There was a .50 mounted on top of our M1114 "Big Truck." That's a nice piece of gear. We would find any excuse to fire it up. You can see it in the background of my profile pic.
My Dad has the semi-auto version like the one you fired, but I have never shot it. We are going to take it out this summer to some land we have up North and run some ammo through it. The local range banned his Barret because of noise complaints, so it looks like any .50 cal is going to have to be expended on private property.
My favorite piece of gear to fire was the SMAW though. It was like a bomb going off next to your head.
You can use M203 rounds in a MK19, but it would be difficult.
You can't use MK19 rounds in a 203.
The round is the same, but the MK19 rounds have different casings and more powder. Think of a .50 cal desert eagle vs a .50 cal M-2. Same bullet different shell case. it's a slight difference but it's there.
Yes, the Army has the MK19. They had them when I deployed with the them in Iraq.
The cases for the MK19 have a link attached that it really hard to remove, and I think they are several millimeters longer than the 203 round.
I am willing to bet you could force a MK19 to fire a 203 round, but since it's a rimless cartridge, it could just as easily jump the extractor, get jammed in the chamber and have to be pushed out with a cleaning rod.
Even thought the rotational fuse wouldn't be armed yet, something about pounding a stuck HE out of there would make me nervous.
I was in rocket artillery (MLRS) and as cool as they look from the outside, its really sedate from in the launcher. Kinda like sitting in your car on the side of the interstate and having a semi pass you. A little whoosh and small shake is all there is.
The absolute coolest thing (to me) was the Vulcan. We were out in the field and had the AA guys set up on the other side of the dz from us. When they opened up on the drones, holy crap. It sounded like they were tearing a hole in the universe.
They say the miniguns they mount on ships for AA are more impressive, and if they are....WOW is all I can say.
I carried the SAW during my tour in Iraq. I have to say that it is an amazing weapon. Many complain about jamming but I kept mine clean and it was amazing, never let me down. Even after long AAV rides when it was caked in sand and I had to dismount and employ it quickly it always worked. I would take a small pause as early as I could and dust it off but if it had no CLP on it then the sand would fall off.......... that's when you drenched it in CLP
I'm older n dinosaur crap so I have never seen modern systems...but I will say this...when a Spooky is flyin' a racetrack pattern with all systems on line...it's like the gates of hell just opened up...
But I love the "Hog"....a cannon with a plane wrapped around it...low and slow...real in your face...
Glad you enjoyed the duece. Mortars are where it's at tho. I've been on the artillery line and yeah they're pretty sedate. Not even close to droppin rounds from a 120.
My next favorite is 240B. Damn that is a fine shooting hunk o death.
Fast, I got to see Puff light it one time while doing a live fire exercise for some visiting Russian big wigs. I couldn't see the impact area but it sure was loud from about a mile away. It was also the only time I ever got to set off a whole 12 pack at one time from one of our lauchers...basically saturate a square click in under 7 seconds.....good stuff.
They had a Warthog doing some shooting too. That thing could flip around a put its cannon back on target faster than you would believe. I was glad they were on our side b/c between the hogs, apachees, and cobras, us ground guys would be TOAST.
I saw apachees out training more than anything else in my three years and when they are working together with a scout chopper out front it was "katie bar the door" for any armor out there. They would settle down in a small clearing just behind a ridge line or whatever they could find (buildings worked too) and let the scout pop its radar above the trees, pick out the targets and then all three apachees pop up and cut loose.
My buddy was the gunner on one of the trucks in Bill's profile pic. My buddy received the order to open fire on a Toyota pickup that blew through a check point. Apparently he completely shreaded this truck...the Iraqi walked out alive. How the hell does that happen?
You ain't lyin, the .50 has been an equalizer for over 70 years. I find it odd my grandfather had 12 on his B-25 (8 forward firing) in WW2, my great uncle had 2 on his tank in Korea, my dad had one on his Jeep in Vietnam, and now I have a .50 on the Stryker! Being a Forward Observer I have to admit, there is nothing better than 60mm or 120mm mortars. 155mm Arty is alright, however 60mm are lighter, faster, and with a good gunner, very accurate. Having an Apache Longbow on station is always sweet when in a pinch...
Do not intend to thread jack but as a member of a nuke unit in the cold war days the pershing missile is the end all to f/a I for one am glad we never got to see what a 50 megaton med. range missile can do. On the other hand I went to the smithsonian 2 weeks ago and walk through the door in air and space and low and behold there one is holy crap. I was beeming with pride and my little guy was wide eyed Daddy that was your weapon in the ARMY?