Rented Saving Private Ryan...

F

Futo Inu

New member
Wow, what a movie! My own young self could identify the M1Gars, the M1Cars, and the "tommy" guns, but:

1. What was the BIG detachable-mag fed rifle (semi-auto?) carried by some?

2. And what kind of rifle (designation) and chambering was the bolt-action sniper rifle used by the one ol' religious boy? (Loved that scene where the German sniper spots him, then sees the muzzle flash, and gets popped at 450 yards).

Also, BTW, does anyone have an opinion on POLYGONAL RIFLING? It's been mentioned here and there, but I think it's high time for an extensive discussion about this. ;)
 
BAR---Broning automatic rifle---30/06 rifle, what the M60 replaced

Springfield 1903 30/06 bolt action rifle, what the M1 replaced. Was used with a scope as a sniper rifle.
 
Even without all the gun action, "Saving Private Ryan" is one of the best movies ever made, bar none.

POLYGONAL RIFLING? You rascal! ;)
 
That big auto rifle -
YUP - the famed BAR...

Chambered for 30.06 and FULL AUTOMATIC.
It was one heck of a weapon.

The down side was the fact that it was very heavy. And one couldnt carry as many rounds for it as one would have liked.

But the BAR is cool isn't it?

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RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
 
Saw Pvt Ryan at theater, was not that impressed myself. I liked The Big Red 1 and The longest Day better. as for all the chest thumping about the accuracy of the flick I was just apauled to see a sniper change scopes in the middle of a fight (not to mention that the two scopes could not have changed at all) also it seemed to be that the americans could shoot just fine until they needed to hit somebody (guys pushing flak gun) but It was still a good movie.

[This message has been edited by Nestor Rivera (edited June 01, 1999).]
 
One little detail...

Sheesh. Folks are much too critical!

Guys, Please... Dont you remember watching flicks when the hero is blazing away with those old belt fed Single actions?
We didn't used to be so critical - we used to enjoy those movies cause they were FUN!

Saving Private Ryan is the best war movie ever made in my opinion. I could almost smell the cordite and was wanting to duck and cover in the theatre!
Where is my K-pot?!?

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RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
 
I too would like to say that the movie was a great one. I didn't want to talk to anyone after it was over. I just wanted to think about all servicemen and the duty that they did. A friend of mine, was the one responsible for all the sound effects of the gun fire in the movie. He shot all the firearms at a farm here in GA. Hat's off to you Kevin B.

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No King is saved by the size of his army, No warrior excapes by his great strength alone.
 
Highpower1 - your friend did a great job. If you weren't looking for cover in the first scenes and your heart wasn't pounding, then you don't have one. Instead, if you were wondering when the German gunners were going to change barrels, then you missed the point.
 
Mal H:
Can you explain the need to change barrels as this was the issue when they took out the machine gun at the radar sight? BTW, amazing movie!
 
They had to change MG barrels regularly, they got red hot, inaccurate, and if they let it go too long, they would jam. Each machine gunner carried several spare barrels with them along with some asbestos gloves.

What I meant, and I didn't say it very well, was that if the viewer was paying more attention to the guns and less to the humans, then the story was lost on them.
 
OK! I haven't seen the movie, but from what you guys are saying "it is a must to do." I have been gettin bad reports from a couple of non-military do do's, that couldn't think positive if they grabbed a live wire. Thanks will view it tonight.

HJN
 
I too thought it was a great movie. Some of it was unrealistic, but had to be to make the movie work, such a Rangers walking close together across an open field carrying on a normal volume conversation. Such activity in a real combat area would make you and your buddies bullet or mortar magnets. The movie really hits home concerning want can be asked of men send to fight a war and smacks you in the face with what some have sacrificed when called. I wonder if that SOB Bill Clinton has seen this movie? I think perhaps every President and Congressman should have to watch the movie and correctly answer questions afterwards so they would at least have some understanding of what they are asking of people when they send them to war. It really chaps my buns that what good Americans have done for freedom in the past may be all in vain because of the direction this country is now headed.
 
Great movie, can't wait to buy it for my library.

Some parts got kind of gory, but I've always thought that movies should make gunshots, explosions and their results on the human body as realistic as possible. Might just shock some of these violence prone kids back to reality if they had a better idea of the kind of damage these things really do. If you didn't winch during the invasion scene, you just ain't human.
 
RE: BAR

Remember the old TV series "Combat"? The character "Little John" carried a BAR....he was the big, big boy. Vic Morrow played Sgt. Saunders (later died in the '80's while filming movie "Twilight Zone", decapitated by helicopter blade)

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"
 
Nestor's observation on the Springfield 1903A4 sniper rifle is correct. At the beachhead, it was the regular 03A4 with the M81 or M82 scope. When they moved inland, it became a USMC Unertl equipped rifle. I suppose the director did it for cinematic effect. BTW, the 2..5 power M81/M82 was based on the pre-war Lyman Alaskan with the added features of a rubber eyepiece and a telescoping lens cover. The M81 and M82 differed only in crosshair configuration (one was standard crosshair and the other post / crosshair). When Lyman couldn't meet the guv'mint needs, Wollensak was contracted to produce the M82. Lyman, incidentally, relied on the Bausch & Lomb for their lens.

While the movie's Tiger tanks were based on the venerable Rooskie T34/85, I haven't figured out what the Marders were based on (and Marders, like our M10 Wolverine and M36 Jackson tank destroyers, weren't closed top). Anybody?

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Vigilantibus et non dormientibus jura subveniunt
 
By the way Kodiac, I also enjoyed the movie. WWII buffs should visit the Battle of the Bulge Museum in Luxembourg. It's a must (and the Patton Museum is nearby).

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Vigilantibus et non dormientibus jura subveniunt
 
I rented it this weekend, too. I had heard all about the violence in the opening scene: Some veterans had to leave the theater. The VA set up a special crisis hotline to handle the overwhelming number of calls from vets. One of my wife's friends had her first panic attack in years from watching it. The back of the box at Blockbuster said "intense, prolonged, realistically graphic violence."

Now, I'm not exactly sqeamish about film gore, and I figured "It's just a movie. Can it really be that bad?"

I guess so! I was totally unprepared for what I saw. It was relentless. The most horrible thing I've ever seen on film, and it actually happened to people! Speilberg the genius does it again.

After the scene on the beach, of course, it just deteriorated into a superb war film.

-boing
 
Just finished watching it. Only a little decrease in effect as compared to the theatre, but as always, good. The gripes with movie are only minor technical ones. SOF did a piece on "Ryan" and some of their biggest strikes were things like the German gunners not having the sights flipped up on their MG42 in one scene.

You guys DID catch that the German killed at the end (by the coward interpreter) was the same one they let go earlier in the movie, when their medic was killed, right? If not, watch it again and pay close attention to his collar device. The German who killed the Jewish guy was SS (think Spielberg put this in for that reason exactly?) and was not seen again after that incident.

Gotta love those Garands and whatnot. In fact, I'm going to mail my CMP package tommorrow. Heh, heh, let the federal government sell me a gun. You've got to take advantage of that.
 
Destructo6: Yeah, I noticed that! Did you also notice that that same German was the one who shot Tom Hanks, which of course is ironic, since Tom Hanks is the one who authorized his release earlier. Then the interpretor guy, who had been buddy-buddy with that German before when they made him did the grave (when it looked like he would get it), who had also frozen up the entire battle, was the one who wasted that guy when he recognized him at the end... Cool.

That BAR must have had one hell of a recoil. If it was replaced by the M60, why were the soldiers using both? Same question for the '03 & Garand? (short supply of both, I imagine). Also, if the Garand was meant to replace the '03, then wouldn't it achieve the same accuracy (approx) as the '03. I found myself really wishing our GI sniper had a Garand instead of the bolt action at the end when he was engaging in close-quarters combat, especially since he was shooting left-handed and had to bring his left hand over the top to work the bolt! He was pretty fast, though. I can't remember - didn't he bite it from tank fire?
 
Destructo,

What's a CMP package?

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Also would a shot down that barrel of that artillary piece have set off the shell that took out the sniper in the tower?

This question has bothered me since I saw the show. Especially if he was good enough to shoot through the scope of the enemy sniper.

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John/az

"Just because something is popular, does not make it right."

www.countdown9199.com
 
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