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Since the evolution of small arms and light weapon systems, every conflict brought the same phenomenon - soldiers modifying weapons on the field to adapt to field conditions or make their operations easier. The same was true with the Vietnam war, especially on US/Allied side. Our blog generally focuses on Afghan War and Soviet military. But sometimes it is interesting to make comparisons with other forces and how they had to adapt to the conditions. And while Soviet soldiers could not go beyond taping two magazines together, American soldiers in Vietnam actually did have a go at their weapons. Here we have a list of curios modifications to small arms in Vietnam.
The M-14 modifications
The M14 was the rifle the US entered the war in Vietnam with, while not very popular within all the US Forces, the M14 still saw large usage in 1960s and its share of field modifications, most common of which, was cutting down barrels/stock of M14 for weight reduction.
In the next case, we see a US operative with a heavily modified M14, which included adding a makeshift grip for more recoil control and 2 twenty round magazines wielded together for higher magazine capacity.
Creating DIY extended magazines was also quite common with M14 rifles in Vietnam, they were mostly made by wielding 2 twenty-rounders, or 1 + 0.5 twenty rounds together.
As one might expect, before the availability of M14-based factory marksman rifles (M25/M21), many M14s were converted into improvised marksman rifles, with the addition of scopes and bipods sometimes.
The M-60 machine gun modifications
One of the symbols of the US war in Vietnam, the M60 machine gun, the "pig", also saw its share of modifications on the field, the easiest of them being the addition of a C ration can (or any similar can) to help with ammo feeding. (The first picture is for illustration)
While being heavy, as you might already imagine cutting down barrels and doing DIY shortening of M60s, sometimes by modifying stocks, was common as well.
In some cases, especially seen with US Navy Seals during that period, custom front grips were added as well while shortening the barrel.
UH-1 helicopter in Vietnam with M60s in a DIY double-linked gun mount.
Field modifications of AR-15 platform in Vietnam
As for the elephant in the room - AR-15 rifle platforms. The M16 and its variants saw unspeakable usage in Vietnam, while not cut down too often, the sheer volume of M16 variants in the field meant that they were also subject to modifications.
As with the M14, M16 rifles were sometimes converted into makeshift marksman rifles, due to a low number of Colt Model 655/56 purpose-built marksman rifles available. M84 scopes were used most of the time.
Camouflage paint was also commonly applied to M16 rifles, here we see an example with Green camouflage, "jungle" taped magazines, and HEL E4 silencer.
While not a DIY modification, I would still like to include HEL E4 suppressor usage on M16s in Vietnam since it looks cool as HEL.
While continuing with a thread of Silencers on M16 in Vietnam, here is an example with a 4x20 scope, FA-XM silencer, and bipod.
Example of field modified M16A1 with stock from XM177 carbine used by US SOF in Vietnam. Also, note the M203 mount handguard but lack of grenade launcher itself.
Before the mass introduction of 30-rounder magazines, as with many weapons in Vietnam, DIY large-capacity mags were made by soldiers on field, sometimes wielding 2 or 3 twenty-rounder magazines together.
Probably one of the most obscure modifications out there was modifying AK 7.62 magazines for M16s. This was done in two ways: one is to flatten, grind, and cut the magazine catch, and the other is to weld the M16 magazine catch to the AK magazine.
As the case with M14s, the Carbine version of M16, the XM177E1 also had DIY modification of handguard grips. XM177 carbine series were harder to control in full-auto due to the shorter barrel size.
For the same, recoil-related reasons, some of the XM177 carbines had their telescopic stocks replaced with standard M16 stocks.
Continuing with a thread of cutting down barrels, probably one of the most known DIY modification from Vietnam would be MACV SOGs cut down RPDs. They were very popular since they offered excellent firepower and were light compared to other LMG options.
The US were not the only one modifying weapons on the field, Australian Forces, especially SAS units, heavily modified their L1A1 battle rifles, including cutting down barrels, full auto conversions, handguard grips, and DIY additions of XM148 grenade launchers.
Sometimes, XM148 grenade launchers were also installed on Sterling 9x19 SMGs used by Australian Soldiers.
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