Posted on 11/28/2006 4:40:10 PM PST by xcamel
Video: Machine gun problems in Afghanistan
The lives of paratroopers were put in danger after the Ministry of Defence sent defective ammunition to Afghanistan, it can be revealed.
The situation became so serious that a platoon from the 3Bn The Parachute Regiment refused to go out on patrol until the problem was resolved. The troops had to borrow ammunition off Canadian and American special forces as they battled to fight off Taliban attacks.
The MoD, which yesterday unveiled plans for British troops to make a quicker-than-expected withdrawal from the front line in Iraq, has been unable to explain why defective ammunition for the .50 calibre Browning heavy machinegun was sent to Afghanistan.
It is thought that the batch was from either Pakistan or the Czech Republic, where a round costs 60 US cents. The price for British, Canadian or American ammunition is $1.50. With many thousands of rounds fired, using cheaper ammunition would have saved thousands of pounds.
A shocking demonstration of the poor quality rounds is shown on a video posted by a paratrooper on the YouTube website. It shows two soldiers in a sandbagged position struggling to operate the machinegun, which can also be mounted on Land Rovers.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Price shouldn't be an indicator of reliability. The main problem is that some rounds would be loaded light and not operate the ejector, but this is quality control.
As a taxpayer I heartily approve of providing these fine soldiers with all the ammo they can use. No questions asked, no invoices to process.
The first box was the "good one" - keep watching the video...
Keep in mind - they're brits - and the UK DoD did the purchasing
Socialized medicine, manufacturing out the window, rampant and unaddressed crime in the streets combined with defensive weapons confiscation... Hong Kong - let's not even go there. Now this on top of everything else. Wonder what Churchill would say...
The worst part is that one scratches one's head and ponders whether or not the US is headed down the same road in years to come.
As a Vietnam veteran, I recall another "cheap" instrument of war...the M16...nothing but the best for our troops and evidently theirs..
Meadow Muffin
Hard to tell from the sound. The mechanism isn't being fully operated and if there was enough residue to gum up the works that quickly that would be some very dirty ammo. It's out of spec somehow.
I wouldn't expect ammo made in the Czech republic to have quality control issues.
They should specify exactly what company manufactured this ammo, but being a British media outlet they probably think that only the military and government need to be concerned about buying reliable ammo.
I would be willing to bet that even the rounds that do fire follow different trajectories and their ability to hit something is not what it should be.
Possible problems:
Wrong powder - someone may have elected to use what was on hand rather than the powder specified. Bad shooting.
Inaccurate powder measure - Probably the problem. Bullets going all over the place.
Could be some old surplus powder that they thought might work.
Bad primers.
Inaccurate bullet seating.
These may be handloaded rounds and they could be highly variable.
or all of the above....
Lucas.Wasn't their motto"Try to get home before dark"?
Lucas.Wasn't their motto"Try to get home before dark"?
Well, at least we are not the only country whose defense suffers from the products of substandard contractors. Low bid and lots of friends are always winners
I thought Lucas' motto was "bring the dark back to night."
Never again will I buy it; That stuff sucked!
What a great idea...Let's buy ammunition from the country harboring our enemies !!!
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