Vietnam cartridge booby trap

S

simonrichter

New member
Apart from the common Punji sticks, the VC also used booby traps utilizing a rifle cartridge that was placed in a covered hole in the ground within a bamboo pipe plus a nail on the downward facing end acting as firing pin.
The idea was that the victim's foot would break through the cover and tap into the whole, thus hitting the top of the cartridge with some force and igniting it, the projectile then penetrating the foot (and also the "stick resistant" sole of the more advanced jungle boots).

Two questions occur:

1.) would the force of a (rubber soled) foot stepping on a cartridge be really strong enough to ignite the primer?

2.) wouldn't the unsupported cartridge rupture somewhere on the side instead of propelling the bullet straight upward? (assuming that even a strong bamboo pipe cannot replace a barrel / chamber in terms of strength)
 
It's a pretty cheap trap. Going to make noise, stall the column, and maybe injure a man. Worth the price of a nail and labor.

We used to put explosive cartridges and zero-delay grenades in VC and NVA caches, or just salt the remains after destroying one.
 
Taping a bb to a shotgun shell wrapped tightly in a magazine has been used as an urban booby trap, and hand grenade.
 
I don't think stepping on it would be enough force. There would have to be an associated spring release and strike...

EG stepping on a device releases a spring weighted nail.

It may not cause much injury, but would make noise and stop the advance for a few moments.
 
I agree the trap as described seems fairly harmless without a pipe to hold the round. Maybe bamboo with dirt packed tightly around it.

It would give a fair warning to a fairly wide area. Far more than rattling cans.
 
I was in a jungle clearing unit in Nam. We hit hundreds and hundreds of mines and booby traps. We did have periods where it was fifty to sixty per day. They seldom did much damage to a D-7 with a cab kit. Like myself, I am sure many of the others in my unit do have a severe hearing deficit as a result. Our bell was rung so many times.

I saw examples of this type of bobby trap while serving as an Infantry Training Officer at Ft. Polk. It was explained as a device to injure and not necessarily a lethal device. I never saw one while in Nam. Most of the anti-personal devices we hit were grenades in cans and booby trapped claymore's.

Besides this type of device is not very effective in the jungle with a spongy undergrowth or during the monsoon season.
 
If you are interested, do some research, there is an ARMY manual (FM-something or other, I forget the number) on Improvised Munitions, and it will tell you how to construct the kind of booby-trap you are talking about. There are several mechanical ways to do it.

These include using leverage to strike the primer hard enough to fire it, from foot pressure, and also include putting the cartridge into some kind of "pressure vessel" (chunk of pipe, wrapped bamboo, etc) to contain the round enough for the bullet to be propelled with enough force to do harm.

The information is out there, and has been for generations.
 
I have one question,,,

I have one question,,,
It's the same as when people argue over rimfire as a defensive weapon.

Would you step on one?

'nuff said"

Aarond

.
 
TM 31-210
I believe it predates the FM nomenclature.
I have a hard copy somewhere.
I was just able to find and download a PDF in about 2 minutes. Don't worry, I was already on the list.
I had a friend who went to the Army's sapper school a decade or so ago. They didn't teach him any of the stuff in the old manual. Just how to assemble and place the mass manufactured items the military supplies. Supposedly there was too much fear of training people who would become terrorists.

Most of the explosive formulations are about as simple as making meth and carry similar risks all around. The fumes are extremely toxic even if you do it right. The chance for premature explosion is extremely high with even a very small mistake. The police are probably going to find you very quickly if you make much at all. Faster if you test it out. I would have to be in a really desperate situation to try most of the more interesting things in there and I have experience with many of the chemical processing techniques using other chemical combinations that are not nearly so dangerous.

Much of it is outdated. For instance, good luck finding a radial watch with conductive hands for a timer.
 
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handbook

Page 30 of "Handbook for US Forces in Vietnam" has a sketch of just such a device. DoD publication, I cannot read the number.
 
bamaranger
It is in the "Handbook for US Forces in Vietnam" published by MACV; page 30 figure 14. As it was issued by MACV, there isn't a DOD number. As almost everything is online, a search for "Handbook for US Forces in Vietnam" would probably find one

A basic description of the device. The round is encased in a short piece of bamboo; to prevent it from sinking, a small piece of wood is underneath the round with a nail for a firing pin.

I've never saw one. That being said the handbook is a collection of everything seen in Vietnam until 4/1967. How often they were seen is an entirely different subject,
 
I heard about them when I was there, Marines called them "toe-poppers".
Never saw one, never knew anybody who got hurt by one. But I always
figured that if I HAD to trip one booby trap, I hoped it would be a toe-popper.
Much better than...just about anything else they put together.

Walter
 
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