How many .223 and .308 rounds carried in battle?

NOTPARS

I am a public high school teacher (and NRA Life Member). This questions comes up all the time concerning the Vietnam War:In battle, how many .223 rounds would a soldier be expected to carry? Of course, this could be broken down based on how many days they were expecting to be in the field and what was the expectation of resupply. Feel free to provide details according to expectation of battle, expectation of days in the field, and expectation of resupply.Next: Apparently some men carried M-14's for a period. Considering this is a large and heavier round, how many rounds would these soldiers be expected to carry in regard to the above expectations of battle, field time, and resupply. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Shootist3006

Not to sound facetious, the answer to your question is as many as possible. The normal load-out with the M14 was 10 to 12 magazines (200 to 240 rounds), an experienced veteran would carry much more. Resupply in the field had two significant characteristics: 1) it was (at best) uncertain. You could almost guarantee that if you really needed resupply, weather, mechanical difficulties or enemy action would delay it. 2) That large noisey helicopter was a dead giveaway of your position - often an unsound tactical move.Weight management became a problem as troops became seasoned. Imagine the weight of a couple of gallons of water, 300+ rounds, a claymore, 6 or 7 grenades, a couple of smoke grenades, spare rounds for the grenadier and/or machinegunner, food and 'comfort' items (smokes, bug juice, whatever). When loads got above 100#, life got very difficult.

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Quod principi placuit legis habet vigorem.Semper Fidelis

gap1916

The standard load bearing vest holds 6 30rd mags plus one in the rifle. The belt supporting the vest would hold two mag puches that contained 3 30rd mags each. you can do the math.

robsguns

There was no Load Bearing Vest(LBV) during the Vietnam Conflict, just so you know.

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SSgt Ryan E. Roberts, USMC

Kadaver

agreed....maybe gap is thinking about the VCs and their vests.

LTRP3/11th ACR

when i was in the cav back in 72 we had a basic load we carried in our m551 sheridans. the coax ,the 50 and the scouts personal weapon all had plenty of ammo to hold out for a week without a resupply. we just carried what we felt was needed for each situation. back then we didnt have high capacity mags or computers. just determination.

Iconoclast

While I did not serve in Vietnam, several of my friends did. "As much as they could" is the answer to your question - roughly five hundred rounds seems to have been the norm.

turbo

When I participated in patrols in Vietnam, I carried am M60, and 200 rounds of ammo, about 1,500 rounds were carried by the rest of the 12 man squad.Once we had to move at dusk into another perimeter position for the night, when we had exchanged fire with some locals. We traveled about 1 mile, in about 1hr. and it was no fun, carrying that M60.That was 36 years ago but seems like just a few years back.The 223 cal bullet, was chosen by the military, because of it's velocity and ability to be fired in heavy brush and with minimum deflection or breaking up like the bigger 30 calibers, Amazingly it actually led the field tests, followed by the 270, and 30-06.So, to answer your question I guess I don't know.[This message has been edited by turbo (edited 01-29-2002).]