I read somewhere that most US soldier don't carry an sidearm, so what happen when they ran out of ammo for their rifles during an firefight?
I read somewhere that most US soldier don't carry an sidearm, so what happen when they ran out of ammo for their rifles during an firefight?
They borrow ammo from their buddy.
This is why some militaries don't bother giving their soldiers sidearms.
Just give them more mags of ammo for their regular guns. Issuing out a sidearm brings in all the problems of procuring said guns, training men to use them, the maintenance and gunsmithing required to keep them in shape, and the logistic hurdles to supply ammo for them. And in the end, few soldiers ever need to use their sidearms. It's just extra weight.
So some armies (especially from smaller and poorer nations) just forgo using sidearms altogether, and just give out more mags and ammo for the primary weapon.
The best option is to send a couple of thousand handguns with mags and ammo but not issue them unless someone in the field finds a good reason them should be issued like tunnels.
This way you can give every section a couple of pistols quickly if they are needed but save the logi headache of maintaining them if they aren't.
How is a homie gonna borrow ammo? homie is you gonna give it back?
Underrated post.
yeah? competent armies have ammo refills
you wouldn't know that, I guess
moronic or ESL, call it.
grunts don't bring sidearms buddy, only occasionally officers or SF operators
every country is like this
It's just generally pretty rare to be in an engagement at a distance where you would need to pull out a pistol. But certain types of soldiers carry pistols for specific reasons
>Medics, to be able to use if ambushed while treating a casualty
>Special forces, because they're more often at those close engagement distances (idk if Rangers also use pistols for this reason)
>Military police, to have a sidearm in case of POW resistance etc
Others too. You get the idea. Some infantry units also supposedly carry sidearms in general, though I've never been in or known such a unit, only heard about them.
Seemed somewhat common with people having to deal with locals more often. A holstered pistol is far less threatening and welcoming than a open carry assault rifle.
Not necessarily. Sometimes a pistol can be used to show someone their place. In arab countries, pistols are a sign of intimidation more than rifles.
I was told this in basic training but idk if it was true or just some infantry staff sergeant's "wisdom"
Nope, its true. Its mainly because pistols are an executioners weapon in the arab world. If you're using a pistol, then that means you're personally using it to execute someone.
I've read the same shit, but I've never seen any backing for it. Pistols are just for officers in Arab militaries. It's not about being an executioner, but about having a big enough dick in your unit to have that handgun.
Source, please.
>It's not about being an executioner, but about having a big enough dick in your unit to have that handgun.
Its both. Its a sign of prestige and also a sign that you're not afraid to personally execute someone. Which isn't new because the soviets did the same by giving their officers pistols to shoot their subordinates.
>and also a sign that you're not afraid to personally execute someone.
Seriously, where do you get this idea from? Repressions and executions in Arab countries pretty much never are done with handguns like that.
Having a pistol just means you're a big-dick officer, and because of it you've got enough pull to frick up someone's entire life and family if you want. There's no aspect of being an executioner to it.
>Repressions and executions in Arab countries pretty much never are done with handguns like that.
There's alot of arab countries that executes people with handguns. Not all of them behead their victims.
Wasn’t there a greentext about a pistol actually being MORE threatening than a rifle in some cultures which meant that locals were more cooperative with soldiers bearing pistols out of fear?
There's also a video of a U.S. soldier in a MRAP having to whip his pistol out because a car was driving too close. He could have used his main gun, but he chose to use his pistol and it worked.
>what happen when they ran out of ammo
They shouldn't ever
Resupply happens long before then
If it happens, it's definitely a mismanaged battle, verging on a lost one
Pistols were issued to deal with green on blue threats on base ie local hired personnel turning on the troops
Fuddlore
The only reason this would have a shred of truth is that to a civvy who only knows the army from watching movies and playing with toys, the guy with the pistol is the officer and has a brain, the ones with the rifles are idiot grunts
Therefore by civvy logic, grunts are more likely to panic and shoot you whereas officers should know not to
Officers that only carry pistols are moronic, you might as well have some "HVT" shirts printed with a target of the chest.
AFAIK since early WW2 only officers ranked Major and up in regular infantry units don't have a proper rifle or SMG, and officers in paratroop units for example would be well armed.
Colonel Jones was assaulting the argies with a Sterling SMG when he was killed
>The only reason this would have a shred of truth is that to a civvy who only knows the army from watching movies and playing with toys
have you considered that the average durka is both stupider and more ignorant than that?
us soldiers aren't manning trenches, they don't need to carry tons of mags
only machine gunners, tankers, mortar troops, pilots and officers carry that shit, to everyone else, it's just dead weight
A pistol is generally useless in pretty much the majority of modern combat situations, short ranged, inaccurate and don't have much ammo in them. So given the chance you ran out of ammo during an firefight, you chuck a grenade in the general direction and haul ass.
A sidearm weighs more than an extra magazine so it's better to just give them an extra magazine.
If you're carrying a loaded handgun then you could be carrying three extra mags for your rifle which will give you 100x better utility in almost every imaginable combat scenario.
A pistol wouldn't help at most ranges
t. USMC, was issued one of the last MEU(SOC) pistols, great gun but basically useless past 50 feet
There is a reason why pistol ranges are 25 meters.
Because that's about the max range where an average grunt can still hit a man-sized target with center-mass effectiveness. Beyond that, you move into the realm of competition shooters and silhouette target shooting.
If at any time you find yourself a) lacking ammo for your primary weapon, you ask more ammo from that guy next to you. Because you are ALWAYS a part of a squad, and there is ALWAYS someone from your squad next to you.
or b) If at any time your primary weapon becomes unusable due to damage or malfuction, you are to get behind your battle buddy (seen above) and start clearing that malfunction. The moment your primary weapon is completely non-functional, your priority is to get out of the situation, NOT to draw your pistol and start playing Die Hard.
or c) if at any point you are down to your pistol and in a situation where you have to shoot at someone beyond 50feet, that is most likely a situation you won't be walking out anyways, even if you had another mag for that pistol.
(sorry, this message is not directed at you, just adressing some of the issued you brought out. Basically the reason why so many militaries forgo issuing a pistol for their infantry is because the situations where it might actually save lives VS the cost, the effort, the training, the logistics and even the "how many guys get injured because people play with their pistols" is just ...unfeasible calculation.
If at once-in-two-decades war your pistols might save 10 guys who have to use it for last-ditch-effort, and simply issuing pistols for your troops will entail at least 5 injuries for training accidents and casualties because your dudes just play with their guns... it's just not worth it.
>tfw way better at shooting pistols than rifle
I am so sorry. My brother's moronic, too.
>it's faster to switch to your pistol than reloading
At <10yd I assume.
They keep at least 100 gunpowder on them so they craft bullets on the spot.
I heard some vet from MACV-SOG ran out of ammo in vietnam, he had to use his sidearm while fighting his way to extraction. After mission he decided to ditch his sidearm and take more mags for his CAR-15.
Pistols are inaccurate enough most soldiers would probably be better off with a knife.
I've never done anything without at least 10 mags on my body, and another 5 or loose around my pack. If you run out of ammo even after that, your situation was fricked from beginning
>so what happen when they ran out of ammo for their rifles during an firefight?
US troops never go anywhere without air superiority and armour and drones and a shit ton of ammo
>so what happen when they ran out of ammo for their rifles during an firefight?
They go the the quartermaster for more ammo and pray that there isn't a line.
The only people issued pistols are staff officers/NCOs, machine gunners, and specialist MOSs because they’re personal defense weapons. In practice officers can also exchange their issued rifle for a pistol on deployment depending on their mission and how hot the deployment is
Why is everyone supposed to do the New York reload?
Most of the time I carry a rifle for show and can only really bludgeon you to death with it while other people are horrified and try to drag me off or beg me to stop.
Although during a situation they give you bullets and say you're going to get butt fricked by lawyers. Not that they're around while you got them.
If ammo is a problem just give them more ammo? Carrying an extra side arm + ammo for that would just take up more room than carrying a few extra mags.
Everyone that doesn’t go outside the wire except MPs carry sidearms. Aircrew carry sidearms, not including special forces who are technically aircrew. They have a place and everyone qualifies with them before deployment
PS frick the m9
>so what happen when they ran out of ammo for their rifles during an firefight?
how much more ammo can you carry for your rifle if you didn't have a side arm and ammo for that?
for the weight and MOLLE real estate you'd need to carry a pistol and maybe a mag pouch you could simply carry more ammo for your rifle and stay in the fight longer.
There was an incident in Fallujah were a soldier ran out of ammo and hit a insurgent with this rifle. A Gurkha beat a Taliban member with a tripod.