[rdj94a]

Seabee's carried the 1911A1 up through Desert storm. I was lucky or unlucky however you see it to be the a range officer one summer to certify all officers and enlisted non-com's assigned the weapon. Most of the handguns in the armory were just plain wore out from target practice over the years, however once in awhile you could find one that shot fairly good. Some of those guys would have done better throwing them. I always remember this one fellow that came back 5 times to qualify, I finally had to put two good guys on either side of him and have them throw him a round each string to get him through. The best part of the job was there was always people that didn't for one reason or the other show up, it was a real pain in the butt to check live ammo back into the armory, so I stayed at the range with my escort 45 and shot the rest of it up each day. That was a very enjoyable summer for me.

 

[Doug Bowser]

That was a difficult job but somebody had to do it.


Doug

 

[rdj94a]

loved every minute of it

 

[bigsig]

I learned first hand during basic training why no one wants to shoot full auto. We were issued M16 A1's. And after our first trip to the range drill sergeant asked who wanted to shoot full auto. Myself and one other unknowing recruit volunteered. I guess I must have gone through about 6-7 mags before I had had enough. Wasn't until we got back to the armory that I learned why no one else wanted to shoot. Being new to the M16 I learned those old wore out A1's are a pain in the a$$ to clean when the armorer is anal. The only reason we were allowed to shoot full auto was because they didn't want to check in a partial case of ammo at the armory.

 

[Xd357]

Wow sounds like a job I need to find.

 

[James D.]

I was once told to expend 700+ rounds of 7.62 from my 240B at Benning.....

I still remember that barrel smoking..

 

[TankerHC]

In 1981 my Tank was tasked with helping to get rid of the HEP (High Explosives Plastics) that was left in the inventory in southern Germany. (The Army was doing away with HEP at the time). We spent 2 solid days and nights with little rest firing one HEP after the other at hard targets downrange at Graphoenvier. I think total we fired about 450-500 rounds. Of course that dont match all the SABOT and HEAT we fired in the Gulf.

 

[powerstrokin06]

Is'nt the Army great!! We went almost a year with no range time shortly after getting back from down range because they said ammo was in short supply for training....When we made it to the range finally we ended up with 10,000 rounds extra that had to be dispossed of....what fun, even if it did cost me some time on weapons cleaning...lol Go Army...

 

[slabsides45]

I miss those times every blue moon. Learning to gut it out at Ft. Benning back in '86 wasn't much fun in the sawdust pit in August-don't miss that!

We had a doe come running across the range at around 800 yards one day, and the drills actually let everyone on the line try to shoot her. We weren't even sighted in good yet, much less proficient at that range. I don't think she got a scratch on her!

I went to W. Germany, a leg grunt assigned to a stinkin' mech unit (1st of the 6th Infantry, 1st AD) stationed at Ft. Illesheim... middle of nowhere farming village, where they fertilized using manure. Ah, the aroma. Our motto? "Where the men are men, and the sheep are nervous."