Thought I would post my avatar since it has a vintage sniper rifle and me.
Just a little pictorial history.
- Thread starter PATCO
- Start date
Early 1968 outside of Hue on the Perfume River. An Ausi/ PF compound we pulled into for resupply and briefing. , and a little personal hygiene.
Hi,
What in the world would you be dealing with Rex Reviews for with your background of sniper operations during Vietnam??
Sincerely,
Theis
You notice, he said it was a picture that he was in that also had a sniper rifle.
He did't say it was his rifle.
Maybe he was the unit barber.
Hi,
Aware...I also have additional information on that image lol...that is why the question was asked.
Sincerely,
Theis
There are many myths and campfire stories and old wives' tales about snipers in Viet Nam. To get one question right out of the way, that rifle belonged to my little band of brothers. My RTO claimed it so he humped it. We used it for many purposes. First thing was that the terrain and foliage in RVN in many AOs did not lend itself to long range shots. Most of the "sniper rifles" were on bunker line at fire bases with long fields of view. The M14 was not a very good choice for the field. It was semi auto in that configuration and heavy as a second weapon. Match ammo was only available at Camp Perry. We had to strip m60 belts for 7.62 ammo. Most snipers worked close to base and didn't have to carry 2 weeks of rations and every thing else require for long range patrols. My RTO had to hump extra batteries too. We shared that kind of load . Mod 70 Winchesters mainly 30.06 with Unertle scopes, were popular with some who could get them sent from the states. We had no formal sniper training at the time. The marines may have had a school at the time. Later the Army set in-country basic sniper training lasting a week or two. Many weapons were better suited to a lot of our ops. Mod 12 shotguns were handy in the jungle and the type of urban (village) ops we did. The biggest problem with them was we could only get brass cases that corroded. I read a lot about that war and thins that went on and just stand back amazed. It was a time of improvising. What is common now was rare then. As far as Rex, he is a good guide and points a lot of people in the direction to improve themselves. I have learned a lot of tradecraft from him. He has made me think and seek out things that otherwise would go unnoticed. I was ignorant in RVN, but I had to learn fast. Too much write here. BYE
