"Assistant M60 gunner from Gringos40" Topic

Another painted up figure from the most recent Gringos40 release. I used this chap on the Dong Ba Tower, as he really is keeping his head down and has a very realistic look about him. Nicely painted as always.

The ammo belts are superbly cast.

A thought. Should he have a black strip down the middle of each ammo belt, for the interlocking metal clips? I may have done it wrong though and stand to be corrected! Mine certainly is not highlighted to this standard, whatever.

Yes – but if the belts were being worn inside out it would be invisible.

I don't know if it would be natural to keep the dark/black strip on the outside – more flexible or less snagging.

These belts actually look like they are inside out.

Nice figure well painted BTW.

Now that is brilliant and that I did not know!

So you can't lose, black strip or no black strip. All I do "know" is that the rounds always, always, point outwards…except in the trio in the otherwise brilliant memorial statues in Washington DC.

While pointing the rounds outwards to reduce snagging and jagging sharp points onto your neck or whatever – it seems logical.

That said – in the heat of action there could be an 'anything goes' policy.

I read somewhere [Clausewitz or Guy Sajer maybe] that we should only judge what happens on a battlefield when we are more tired than we have ever been, and possible filthy dirty, malnourished and cold/too hot.

Basically – this figure seems to have both belts 'black stripe innermost' and the inside belt looks like the bullets point upwards.

However – he may have grabbed it off a wounded or dead comrade while under fire and not had time to 'sort it out'.

So. Anything is possible.

happens !

Pics of M60 Ammo – link easier for me to show you then describe. And yes you generally don't want those M60 MG projectiles sticking you in the neck. But again happens …

For me personally, I think the links would be prominent when you're carrying them as they've got to be up to in order to feed properly. So I'm certainly not knocking the amazing paint job, just saying if I was going to/able to paint that level of detail, I'd have the black links showing pretty prominently as they cover quite a bit of the casing.

With regards to carrying the rounds, the fact this dude had them crossed means he did it before leaving the wire, which would mostly mean rounds out, links up. For guys grabbing them off someone else, or otherwise in a hurry, more likely to see rounds facing in and the belts just draped around the neck, you probably don't have time to play with the links to close both ends.

I know carrying MG rounds like that was done, but it still aggravates me. I want to yell at somebody to get them back in the box! You're just asking for a series of stoppages owing to the rounds and links getting gunked up/beat up.

V/R,
Jack

So many interesting points from one simple observation….this is a great forum.

It had not occurred to me that this chap has indeed got looped belts, i.e. they are closed at both ends and not hanging loose.

I have never seen bandoliers with the bullets pointing in, other than on the famous DC statue and I was not popular for pointing it out. Could a round be accidentally triggered by any impact? If so pointing away from the carrier would seem an advantage, as well as being more comfortable.

It is odd how often VN War pics do show such carriage of ammo, when it is at least as accessible (if not more actually) straight from the box.

I try to paint such as brass, black, copper from inside out, but the end result is "indistinct" at best

Searching online I find some pictures with round points upwards but many more with them pointing down and away.

Quite a lot with the black links on the inside but most with them outwards. So – anything goes really.

interesting points raised here chaps..the remit for the
sculpt was a veteran who had grab a belt of ammo..thanks
for all the kind comments

cheers
Ged
gringo40s.com
gringo40s.blogspot.com

Deadhead – I've never seen nor heard of a round going off; I suspect if something happened to actually cause that, you'd have plenty of other problems ;)

The issue with ammo cans is humping them, not short distance, short duration stuff like displacing a gun in a firefight. The issue is that you're patrolling, walking all day, carrying everything you own, and ammo cans don't travel well. You typically want all three guys in the gun team carrying two boxes worth of ammo, but you can only really get one to fit on top of your pack. It doesn't work to put a can lower where you've got to dig in your pack to get it, so you end up pulling the rounds out of the second can. And you'll get some of the riflemen in the platoon to carry a can's worth (in addition to all the other crap they're carrying), and they will pretty much automatically pull the rounds out of the can.

Carne68 – Holy crap, is that an entire belt full of tracer rounds? I've never seen a belt full of tracers; I've seen squad leaders and platoon sergeants that would load magazines full of tracers in order to mark targets, but never a belt full of tracers. Not sure why someone would want that, though it would look pretty cool ;)

V/R,
Jack

Great responses. I can forget the accidental round going off then. More importantly, there had to be some reason that so many photos do show the M60 belts worn as bandoliers. Makes sense now.

Crane68's photo demonstrates perfectly that the painter indeed knew his job. I guess the tracer was for Tet celebration pyrotechnics. After all, we won't need proper ammo for a few days during the truce…..

Ammo boxes are going to be turned into water resistant containers for socks, cigarettes and other stuff and the ammo put where it will be handier.

I've seen only a few photos of troops carrying ammo boxes in hand and very many more with them draped around the body.

I've never seen or heard of anyone carrying an ammo box as a water-proof container (the cans themselves are not waterproof, plus you're issued a water-proof bag that fits inside the ALICE pack), but…

Reading all my comments, I feel I may be giving readers the false impression that I was there, when I most certainly was not. I'm way too young for the Vietnam era, so young that my father fought in Vietnam. Many years later I was a machine gunner in the US Marine Corps, and I fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.

So, regarding the ammo cans as sock containers, not my area of expertise ;)

Regarding ammo boxes carrying ammo, like I said, you can usually get one on top of your pack (attached to the outside so that when there's contact and you drop packs you can immediately grab it and go), but more than that is tough.

V:R,
Jack

From a mention in the 13th Valley. It's a novel so maybe just an invention. Chellini is issued his field gear and given an ammo can to keep stuff dry. To be clear an old-timer helps him sort out his gear to be more 'user friendly'.

Ammo cans are heavy. As Jack pointed out.

The issue with ammo cans is humping them, not short distance, short duration stuff like displacing a gun in a firefight. The issue is that you're patrolling, walking all day, carrying everything you own, and ammo cans don't travel well. You typically want all three guys in the gun team carrying two boxes worth of ammo, but you can only really get one to fit on top of your pack. It doesn't work to put a can lower where you've got to dig in your pack to get it, so you end up pulling the rounds out of the second can. And you'll get some of the riflemen in the platoon to carry a can's worth (in addition to all the other crap they're carrying), and they will pretty much automatically pull the rounds out of the can.

I think the links would be prominent

Yes, very much so …

Holy crap, is that an entire belt full of tracer rounds?

Yes, never saw a whole belt, just the standard 4 & 1 mix. But I think entire belts of Tracer were/are available.

Even in hot dry months when going to the range. We'd have to remove the Tracer rounds. From the belts. As they could easily start all that dry foliage on fire. Which could quickly get out of hand.