U.S. Small Arms Experiences and Use in the Vietnam War

Our last episode with Col. Dillon, the infantry officer discusses U.S. small arms and some of their finer points of employment within the Vietnam War while on his two tours there as a battalion field grade officer. The Colt 1911? Great for shooting off locks. The M16A1? Dillon actually credits that rifle with getting through the Battle of Ia Drang due to the ability to carry more ammunition over the M14. M60s? Issues with barrel changing in the middle of a firefight due to the barrel mounted bipods. Blooper carriers/grenadiers never used their mechanical sights when employing their M79 grenade launchers.
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[@reddevilparatrooper]

Back in 1986 when I got to my first unit I was assigned as an M-60 gunner in a line company. After shooting it during training and qualification. I found out that my gun and all the gunners in my company and the battalion had the same problems. One of the problems was our guns were made in the late 1960s and late 1970s which the receivers were stretched after constant firing and the rivets would be loose and the headspace would be off. Second was the gunners would polish their gas cylinders and scrub the barrel gas tubes super clean during inspections that the proper tolerances were off causing the gun to cycle a few rounds then jam. The M-60 was originally called for the piston and gas tube to be cleaned with G.I. bore cleaner and not be polished. Third was the gas nut would come loose after a few bursts because the stainless steel lacing wire was not tight enough that it worked itself during firing and cycling. Third is the policy of having the bolt roller kept in track on the feed arm which weakens the spring. Last is the type of lubrication used by the US Army which is CLP. This stuff causes build up of carbon after 500 F temperature and stop the gun. For myself I replaced all the springs, got new barrels with gas cylinders that were cleaned in the original specs. I kept the shiny pistons for inspections only. When I went out to qualify or training my gun only used 10-30 weight motor oil or LSA and it ran like a champ. Nobody touched my gun even for other gunners to qualify. Even if an NCO or officer ordered me to give up my gun. I said no every time because it was every gunners responsibility to maintain their weapons. My leaders were backing me up too. I was glad. Fast forward to the Panama Invasion of 1989 my gun worked very well and provided fire support for my platoon. Bottom line is good gunners should know their weapon inside out.

[@realisrealite5554]

reddevilparatrooper You're weapon is your life never let anyone screw with your life.

[@bookreaderson]

#,p

[@lakemanson8051]

this is awesome, thank you so much for taking the time to interview this man

[@767dag]

Luke W yes

[@Superplums]

Vietnam Vet gets a pass for saying clip instead of magazine. Thank You for your service Sir. 👍👌

[@muddyhotdog4103]

he might of actually really meant clips as some soldiers in those days with m14s only carried a couple mags and carried bandoliers of stripper clips to feed the rifle via the stripper clip tower on the rifle.

[@LopezAlabama]

@@muddyhotdog4103 yup. A bandolier of clips weighs a lot less than a web belt full of loaded mags, and the M14 could handle both!

[@muddyhotdog4103]

@@LopezAlabama hell ya, and every ounce adds up and means a lot marching through the jungles

[@sae1095hc]

I'd heard about not needing to use sights with the M79 and was skeptical until me and 4 other guys drew 203s and were charged with converting about 600 rounds of 40mm practice ammo into shell casings because the 1st SGT and the training NCO had screwed up the company training schedule and had to get rid of the ammo and turn in the brass at a certain time. So each of us shot about 120 rounds that day and yeah, after about 50 or 60 rounds, you just start hitting or getting close to hitting without really aiming.

[@JamesMorrison1974]

Agreed. After getting some range time with it, I felt like shooting the 203 was almost intuitive. Maybe used the leaf sight here and there and the quadrant sight was just a pain to really bother with.

[@justinspringstun5836]

200 kills with an M-60 wow! that whole story was very interesting.

[@WTFisTingispingis]

Justin Springstun Capt. Frank Castle: "Give me the Sixty."

[@truebornsonofliberty554]

Justin Springstun givin’ em the whole 9 yards.

[@katmarriot4269]

"Those who run are VC, those who stand still are well disciplined VC".

[@majikmesa3786]

Kat Marriot killing innocents doesn't or shouldn't count. Remember, hearts and minds. Good movie though.

[@opticalecho119]

Imagine what it would be like to just look over and see your buddy suddenly turn into the angel of death

[@thewiezman]

Really enjoying this series. You should release a unedited full version of the interview at some point

[@tfbtv]

thewiezman oh boy, me and Bresh have over an hour and a half of footage of us talking. I’d really like to get his descriptions of the battle of Ia Drang out, but they aren’t precisely firearms related for TFB TV. Maybe if people want it by popular demand we could. -Miles

[@silvioferreira9504]

As partes of the public I demand it! ("popular demad" right here ;)

[@tellemhowbeer3517]

This is awesome. A historical pot of gold. Thank you guys for taking the time

[@nawtynick9]

This content/interview is absolute Gold. Watching someone talk about the pros and cons about a rifle or weapon system on a range is good, but to hear real world experiences from a vet, who used it in the heat of battle is invaluable .

[@yobayobovich]

Many thanks for English subtitles. Translator perfectly translates English into almost any language, allowing foreigners to enjoy your videos

[@marcosguevara8295]

why call yourself a foreigner you idiot. be proud what you are and dont use the us or any western country as the base of civilization

[@kazoolordhd6591]

translations are a very underappreciated aspect of videos and other content on the internet, so much information is in languages other than the one you may speak and having it translated is really valuable

[@erich.2550]

Such a PRICELESS interview. Thank you both for your time, service, effort and knowledge.

[@majormassenspektrometer]

That guy looks like the older version of James, except he doesn't wear shorts and tight shirts.

[@tankerd1847]

That was absolutely worth watching. Thanks for interviewing him!

[@Pro2AGuy]

Outstanding interview--I am humbled by this Great America Veteran to be sure.This is the material which keeps me coming back for more and more TFB TV. *Happy Holidays*

[@d3m1gawd81]

Loved every minute of this interview

[@matthewdwatrous]

What a fascinating story-teller! Thanks for this!!

[@smittysmith101]

My grandfather was a LRRP, never got to know him, cancer took him when I was too young to remember

[@christianminton]

Amazing man and an amazing interview. I liked that you let him talk but still had very good questions. Most interviewers don't let these guys talk enough.

[@martinlam4249]

love these vids , awesome

[@jeffreyreardon7487]

Amazing interview mate

[@nederlander9321]

That last bit on LRRPs was great.

[@kingbaldwiniv5409]

Again, that was a great interview! KZbin gold.

[@Vulf_Faolan]

I could listen to this guy all day.

[@tonlito22]

Mike, I've been tough on you in the comments, but this video is great and your voice sounds better. Keep it up.

[@FightingTemplar]

Great stuff!!

[@tomjones1967]

Cool video/ interview!

[@aztec0996]

Perfect timing. I just finished the book last week

[@RayW808]

Clips/Magazines whatever, this guy is cool.

[@terrygatewood340]

Great video need more like that

[@Bobbymaccys]

Good stuff miles

[@ash1spook]

More of this please!!!

[@Oliver.Ghilardi]

Nice video, was realy interesting

[@Autobotmatt428]

Do more interviews with veterans.

[@sapper12b68]

Great video

[@mrsmith5457]

Great chat with an interesting chap.

[@fullmindstorm]

Interesting episode. All that old timer said is gold.

[@ulysisxtr]

You can just record the intro after the interview and then edit the vid putting the intro before... But awesome video!!! Keep up the awesome work! looking forward to seeing videos like the Pakistani and Afghan weapons :)

[@bobbob-ig2ql]

u

[@peteh6445]

Very very interesting story

[@joshuaccombs7130]

Yeah my dad said everyone hated when they switched over. They were like toys compared to the M14's

[@worstchoresmadesimple6259]

I am of the impression that Many were trained with the M14 and were content with its performance in Vietnam. However like all rushed projects, when the M16s was first issued, these arrived without Chrome lined barrels, Cleaning Kit/ Booklets for combat troops. Then the US Army in 1965/66 had M14s, etc and the Korean Armed Forces arrived with Garands and WW2 kit. Point is the conflict in 65/66/67 just shows that for both sides, weapons were varied and a lot of that used were WW2 stuff. But for the negative experience of many who had to deal with teething problems of the M16, we can only imagine it would have been better to have just keep the M14 in service until the issues were worked out. By 1969/70, for both aggressors, it was a high tech conflict. The AK-47 only began to be of some notice when Dutch Troops captured it from Indonesian Irregular forces in Papua in 1962. Apparently they were impressed by such a rifle. Whilst we in 2000s, and have sight of all these wonderful versions of the AR15, the World in 60s or even the 80s was completely different. An M1 Carbine for instance was very popular with both the ARVN and Viet Cong in the 60s. Different times then.

[@johnbrowningsghost6596]

So interesting!

[@armoredsushi1619]

Man, he's still young!

[@ferdonandebull]

My uncle had his dad send him his shotgun when he was in country.. He carried a jungle mix of slugs and buckshot. He made a fifty yard shot with a slug on a running man. He said it was note worthy. I laughed and said I hit deer running at that distance.. He said, “it was noteworthy because where I was it was hard to find fifty yard shots..

[@FNG_Star]

Great interview but would love to see the full unedited version. Bill the wannabe sounds like someone whose story should be told as well. Thanks for the vid

[@tfbtv]

gmalezdumb hahah we didn’t catch that part on camera. But essentially that Bill guy was the fake of fakes. Dillon was telling us about him, he was the 1st Air Cav reunion association president, claimed he was a gunner in Alpha company at Ia Drang, but he actually never even served in the military. None of the other guys realized what he was playing until he died. -Miles

[@jeremiahburton901]

1000 yards with the M14. That was a very amazing weapon system.

[@romeosgenericchannel3971]

amazing stuff. love this mans story crazy about the AK he carved his name on showin up in a museum in UK. TFBTV wish i would have found this channel years ago!

[@gavinm938]

i like how you want to butt into the conversation but dont, nice - some people dont know when to just let people talk - respect shown to the speaker.

[@briarus1000]

awesome

[@johnm3907]

Only guy i ever know that killed someone with a pistol. Pretty damning to pistols there....

[@maxjulien2647]

Lol sadly in Chicago, guys are getting killed with pistols everyday

[@Wabi-sabi8551]

If you have to use a pistol in combat, you're in deep shit.

[@PacketWrangler]

The way they were taught to fire 1911s made them next to useless. I don't believe the two-handed grip as we know it today was the standard until the 80s.

[@rock-steady-yeti]

100% what I was thinking.

[@isaachughes8130]

Pistols didn't get used much cause there was always a rifle or machine gun handy. Doesn't mean the weapon was not effective in its role.

[@TheSigurdsson]

This guy is awesome. Kinda reminds me of my Granddad.

[@bishopm4401]

300 rounds... back in the days of 20 round mags. That's a fuck ton of mags

[@ghostmourn]

the Dutch still love the rebuilt 60s

[@truebornsonofliberty554]

God bless all our vets and active service members.

[@gage5484]

Has anyone else ever noticed the trend among Vietnam vets to call them clips instead of magazines?

[@chandanrath4423]

Please make a video on Vityaz SN suppressed please make it many people are waiting for it I also.Add a fore grip,red dot,tactical flash light and laser pointer.That's depends on you that will you add these accessories with Vityaz SN but I want a long suppressed video like "Sig Mpx The King"

[@markjmaxwell9819]

The first M16 versus AK47 battles. Both good designs with room for improvement.

[@sidewaysrain7609]

Very dear friend of mine did two tours recon in the jungle. His platoon all insisted on carrying M14s (30-06) so they could take care of business and had a chance to survive. Never met infantryman from Vietnam who preferred an M16 over at M14. Reliability is number one priority. Doesn't matter how many rounds you have if your weapon gases up and malfunctions!

[@siksika4603]

M 14 shoots a 308....

[@markmcintosh7095]

I was in the Marines we got the 30 round magazine after the army.

[@SAR0311]

Is that a picture of the character portraying Eugene Sledge from the HBO World War II miniseries the Pacific as part of your thumbnail?

[@vergruizerful]

the start feels like a tim and eric show

[@Tac0Tuesday91]

5:04 I went up to where they train some of the snipers up in *COOCHIE*

[@theimmortal4718]

Best gun of Vietnam- Stoner 63A, hands down

[@aaronquak2139]

TFB is back to form! Keep kicking ass Miles!

[@michaelmcbride1204]

We should have adopted the Fn-F.A.L., and the Fn-Mag 58 Machine gun. 7.62 drops you with one shot. No double taps needed. My opinion. Thanks.

[@Mr9Guns]

michael mcbride no it does not. There is no "magic bullet". Put any round through the heart and lungs and it will do the job.

[@Toolness1]

Thanks for doing these vids, but please let the man talk instead of trying to finish his sentences. You may have a decent amount of knowledge about the subject in question, but you weren't there and we wanna hear him finish his own sentence.

[@kallen8757]

8:59 That's called good old Kentucky Windage 😂

[@tabryis]

long live uncle ho!

[@sonnygunz9207]

That’s real fuckin man.

[@1Alexville]

If he wanted to call his magazine a "Rifle BahBah ", he can. He earned it.

[@ulflyng4072]

the spirit we need to survive as the west

[@RonJohn63]

"Yes, I want you to change." LOL

[@FTW1013]

Those dudes had no fear

[@Loui12333]

Matt Soares they had fear they just knew what they had to do.

[@nickg5276]

I cringe watching this series when miles tries to finish the old mans sentences.

[@joemoment-o1275]

That is terribly irritating...

[@The_Void_Staring_Back]

he's just trying to show the old veteran that he can relate to him... he probably unconsciously/consciously desires his respect. You guys are reading a little too far into that and just being dicks lol

[@worstchoresmadesimple6259]

When you are meant to sit down and listen, you sit down and listen.

[@katmarriot4269]

So some guy killed 4 nvc with presumably a 1911 after killing near 200 with an m60? a likely exaggeration, but still... Amazing. People act like handgun rounds are pellet guns.

[@holdenraymorris]

I dunno man, some crazy crazy shit happened in Vietnam. Most of the time, you couldn't find the body of the dude you shot. But itd be pretty hard to miss 200 KIAs

[@Apolloneek]

Well that's a guesstimate because they would take the bodies away so just like the scene in American sniper where he says I got six then says we'll I really got 8 but they dragged two away

[@graemesydney38]

Both the 200 and the 4 pistol kills are probably exaggerations (intentional or otherwise) - like most of the body counts and kill tallies (like WW2 flying aces and tank aces), and for similar reasons.

[@beardedbjorn5520]

He said earlier in that they used to count them.

[@MatthewDoye]

Lessons learned: handguns are almost but not quite useless, don't give soldiers select fire 7.62mm rifles, if a weapon needs frequent maintenance then there will always be some that don't bother.

[@bjornsmith9431]

Col. Dillon, highlight some problem with early Chrome plate M16A1 rifle they chrome plate the chamber boar inside of the whole rifle barrel, the result you never left a round over night you dry it off with a cloth and you clean the chamber from moister with a dry cloth to removed wetness to prevent stoppage Rifle M16A1 Field Expedients" 1968 US Army, the solution was simple to solved this problem chrome whole barrel and chamber of the M16A1 rifle that the prevent stoppage for accord that the did in mid 1967 to solutes this problem. Funny thing the US Army ordnance corps people where still trying to sabotage the rifle with the improvement to the rifle with M16A1 rifle by withheld chroming the whole barrel, but still the M16A1 rifle was the best rifle for the US Armed services during the war the out class the AK 47 rifle in many ways in Vietnam War, The Communist Vietnamese Military used and Manufacturer variant Car 15 Rifles and M16A1 Rifles for there Military Services to used today show how highly they regard their opinion of the M16 Rifle brand .

[@corkydukeII5898]

Bjorn Smith Well you are 100% right about that! The Army Ordnance Corps was most definitely trying to sabotage M16...they were extremely pissed at the fact of having the weapon forced down their throat by order of a civilian (McNamara) and wanted nothing more than to make him eat crow with that decision.

[@bjornsmith9431]

Bols Repus, The Army Ordnance Corps sabotage Xm16e1 rifles 1964-66 series with not issue Cleaning Kits, proper training, chrome plate the whole barrel, proper gun oil, using regular steel inside of stainless steel for the Gas tube, no guard for the magazine release button, Dirty ammo which produces heavy recoil bonce which was resolve by using Heavyweight buffer tube and using for the lower receiver 6061 aluminum which rust by moister inside of 7075 Aluminum which resist rust. Although 101st Airborne Division, 173rd Airborne Brigade, and 5th special force group during this period report no problem with the Xm16e1 rifles because they practice cleaning after use which saved lives, the Army Ordnance people tell them the rifle is self-cleaning which cost lives of Soldiers and Marines which they do not care for.

[@corkydukeII5898]

Bjorn Smith Outstanding! Glad to see someone's done his homework. Yes i've understood this/read up on this over a decade ago.....even have a hard copy of that 1967 Ichord Committee hearings that looked into the wrong doings/failures of the M16. Yes, ever since I understood this, it's always been my contention that it was a 100% deliberate sabotage by the Ord Corp to get the M16 to fail (largely due in part by the unannounced switch from DuPonts IMR stick powder to the 'dirty' ball powder) to not only make McNamara look bad, but so that they could go back to THEIR weapon of choice, the M14. Yes, this whole debacle absolutely could've been avoided but they wanted to make McNamara eat sh*t in the worst way (their belief was, "how could this 'civilian', meaning McNamara, know more than us about what rifle is best for our Military"???). Once you understand the feelings that were involved, then it all starts making sense.

[@bjornsmith9431]

I read the Ichord hearing reports to, understand politics is a dirty game, the Old hands at the army ordinance Springfield where resistance to new ideas in technology weapons development, they could not understand McNamara and Kennedy ideas mass produces weapons with the Civilian manufacturer quickly and in larger numbers which the m14 rifle could not deliver on time, the M14 rifle was heavy double in weight by moist, hard to repair, hard to aim properly and training, hard to handle on full auto bust, the M16 rifle perform will with all these features which which m14 could not handle. The Old bosses are like this, hate new people like McNamara with new ideas and approaches to things sabotage them on their way, till the new Guy was proven right along.

[@corkydukeII5898]

Glad to hear someone else with a strong interest in this. I agree with everything you said. Yeah, once the 'old' crew understood all this, it was 'they' who had to eventually eat crow, and not McNamara. Must've been a REAL hard pill to swallow for sure! By the way, i'm guessing you're in Europe some where? Maybe english is your second language? ....just curious (I'm from Calif in case you're wondering)

[@andrewheil1158]

Yeah so anyone else think Miles looks like skinny H3H3

[@danielfisch655]

Monotone Miles strikes again.

[@thinzki44]

Military channels spread false info that 30 rounds magazine were used for m16a2

[@drstanley5676]

Trooper?

[@kendyluu]

Battle of Da Nang?

[@ZezimaTruth]

He said that they wouldn’t have survived With the M16 bc they had over 300 rounds to start.... I don’t get it.. what is he saying

[@Troacoli]

I think he meant to say without.

[@hotsteamypudding]

Can't aim accurate semi auto fire at what you can't see - if all you see is bush and you think you know roughly where they are then full auto is okay

[@kilemwaldrup4537]

A Vietnam Colonel calls magazines clips. It is now acceptable to call them as such in gun stores...

[@bandogmerch]

Good points from the Old Bird..."Full-Auto" is a waste & "Unauthorized Special Weapons" are a liability... FUCK'N "A"...👍

[@XSourStarX]

Rice patties?

[@TheSuburban15]

XSourStarX. Clearly said "paddies"

[@jjjkoy]

if I'm not mistaken it refers to someone of both Asian and Irish nationality.

[@TheSuburban15]

Nope. Corn is grown in fields. Grapes are grown in a vineyard. Rice is grown in a paddy.

[@jimhill4510]

Aside from the lies and bad decisions made in fielding the M-16 and aside from all of its' malfunctions related directly to those bad decisions, the reality was that the round was not sufficient for the things it had to penetrate to take out the enemy. The M-14 was sufficient. In a desert setting, it would work well.

[@philleotardo8760]

People didn’t like it because it was too light??

[@karlschuster2958]

Practical verbal ground hat continued star west assume ordinary.

[@Fendervana]

Nice hair dude. Jesus..

[@edpontiff8448]

He can them clips instead of magazines all he wants ! He's been there , have you ?

[@mojungle3054]

What's a Swedish K?

[@dykryena]

Ellis Magnuson a swedish smg used by special forces and the navy seals

[@mojungle3054]

chairman wow ooooohhhhhhg I see now. I've seen it before but I could never remember the name.

[@user-fn4kl5lb6t]

Swedish K en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Gustav_m/45

[@miketreen7403]

Beretta made a copy of it when Sweden stopped selling it to the US. Very controllable weapon in full auto

[@paullytle246]

Mike Treen and water isn't much of an issue

[@bobbymiranda366]

At 8:23 of this video the X marine mentions we went from 20 round clips to 30 round clips know he means magazines not clips clips are only the things that went in the M1 Garand and when you were out of ammo it would ping magazines Bball not clips

[@TheAngler2210]

Mile talks to Col Dillon like he was talking to a kid, that really annoys me. Other than that, great video.

[@RancidZombieGuts]

im sorry but when he talked about the guy killing 200 vc with an m60 i just thought of jimbo and ned talking about killing the entire vc ps i got ptsd from frequent use of the word clip

[@hamontequila1104]

Why doesn’t he just say the vietkong

[@burgerking8280]

My bill banned these killing machines. We dont need 50 cal macine guns like the ak15 and the m47.

[@cliftonjames785]

Joe Biden thank you. Now we need to ban 30 round clipazines on those automatic revolvers

[@Superplums]

Don't touch me there Joe!🖕

[@KineticConstant]

Hey baby killer ;)

[@buzguy123]

BUT PLEASE BAN THE BUMPMATIC STOCKS!!! I saw a video on the news where a man could shoot fully automatic 6000 bullets per second out of a tactical assault rifle with no background checks using one of these!!! I don't want my children to have to live in a world where they can just go to a store and buy one!!!

[@buzguy123]

Carl Maiwald Of course...

[@Jay-Niner]

Invades foreign country; calls the enemy "bad guys"... sure

[@mattnolan5527]

smell my clip

[@matt8104]

It drives me crazy when this kid is not calling him Sir.

[@JEJAK5396]

Miles, when are you going to police that Shirley Temple hairdo?

[@M9A1MAN]

Bro I love your videos, but for the love of God, cut your hair 😀

[@frankm2385]

M9A1 MAN I like his hair, he just needs a new rock to comb it.

[@realisrealite5554]

M9A1 MAN He's a combat veteran ,he's earned the rights and privileges that 299,000,000 Americans take for granted.Long hair all right with me.