US Army armament in the 60's

Hans von Hammer wrote:

HeavyArty wrote: Carried at the squad level were 7.62NATO M-16 machine guns...   One correction, M16s were/are chambered for 5.56mm NATO rounds, not 7.62mm. Squad-level Automatic Riflemen (two per squad, one on each fire team) were carrying M-16s and about five times the normal ammo load... The M-60 MG was 7.62 NATO and was normally at platoon-level with one gun per platoon...

Yup, got it.  That's why I stated that the M16 is 5.56mm, not 7.62.  The Squad Automatic Rifleman carried a normal M16 or M16A1 and fired on full auto, as opposed to single shot as the rest of the squad was "supposed" to be.

Maybe way out of topic now but is it in the Large scale Railroading world I should go to find some civilian stuff?

Not necessarily.  There are many '50s to '60s era civilian cars in the 1/32 snap-tite realm that work just fine with 1/35 armor and figures.  I have mixed them often.  Take a look on eBay for Monogram, Revell, AMT, and other 1/32 vehicles.

HeavyArty wrote:

Carried at the squad level were 7.62NATO M-16 machine guns...   One correction, M16s were/are chambered for 5.56mm NATO rounds, not 7.62mm.

Squad-level Automatic Riflemen (two per squad, one on each fire team) were carrying M-16s and about five times the normal ammo load... The M-60 MG was 7.62 NATO and was normally at platoon-level with one gun per platoon...

subfixer wrote:

I love my M-1 Garand!

Well, doesnt EVERYBODY love their Garand?               

Ok!

Well my plan is to put these US soldiers in an Continental USA setting during the 60's. It will maybe be an harder issue to find some civilian stuff like cars and so on in the 1:35 scale then it is to find an suitable weapons mix for these soldiers.

Maybe way out of topic now but is it in the Large scale Railroading world I should go to find some civilian stuff?

When I left Korea in late 1969, we still had M-14's, but had been trained on M-16's and we were waiting on them, went to germany in early 1970 and had M-14's, but they were replaced by M-16's by that summer. Joined the national Guard in early 1972 and we had M-14's(I swear i had the same one I had assigned to me in Korea), they were replaced with M-16's by that summer

We had one M-1 sniper rifle

Silverback wrote:

National Guard - anything from 09 Springfields,

Perhaps you meant '03 Springfields?

Carried at the squad level were 7.62NATO M-16 machine guns...

One correction, M16s were/are chambered for 5.56mm NATO rounds, not 7.62mm.

Regular Army - M-14s until around 1968, when M-16s begun phase in.  Model 1911A1 .45 cal. was the standard issue sidearm for officers and radio humpers, but many troops carried .38 cal. Smith & Wessons (frequently stainless steel) as well as various shotguns, hand grenades, bayonettes, knives and "pop" flares.  Personally owned weapons were officially frowned upon, but .44 Magnum revolvers and autoloaders were not unknown. 

Tankers also carried .45 cal. M3A1 grease guns, and the occasional .45 cal. M1A1 Thompson sub-machine gun.  In Vietnam, M-1 Garrands and M-1 Carbines were plentiful among ARVN toops, though not authorized for US Army personnel.

Carried at the squad level were 7.62NATO M-16 machine guns and M-79 gernade launchers.  Oh, and lotsa ammo.

National Guard - anything from 09 Springfields, up to the latest M-16s, depending on what was in the State armory.

USMC - Hey!, I'm not givin' up any secrets about what we carried.

Phil

Nat'l Guard?  No.  They would get theirs last, I beleive.

An example, the Kent State shootings were in 1970, and the weapons used were Garands.  The service academies and the Citadel used M1 Garands as issue weapons into the 1970s or later, in 1983, we were issued M14s. 

Was it the case for NG also that they traded in their Garands, M1 carbines and so on before the 60's?

M14 was standard issue between pahseout of the M1 Garand in 59 or so until 1970, when the M16 was phased in.

That said, we gave a ton of Garands to allies, and I know that M1 carbines were used in Viet Nam, and M3 "Grease Guns" were issued to tankers fairly recently, but I can't recall the dates. I know an AF officer who carried a MAT 49 French subgun in Viet Nam, it most certainly wasn't issued.

Generally, rank and file troops would carry the M14 in the 60s, officers and NCOs might carry something different, based on photos I have seen.  Generally, mixing 30-06, 7.62 NATO, and .223 NATO in a squad or platoon would be a logistical nightmare.  

If you check recent photos of Iraq and Afghanistan, you wil see we are still fielding the M14 in pretty large numbers.