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To: archy
We all carried M1s, loaded with blanks
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What a worthless flock of Doolies! Get off my planet!

Well, thankfully we only had blanks. During one of the training exercises the guy to my right went absolutely bonkers crazy, swinging his rifle back and forth, up and down, yanking on the trigger. He ended up discharging one round with the muzzle end about two inches from my right ear.

62 posted on 03/26/2017 10:39:57 AM PDT by ken in texas
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To: ken in texas
Well, thankfully we only had blanks. I had the advantage over you of having gone through training with the M14, whose blank adaptor latched onto the bayonet lug. Or sometimes, didn't quite get latched on all the way, and would fly off the end of the barrel like a rifle grenade. If you practiced a little, you could get to where you could hit a 55-gallon drum at a hundred meters most of the time.

The second-most fun I ever had was when the Kentucky National Guard came to Knox for their annual Summer Training. They were still using the M1 Garand and BAR at the time, so I drew one of their BARs and a steel helmet full of blanks. I was one of the *bad guys* for their exercise, so I *borrowed* one of their fatigue shirts, loaded up *my* BAR, and took up a position a crossroads where I helpfully gave directions to everyone who needed them. I just didn't give the SAME directions to the same places. Eventually, a sergeant in one of their 3/4 ton trucks came by and he asked if I'd had chow yet, it being a bit past lunchtime. Nope, says I, and I missed breakfast, too. He drove me back to one of their messhalls and got me fed, along with a handfull of sandwiches to take along. We went back to my crossroads, but there was another grunt giving directions [probably real ones] there now, so I got to guard one end of a floating boat pontoon bridge instead. About an hour later a 2nd Lieutenant with a 20-man platoon comes marching up, about to ask me something when I opened up on him with the BAR from about 10 feet, gave him about 10 rounds, then sprayed the front squad with the rest of the magazine. The stunned and shocked Guardies just stood there, so I changed magazines and hosed the second and third squads too. The red paper pellets from the paper blank wads had left smoking holes in the L-T's uniform shirt and he had dipped it in the lake to keep it from catching on fire. I thought about shooting him up some more, but wanted to save some blanks for higher-ranking officers.

I liked that BAR. Still do.

The MOST fun I ever had shooting blanks involved a blank main gun round for a tank. BIG hummers!

64 posted on 03/26/2017 11:49:44 AM PDT by archy (Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Except bears, they'll kill you a little, and eat you.)
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