomplished the mission.

Jim the above sounds like one of those my buddies brother told of this happening stories.

I totally agree that aimed fire is much better than just firing in the direction of the contact but being ambushed on a trail in elephant grass or from a tree line with the BG in spider holes really doesn't give you much to aim at. You're using supressive fire to gain fire superiority to manuever and if ARA or Red Leg can be called so much the better.

Jim's Post
"""""According to official reports, in Korea, the US laid down artillery fire, then raised it just before the troops went in. The pause was enough to let the Chinese get set. The Turks kept up the artillery barrage while their troops were attacking and Turkish troops killed the Chinese in their trenches. The Turks took casualties from their own artillery, but ended up with fewer casualties than the US. But the US could not do what the Turks did, because it would have been politically incorrect and would have looked bad to have US troops killed by their own artillery.""""

I would think the Turks has less casualties due to the fact they were fielding a lot less Infantry Divisions. I'm sure the Chinese did come out of there bunkers when the Reg Leg lifted and was the same in WWII.


But let me say as a Infantry Squad Leader, Ambush Team Leader and a Infantry Platoon Sarg. in Vietnam my job was to accomplish the mission with least of amount of my people being KIA or WIA. I don't think being politically incorrect has any thing to do with. I would hate to think our military doctine is to use our own troops as cannon fodder. My personal opinion is Man killing stinks even in a war but killing your own people would even be worse.

Turk
 
While being only 28 years old I have fired many full-auto weapons.308;HK91,G3,HK51.The HK51 is basicly a 91 carbine.While shooting that weapon,ones looks like he is trying to get a rabid cat off his arm.But it is still alot of fun.
 
A Ruger 10/22 in full auto would be nice, and easy to control I am sure.... Sure would be cheap too at under $100 a case of 5000 rounds of decent quality ammo.
 
Oh Yeah Baby, .308

I fired an M16 and this .308 fully auto rifle that I can't at the moment recall what the man called it. Now I'm a small guy, 5'9" 150lbs soaking wet and in three round bursts, at probably 50-60 yards, I might have come close to the target on the first round but the other two were up at the top of the mountain. The auto action just blasted me back like a little green army guy. It was the most powerful feeling I have ever experienced and I would suggest that anyone and everyone that can possibly shoot this caliber rifle to try the automatic versions.
 
Nightcrawler, I might have your solution

Come to AZ. You can rent antiaircraft guns, fully auto everything, whatever you like. Go underground and fire down an Irrigation tube into the dirt and It's all legal. The guy has a rather serious arsenal from what I hear. The place has a website. I will ask my friend what the place is called and post another response here.
 
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