The floor of the aircraft rocks violently as the big Army helicopter screams up the dark, frozen Alaskan riverbed, rolling viciously to follow the contours of the landscape at fifty feet above the snow-covered ground and one hundred forty miles per hour. Attempting to compensate for the motion, you cling tightly to the spade grips of your D-model M-60 and keep your knees bent as you scan the green image flashing by through your ANVIS-6 (Aviator’s Night Vision Imaging System) night vision goggles. Abruptly the aircraft rolls into a steep bank and rounds a bend in the river, bursting into a wide flood plain. As you’d anticipated, a formation of two dozen NATO-standard silhouette targets stands clustered some three hundred meters off your route of flight. The stark shadows they cast in the electronically-intensified moonlight of your goggles make them easy targets.

You punch off the safety on your -60 and lean back against the grips, allowing the weapon and mount to take your weight. Taking a rough bead slightly below and behind the cluster of targets, you tighten around the gun’s twin triggers and chug out a ten-round burst. The pair of tracers that light out of the burst arc brilliantly out of the muzzle and impact a bit short, leaving glowing green trails in the phosphor of your goggles. You note to yourself with a grin that the muzzle flash off of your -60 looks really cool through your NVGs. A minor adjustment and the next burst chews into the center of the formation, tossing snow and dirt liberally among the plastic soldiers.

Your next target is a Conex-a big metal shipping container. It rests five hundred meters or so out in the riverbed and is as large as a small house. You fire another sounding burst and then walk your tracers toward the dark metal box. Once you are on target you hold the triggers an extra second or two; there’s no being too careful when dealing with hostile shipping containers.

In the minutes that follow you ventilate assorted junked cars, trucks, vans, and construction equipment at a variety of ranges out to about a kilometer. You are having so much fun that you almost don’t notice the one hundred twenty-knot slipstream tearing across your face. The wind itself wouldn’t be so bad were it not for the ambient negative twenty five degree temperatures typical of the Alaskan wintertime. These two elements combine to yield a wind chill you conservatively estimate at one hundred thousand degrees below zero. No matter, that which does not kill us makes us stronger and you’re having too much fun to notice the pain.

Sooner than you would like, the plain starts to tighten back around the river and the range nears its close. There is nothing quite like firing belt-fed automatic weapons out of a moving aircraft. For the recreational machinegunner it is very nearly nirvana. To do so at night under night vision goggles is cool beyond my capacity to describe.

The M-60D, the Army’s standard defensive helicopter armament, is at its heart a slightly modified version of the M-60 General Purpose Machine Gun. The barrel and receiver group of the D-model are essentially those of a ground -60 but the pistol grip/trigger assembly is replaced by a set of spade grips and a mechanical linkage connecting the gun’s sear to the trigger rings on the grip. The sight is a fold-up spider web type device comprised of a pair of concentric aiming circles. In practical application the weapon can be finicky. Some pieces, dependent upon age, wear, and, I suppose, the phase of the moon, are notoriously unreliable.

A canvas ejection control bag mounts on the right side of the gun to catch brass and links, preventing potential damage to delicate aircraft systems by these discarded items. The weapon employs a rather cumbersome crossbolt safety that is difficult to manipulate with a link bag installed and foregoes the familiar rubber-covered forearm of the ground version. The ejection control bag itself is effective but was obviously designed as an afterthought. The operator must reach his hand through a zippered opening in the rear of the bag to access the weapon’s charging handle and it can be quite frustrating reducing multiple stoppages on a crotchety gun with the link bag installed.

The physics of aerial gunnery differ significantly from that which governs the more orthodox employment of ground-mounted automatic weapons. While the M-60D comes equipped with the aforementioned small fold-up ring sight, I have found that most effective aerial engagements result from simply tracking one’s tracers and walking long bursts into a target. As helicopter door guns are by their nature suppressive weapons, this technique projects maximum fire into the target area, hopefully keeping an enemy’s head down long enough to allow the aircraft to egress the area. The most striking aspect of helicopter door gunnery, however, is the behavior of bursts fired on opposite sides of a moving aircraft.

WARNING: Physics-intensive discussion follows. Skip this part if you don’t care about the details.

A bullet launched from an M-60 leaves the muzzle at roughly 2800 feet per second imparted with a clockwise spin of one turn every 12 inches. This results in a rotational velocity of roughly 228,000 rpm. When fired from a stationary platform the projectiles arc toward their targets based solely upon Newtonian physics. The bullets accelerate toward the center of the earth at 32.17 feet per second squared, their range being therefore governed by their initial velocity and the distance above the ground at which they were fired. When the firing platform is moving through the air, however, each individual projectile becomes its own little flying machine, interacting with the lateral airflow to generate specific characteristics based upon the direction of spin and wind speed.

When fired out of the right door of a moving helicopter the left-to-right airflow across the projectile interacts with the clockwise spinning projectile to produce a low pressure area on the top of the bullet. The practical result of this phenomenon, technically a derivative of Bernoulli’s effect, is to create lift and cause the bullet to fly upward, following a trajectory completely opposite that which one would expect in stationary gunnery. As such, an aerial gunner firing out the right side of a moving aircraft must actually aim below a target and allow his projectiles to fly up into the target. (see Fig I)

When firing out the left side of an aircraft the opposite is true. The lateral airflow creates a low-pressure area underneath the spinning bullet and exacerbates the plunging effect of a burst caused by gravity. The result is a decrease in effective range of the weapon. (see Fig II) The climb or descent of the projectiles is a function of the square of the airflow velocity so the effect is much more pronounced at high aircraft speeds.

CONGRATULATIONS! You made it through the physics part. Now back to the fun stuff.

The 100-plus-knot slipstream outside a helicopter in flight does an excellent job of cooling an air-cooled machinegun. I have seen air-60s digest truly phenomenal quantities of ammunition in long, sustained bursts without suffering the debilitating effects of excessive barrel heat to which ground guns are susceptible.

Mounts for the guns are unique to the airframe and employ cams and blocks that limit the field of fire of the weapon so as to preclude shooting up one’s own fuselage or rotor system. The UH-60 and UH-1 aircraft have provision for two guns each, one per side, while the twin-rotor CH-47 can sport a third gun in a tail stinger mount.

Most special operations aviation units employ either the General Electric M-134 minigun or Browning M-3 aircraft fifty-caliber machinegun as on-board suppressive armament. The M-134 is an electrically-powered, six-barrelled gatling gun which fires 7.62 mm rounds at rates of up to 6000 rounds per minute. The weapon is powered by the aircraft’s integral 24-volt DC electrical system and, unlike the -60, is rendered inoperative if separated from the aircraft and its power source.

The Browning M-3 aircraft gun is the same weapon our grandfathers employed in flexible mountings on B-17s and B-24s. The gun is a lightweight version of the M-2 heavy barrel machinegun, weighing in at 68 pounds and firing at an accelerated cyclic rate of 1200 rounds per minute. The recoil impulse of this fast-firing fifty restricts its use to relatively large aerial platforms such as the MH-47E Chinook and MH-53E Pave Low aircraft.

Most western European rotary-wing aircraft employ the FN MAG GPMG for on-board suppressive fire. Soviet-bloc aircraft such as the Mi-8 and Mi-17 have mountings in each passenger window for either the PK general purpose machinegun or the Kalashnikov series of assault rifles. Like most of the military materiel designed in the former Soviet Union, these mounts are simple, robust, and effective. Each mount clamps around the forend of the weapon and allows a limited traverse while preventing the weapon from falling out of the aircraft, a significant concern with enthusiastic young soldiers under stressful conditions.

Tracers fired under night vision goggles are absolutely spectacular. The ANVIS system mounts to a modified SPH-series aviator helmet visor and sports a separate battery pack that secures with velcro on the back of the helmet. While the entire setup is a bit heavy and cumbersome, generating some truly world-class neck strain in the uninitiated, it is remarkably sensitive and allows the contemporary Army aviator to fly any mission he might fly in daylight in practically pitch darkness. The goggles themselves are analogous to a pair of miniature television cameras with their associated screens suspended just in front of the aviator’s eyes. The faint image of the terrain ahead of the aircraft generated by the reflection of ambient moonlight or starlight is electronically amplified and presented in various shades of green monochrome on the eyepiece end of the goggles. For functionally lightless evenings Army aircraft are equipped with an infrared searchlight which can be independently gimbled by the pilot in flight via a coolie hat control switch on the collective pitch control. These searchlights are nearly all-illuminating under night vision systems but invisible to the naked eye. This might be something to think about the next time you plan on necking with your girlfriend out on a deserted road near an Army base.

Effective aerial gunnery is ammunition-intensive and an acquired skill and is therefore a rather challenging task on which to train in a military environment. The range space required to train on aerial gunnery tasks safely is obviously prodigious and it is a daunting task to configure targets is such a way as to be a challenging and realistic simulation of reality. The fire hazard of firing tracer ammunition into flammable woodland and grassland areas provides yet another impediment to aerial gunnery training. While stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma I found that the Oklahoma grasslands were much more susceptible to incineration via helicopter-fired tracer ammunition than to even white phosphorous artillery rounds.

Regardless of the training challenges, true aerial gunnery is just too cool for school. A computer game manufacturer who could accurately replicate the sights, sounds, and feelings of firing a machinegun out of an aircraft in flight would be a wealthy man. It is a shame that helicopter costs, range space, and draconian legislation stand between most civilian machinegunners and this unique shooting experience.

We American machinegunners are an innovative lot, however, and have developed countless ways to enjoy our sport while remaining within the confines of U.S. firearms law. Who knows, perhaps some enterprising recreational machinegunner with access to a Cessna may someday put a new slant on the Knob Creek shoot.

The German woman was becoming a real pain. I knew we were in trouble when I saw her Birkenstock sandals. CPL Pat Cooper had rendered initial first aid to the German relief worker, while I carried another woman away from the road accident. Their Land Rover hit a roadblock, went off the road and flipped over right after passing our three vehicle convoy. We were enroute to Mogadishu from a 10th Mountain division camp near Marka at a high rate of speed because darkness was falling. CPT Dan Dobrolwski, 513th MI Brigade, quickly organized a perimeter. Although an MI officer. ‘Ski and I had both been rifle platoon leaders in the 2d Infantry Division on the Korean DMZ in ’86 and he quickly slipped back into the combat troop leader mode, commandeering an M60 machine gun and organizing vehicle shakedowns of civilian traffic entering our perimeter which crowned the roadway. Within five minutes there was a crowd of about 100 civilians lining the road. We waited for assistance that never came.

Before we pulled out to medevac the relief workers ourselves an English aid worker asked me what should be done with the weapon. Weapon? Sure enough, with all the khat chewing Somalis milling around there was a loaded G-3 laying atop the vehicle’s underside. I hastily cleared the rifle and shoved it at him telling him, “here take this, sling it muzzle down and whatever you do, don’t play with the damn thing.”

It was not the first G-3 I’d seen in the past few weeks. There were weapons all over the country. Everywhere I went there was an arms room filled with the same hodgepodge assortment of small arms captured from the local thugs. The captured, confiscated, or voluntarily surrendered weapons were predominately Kalashnikov’s as most Somali “gun men” were armed with Kalashnikov’s. I can’t endorse the Kalashnikov enough as an all-around great battle rifle for the African continent. It is ideally suited for the harsh field conditions in desert and bush environments of the Dark Continent where operator maintenance is minimal and old crankcase oil or goat fat frequently suffices for weapons lubricant. The simplistic, robust design of the Sergeant Mikhail T. Kalashnikov’s perfect peasant rifle is just the ticket for arming a bunch of illiterate, primitive tribesmen who’ve never handled anything more technologically advanced than a transistor radio. Some of these people still believe that setting a sight on a longer range increases the hitting power of the bullet. Explaining trajectory and bullet drop is akin to teaching quantum physics. While AK’s , M-16s, and G-3’s were the most common weapons I saw in Somalia there was also a wide assortment of weapons laying about including at least one example of the more common European small arms made in this century.

SGT Jako from the 10th Mountain Division S-2 (Intelligence) shop in Kismayo showed me inside the locked CONEX container where they kept a stash of captured weaponry. I almost burst into tears at the sight of badly rusted Thompson .45 submachine guns destined for the demolitions pit, knowing that even in their rough, used condition the venerable Chicago Pianos were a collectors dream. There were also stockpiles of heavily used PPSh-41s. I would guess that the stocks of both these submachine guns had been idle for some time due to ammunition shortage. While both are considered long obsolete in modern military armories they are serviceable and dependable weapons found yet in the world’s backwaters. I saw both weapons fielded later that year (1993) in Bosnia and to good effect. A heavy World War II era submachine gun may not be on par with a modern assault rifle, but in combat it sure beats throwing rocks.

In the corner beyond the Thompson’s was another “obsolete” American weapon, a very pristine M14. No doubt there were a few USMC vets of the Southeast Asia Wargames back at MARFOR headquarters who would’ve appreciated this robust weapon. I carried an M-14 (actually an M-21 sniping rifle with ART-2) in combat as late as 1986, and think it is a fine weapon. A really interesting find was a Smith and Wesson 1917 service revolver, the one chambered for .45 Long Colt but used with the .45 ACP and half moon clips. Strangely enough it had a short snub nosed barrel. The finish was 100% and the grips were pristine. It looked like it was boxed out of the factory yesterday. I am still mystified as to how it escaped damage in the sandy wastes of Somalia. Large numbers of M-16s were previously provided to Somalia by the U.S. government when Said Barre’s regime was considered a bulwark against Mengistu’s Marxist government in Ethiopia. Ironically some of our troops came under fire from these weapons with significant numbers being captured and confiscated.

It seemed like there was one of everything. SKS carbines were piled on top of M-1 Garands which leaned against Mannlicher-Carcanos, flanked by Czech LMGs and rusting Mausers. Besides the G-3s there were also a few MG 42s. The myriad collection of weapons bespoke Somalia’s tortured path on its way from feudal state to nationhood and back to tribal chaos. I noted a few .303 Lee-Enfield No. 4 rifles. Millions of these rifles were made in England, the U.S. (by Savage Arms Co.). Canada, Australia and India. These were undoubtedly left behind in British Somaliland, used in Orde Wingate’s Abyssinia campaign, or issued during the post-war protectorate. The British ruled all of Somalia after the war until the Italians returned as the UN trustees in 1950. Somalia being a former Italian colony there were large quantities of Italian weapons. Several examples of the Beretta Model 38/42 submachine gun (differing from the 38A by its lack of a cooling jacket) were captured in Kismayo. The precision machining and finishing on the pre-war Model 38A’s was eliminated during the war to ease the manufacturing process. But, even with a stamped tubular receiver it proved to be a reliable and robust submachine gun. I know of only one reference to the Breda Model 1935PG 6.5mm rifles. The Breda was a substandard rifle built for export in the late 1930’’ ( a 7mm variant was sold to Costa Rica in 1937) and many were shipped to Ethiopia. I kept my eye out for one of these rifles. I have yet to even find a photo of one and am beginning to think it is a chimera. The bolt-action 6.5mm M91 Carcano rifles and carbines, however, were well represented with hundreds of examples, mostly in poor to junk condition. With the wide availability of various select fire weapons, especially Kalashnikov’s, I assume most were carried by herdsmen. Interestingly, it was this area of the world where it was determined there was a need for a larger caliber replacement for the 6.5mm. It was in the course of their campaign to subdue Haile Selassie’s Ethiopia defended by Spear carrying tribesmen that the Italians decided the 6.5mm was not enough of a man-stopper. The 7.35mm cartridge was introduced but with the advent of World War II the Italians thought it unwise to switch calibers and most of the 7.35mm Carcanos (M1938) were sold to Finland. Some were re-barrelled with 6.5mm barrels by the Italians. Near the end of World War II limited quantities of these weapons were re-chambered for 7.92mm Mauser. The Germans, who were pressing anything that launched a bullet into service, re-designated the 6.5mm rifles as the Gew 209(I) and the 7.35mm rifles as Gew 231(I) and rebored them for 7.92mm. Due to the increase chamber pressures generated by the 7.92mm Mauser cartridge it is unsafe to fire these weapons. I also saw several M59 Beretta rifles, in my opinion, one of the better Italian made weapons. When the U.S. adopted the M-14 the Italians decided to adapt its M-1 Garand (made under license by Beretta). The resulting weapon was an M-1 chambered to fire the NATO 7.62 round, modified to fire bursts, and fitted with a 20-round magazine and a grenade launcher / muzzle brake.

Later, back in Mogadishu I had the opportunity to examine a Breda Model 30 Italian Light Machine Gun.. The Breda, although one of the first machine gun made with a quick change barrel and, while exhibiting excellent workmanship, was a badly flawed design. A delayed blowback operating gun with a recoiling barrel (like the Italian 1914 Revelli) it has a large bolt with multiple locking lugs. The magazine is permanently attached and is loaded with a twenty-round “horse-shoe” charger of brass or cardboard. On top of the receiver is an oilpan and pump. Because of faulty loading and ejecting inherent in its design, weapons oil is injected onto the rounds and they’re fed through the side loading fixed-box magazine. It obviously didn’t fare too well in the sandy wastes of Ethiopia and Libya.. leading to the old joke about the Italian Army making better shoes than machineguns. When ‘Ski and I disassembled the weapon, which was in remarkably immaculate condition, we found the parts were serial numbered and they all matched. This was a museum quality piece. We attempted to arrange for its shipment to the U.S., but to no avail. It would be destroyed like several other museum pieces, including some priceless Wilkinson sabers which went into the demolition pit with everything else.

Large quantities of captured/confiscated weapons were shipped to the Embassy Compound where they were destroyed. Unfortunately the preponderance of weaponry was tempting. An Army lieutenant was arrested attempting to ship home an AK-47. A few troops I talked to displayed their “drop guns” – pistols such as Lugers, WWII-era Berettas, and Baby Brownings —acquired in Somalia and carried for personal protection or to insure they could produce captured weapons from dead bodies after a fire fight if needed. It’s too bad our troops worried as much about surviving the Monday Morning quarterbacks as they did surviving combat patrols. Despite the availability of many suitable weapons the well-deserving soldiers and marines of Operation Restore Hope were restricted from bringing home a legal war trophy.

Some of the people who justly deserved a war trophy were the U.S. Marines (India Battery, 3/11) who manned several of the camouflage net covered sandbag outposts guarding the Embassy’s outer wall and the main outer gate to the U.S. Embassy Compound. I spent a little time wandering around the perimeter and getting to know the leathernecks responsible for the security of my work site and the area where I slept (quite comfortably) in a GP Medium tent. The positions were all 2-man positions which included night vision devices and an M249 SAW (squad automatic weapon). While some automatic weapons positions had range cards others did not; it seemed to be a gunner prerogative rather than a result of SOP (standard operating procedures) or orders from their tactical small unit leaders. Then again some had non-existent fields of fire and most of the marines I spoke to eschewed the M249 SAW, citing inaccuracy. They preferred their M16A2’s..”every Marine a rifleman.” Fine with me as I always knew where to find a squad automatic, and I much prefer a SAW or an M60 to a “16 any day. From their outpost on the Embassy wall’s southwest corner they had a good view of a Somalia “prison.” Nighttime executions were a common event with the Marines holding front row seats … no tickets required. LCPL Jessie Nunez told me he engaged a Somali armed with an RPG crawling over the Embassy wall just across the street from this “prison.” Despite the occasional “sniper” rounds thudding into their sandbags and the nightly spectacle of nearby Somali versus Somali firefights they spent most of their day shifts bored by routine and harassed by Somalis begging for food.

Perimeter security and reaction teams were handled by these marines and personnel from Force Service Support Group guard force. Additionally there were sniper posts located on top of various buildings in the compound as well as on K-7, a building outside the Embassy – considered key terrain because of its commanding height and fields of fire. Marines (artillerymen from Echo Battery 2/12 Marines) attached to the 3/11 Marines also performed mounted and dismounted patrols outside the Embassy and the airfield.

At approximately 0130 10 January, 1993, a fifteen man patrol traveling in Humvees spotted what appeared to be armed Somalis, the patrol dismounted near K-7. Moving stealthily down the alleyway while hugging the walls they were fired upon by an unknown number of Somalis. Going to ground most of the patrol quickly burned off some rounds, but the whole firefight was over quickly; the lieutenant screaming ceasefire before some of the Marines were even able to fire their weapons. The snipers from K-7 engaged multiple targets using either a .50 Barrett or a Remington 700, (no one would confirm which) and claimed two kills (later confirmed). The patrol accounted for another confirmed and a probable. Marines I spoke to remarked favorably on both weapons.

U.S. weapons which saw the most duty in Somalia were the M16A2 – which performed well, but required more attention in keeping out sand than other weapons – and the Beretta M92F 9mm pistol: not as well liked as its forebear the trustworthy and easy to use M1911A1 .45 ACP. I had opportunity to carry Colt and Beretta pistols in Somalia, but not the weapons mentioned. I was alternately armed with a Colt Officer’s model .45 ACP and an Egyptian “Helwan” copy of the 1951 Beretta 9mm. The .45 began jamming on me due (I believe) to the temperature change affecting the Blazer CCI hollowpoints I was loading. While my Pakistani 9mm ammo worked okay the Helwan’s eight-shot single-stack magazine was next to useless. It continually filled with sand, despite my best efforts to keep it clean. Pistols became a problem for many in Somalia. I saw a female naval officer (an 0-6 Captain, if I remember correctly) fumble with her pistol. She had wrangled a trip ashore and a “joy ride” through Mogadishu. Both her and the male subordinate accompanying her were so fat and out of shape they had problems climbing into the back of a 2 1/2 ton truck. She had to be helped to load her pistol. There were too many of such “officers” and not enough “shooters.” Lieutenant colonels and majors literally swarmed about the Embassy compound, all moving with that air of brisk, self-important military efficiency inherent to minor staff officers. All off to carry out some obscure staff function in an office identified with a string of acronymal letters. I have never before seen so many field grade officers in such a concentrated space. I think they outnumbered the grunts. Because most of these staff types all carried pistols there was a clearing barrel at the inner wall of the Embassy compound. A sign said, “No Negligent Discharges (or You will Fry!)” A reference to the consequences of any less-than-mundane action in the modern zero-defects army. A scorecard was kept on a piece of MRE cardboard and identified negligent discharges (they are no longer considered “accidents”) by service and country. It was removed at the behest of some colonel. The numbers were beginning to look embarrassing anyway.

Since the Somalia mission was a UN operation there were troops from all over the world: Sweden, France, Canada, Italy, Botswana, Morocco, and Pakistan – to name just a few. Of course all the contingents were armed with their own national weapons. While some, like the Botswanans and Moroccans, carried weapons purchased from other countries, most carried native manufactured weapons. The intelligence unit I was working with shared a building, the old library annex, in the outer Embassy compound with some Australians. Over 900 Australians (wearing those funny looking hats) were deployed in support of Restore Hope, and took over U.S. responsibilities in Baidoa. For the Australians it was the largest deployment of Aussie troops since their participation in the Vietnam war. Although their officers were equipped with well-worn Browning 9mm Hi-Powers the diggers were carrying brand spankin’ new AUG variants.

One of the most significant changes in Australian Defence Force (ADF) weaponry had just come about. After extensive test trials the Australian Government armed its troops with a new small arms weapons system designed to serve the ADF into the 21st century: the Austrian 5.56mm Steyr AUG (Armee Universal Gewehr) “bullpup”. The Austeyr (Australian Steyr) is manufactured under license in Australia with three models in production: the Austeyr F88, the Austeyr F88-C (Carbine) with a barrel 4” or 100mm shorter than the standard F88 rifle, and the Austeyr F88-S which lacks the integral 1.5 power sight, allowing the mounting of the AN/PVS-4 Night Vision Sight. Some of the Aussies commented that they’d prefer to have their SLRs or M-16s rather than the Austeyr. A female MP I spoke to liked it because of its shorter length and perception of lighter weight.

A few days after the Australian contingent was reinforced I went up to Baidoa as they were taking over the mission there and I watched some Aussies prep for a patrol. Along with some inquisitive Diggers I inspected some captured “technical” vehicles (pickup trucks with machine guns on improvised mounted) at Baidoa. Besides the usual shot-up Toyota trucks (one of which mounted a 106 mm recoiless) were a Flat 6614 APC (which mounts a 12.7mm machine gun) and a Detroit built truck mounting an AA gun. The technicals were captured by the 15th MEU USMC. The one mounted with a recoiless was used to kill 25 civilians and painted on the side was a slogan in Somali, which translated as, “We must Kill and Loot, Nobody will survive when we attack.” Another “technical” was emblazoned: “Ruthlessness and Gold in my Religion.” The next day one of the diggers in Baidoa discharged his Austeyr in the back of a vehicle. The round struck the barrel of his mate’s Austeyr splintering the round and wounding two others with the fragments.

After visiting the Aussies in Baidoa it only seemed logical to check out the Belgians in Kismayo, a port city south of Mogadishu, where Somali workers unload grain shipments. I flew into the air-strip there where 10th Mountain Division troops on top of the terminal building watched the access road to Kismayo airport and the troop barracks in the terminal building. The security detachment was well armed with M16s, M203s, a Mk 19 grenade launcher, as well as an M24 sniper rifle. The access road was blocked with 55-gallon drums filled with rocks and sand. The security detachment had a stand off distance of a few hundred yards to engage any “suicide car bomber.” No more Beirut’s. Designed for possible future conversion to .300 Winchester Magnum the M24 was built around the M118 Special Ball 7.62mm NATO “sniper” cartridge and on the Remington Arms commercial M70 long bolt action and the M40 custom trigger. The M24 Sniper Weapon system (including a Leopold Ultra M3 10X sighting telescope) was first issued in 1987 and was soon fielded to all infantry, ranger, and special forces units. It accounted itself well in Panama and later in the Persian Gulf.

When I helicoptered into Kismayo I noticed a flurry of activity. The Belgian paratroopers at the port had taken casualties in a flurry of grenade attacks in the past 24 hours. On the ride through town the driver of the Humvee tossed me his M16, but happily the trip was uneventful. The paratroopers wearing maroon berets with SAS “Who Dares Wins” cap badges and armed with FNC 80 Para folding stock carbines (and little else) had encountered an ambush just a few hours before. A Belgian Paratrooper I chatted with showed me the shrapnel wounds dotting his leg received in the ambush earlier. The doc had simply dug out the frags, gave him some aspirin, swabbed the holes with mercurochrome, and sent him back to duty to monitor patrol reports. Another had been wounded in the top of the head while firing from the prone – a preventable injury if Lee Paras had worn helmets. The FNC 80 is a good weapon for paratroops with its folding metal stock with rubber buttplate. Unlike many other FN rifles the recoil spring is in the piston rod assembly.

Just a few years previous to the United Nations intervention in Somalia the Italians, the former colonial masters of Somalia, were armed with a variety of weapons including the Beretta 12S 9mm submachine gun, the BM59 series of rifles, the 5.56mm AR70/.223 assault rifle made by Pietro Beretta SpA, and the SC70, the folding stock carbine version of the AR70/.223. While sold in limited numbers to Jordan and Malaysia, the AR70 (resembling the SIG 530-1 externally) and SC70 “special troops carbine” was fielded solely by Italian special operations forces. The development of the AR70/90 was prompted by defects in the design of the AR 70 and after the Italian Army announced competitive trials for a new service rifle in 1984 Beretta produced the AR70/90 in 1985 and introduced it into service in 1990. So the Italians were carrying rifles that had only been in their inventory for 2-3 years.

French Foreign Legionnaires, many from the garrison in nearby Djibouti, in their berets, short-shorts, and sunglasses were easily recognized by their FA-MAS (Fusil Automatique – Manufacture d’ Armees de St. Etienne) 5.56mm bullpup rifles. Called Le Clarion (the bugle) by the French troops because of its unconventional design, it is a good infantry weapon, especially suited to accurate fire from the prone position with its 25-round magazine and integral bipod. The short overall length (30”) also makes it ideal for vehicle mounted troops. The French were the first to field a bullpup rifle, and unlike subsequent bullpup rifles (the Steyr AUG and British L85A1) the FA-MAS is the only one which allows rapid reconfiguration to a left-shoulder firing weapon. Somalia was my first opportunity to see the FA-FAMAS in action and two very bored Legionnaires were keen to accommodate my curiosity. One thing of note: their magazine change was conducted with the weak or non-firing hand, something I’ve always done with a magazine-fed select fire weapon, but alien to some people.

Swedish troops, most headquartered at the “Swedish Hospital” which supported the UN mission, wore US desert pattern “chocolate-Chip” battle dress uniforms but were armed with the M45(B) Carl Gustav 9mm (kulspruta pistol submachine gun aka “Swedish L”. Influenced by their Finnish M31 Suomi submachine guns (manufactured under license by Sweden’s Husquvarna Vapenfabrik as the Model 37-38) and impressed by the success of crude but effective World War II submachine guns such as the British Sten and the Soviet PPSh-41 and PPS-43, the M45, was developed in the 1944 as a mass-produced, inexpensive weapon. While a well-made high quality weapon simple and uncomplicated in design, the fully-automatic M45 firing its 9mm pistol cartridge is only effective to about fifty meters. Still, an adequate weapon for military police guarding a hospital.

It seems like everybody in Somalia was fired at. The first time some Somali thug sent some rounds my way it was three short bursts of automatic, and nobody could locate the shooter. Sometimes shots were actually exchanged and some Somalis killed while other times it was anybody’s guess if the fire was even aimed directly at us, or just burned off into the air as harassment as we drove pass. With the distinct possibility of being perforated with some of the habitual (and at times somewhat desultory) gunfire, riding around Mogadishu and traveling throughout Somalia was not without its perils. But for a weapons aficionado attached to U.S. special operations it was still a hell of a good time.

Rob Krott, a former Army officer (Infantry and Special Forces units) studied East African cultures at Harvard University. A Swahili speaker with on-the -ground time in the area of operations he was hired as a Dept. of the Army civilian consultant and assigned as the Assistant Team Chief, Somali Linguist Team, in December ’92, deploying to Somalia in January ’93.

For further reading on Operation Restore Hope in Somalia the author recommends; Losing Mogadishu by Jonathan Stevenson and Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden.

In the darkness of 23 August 1916 a battalion of British infantry worked feverishly bringing cases of ammunition and water forward. They were tasked with bringing up enough supplies to keep 100 Coy, Machine Gun Corps well supplied. It was no light work as the ten guns in question were Vickers .303 medium machine guns. When the signal to fire was given on 24 August the ten Vickers fired for 12 hours non- stop. The only pause was to change ammunition belts and barrels. Between ten guns they fired just shy of 1 million rounds. One gun actually averaged 10,000 rounds an hour for 12 hours. They used 100 barrels and an untold amount of water was turned to steam in the process. In the end their assigned task was accomplished. They had been charged with denying the “Hun” movement over a far distant hill. For 12 hours they had made the hill impassable. No reinforcements got through, no ammunition, food or water was brought forward, communication was effectively cut. In both World Wars and afterwards the Vickers Mk I machine gun proved eminently capable of providing long range indirect fire. It was used to such an extent in this manner that a special load was developed for use solely with the Vickers, the .303 Mk 8Z.

Unlike its contemporaries the .303 British was originally a blackpowder cartridge when it was first adopted on 2 February 1889. The .303 Mk I Ball load consisted of a 215 grain round nose bullet on top of 75.5 grains of blackpowder. It was soon changed to cordite and remained basically the same up through the Mk VI ball loading. This drove a 215 grain round nose at 2060 fps. The charge was 30-32.5 grains of cordite.

The big change came with the adoption of the famous Mk VII ball round. This load consisted of a 174 grain flat based spitzer on top of 37 grains of modified cordite. Velocity was 2440 fps. This load was in service at the outbreak of World War I and continues to give outstanding service in various places around the world today. For extreme long range use of the Mk VII ball did have two drawbacks. One was the velocity, the other was the flat base projectile design. Both were easily remedied.

Before delving deeper it is first important to understand British thinking as far as projectile design was concerned. They did not deny the long range superiority of the boattail (they referred to it as streamlined) projectile over the flat base. They readily admitted a boattail projectile has a greater capacity for overcoming air resistance, flatter trajectory, higher striking power at longer ranges, and greatly increased ranging power. However they also felt that it was far easier to manufacture a square (or flat) base projectile and therefore it was easier to maintain the standards of manufacture. This in turn would produce a more consistent and accurate projectile. Poorly manufactured projectiles may give rise to oscillation (wobble) in flight producing dismal accuracy at anything but short range. They felt that since mass production is at its peak during wartime that it was likely that boattailed bullets manufactured under such conditions might lack the careful finish needed to guarantee accuracy. The Germans however embraced boattail projectiles and it is interesting to note that in his book ‘With British Snipers To the Reich” Captain Shore mentions coming across specimens of German projectiles whose tapered bases were definitely lacking symmetry.

If you scratch your head at their (British military) thinking, just remember that when British tankers complained that the hammer spur on their revolvers were catching on this or that as they clambered in and out of their vehicles they came up with a surefire fix. Instead of simply issuing flap holsters they removed the hammer spurs and made all their service revolvers double action only.

Flat base or not the Mk VII ball round proved to be an excellent rifle cartridge. To make it more efficient for long range indirect fire they upped the velocity from 2440 fps to 2550 fps. Then they added a 174 grain projectile with a long boattail. This was loaded atop a charge of 37 grains of nitro-cellulose propellant as opposed to the normal cordite loading. So the Mk 8Z ball, for machine guns only, was born. This load gave the Vickers machine gun a maximum range of 4500 yards (4.1 km)! This is in comparison to the Mk VII’s maximum range of 3700 yards (3.38 km). Terminal velocity of a dropping .303 Mk VII at this range is only 315 fps which equates to about 40 foot-pounds of energy.

You can easily tell Mk VII ball from Mk 8Z ball by simply looking at the head stamp. The British military headstamp gives the manufacturer’s name abbreviated to one or two letters. “RG” for example indicates the round was manufactured by the Royal Ordnance Factory, Radway Green in Cheshire, ‘K’ indicates manufacture by Kynoch and so forth. The year of assembly is given, and the cartridge type. Up until the end of 1944 Roman numerals were used to indicate the mark type of the cartridges. VII or 7 would indicate the standard Mk VII cordite loaded ball. A suffix of ‘Z’, such as ‘7Z’ would indicate nitro-cellulose propellant instead of cordite. So a round with a head stamp of K63 8Z would be a Mk 8Z ball round loaded with nitro-cellulose by Kynoch in 1963.

A letter prefix on the mark designation before 1957 identified projectile type. No prefix indicated ball. The codes are listed below:

B-Incendiary
O-Observing
D-Drill
P-Practice
E-Smoke Bomb Projector
Q-Proof
F-Semi-Armour Piercing
R-Explosive
G-Tracer
U-Dummy
H-Grenade Discharger
W-Armour-piecing
L-Blank

Where a cartridge performed two functions the prefix could use 2 letters, such as ‘PG’ for Practice Tracer. So a designation of G8Z would indicate Mark 8 Tracer, loaded with Nitro-cellulose. Until the adoption of the NATO color code in 1957 the British used a color code as follows:

Of special note is British wartime experience with the barrel erosion characteristics of Mk VII ball (cordite) and Mk 7Z and 8Z (Nitro-cellulose). They found that barrels should be used with either cordite ammunition (Mk VII) or Nitro-cellulose ammunition (Mk 7Z and 8Z) but not with both. This was due to the different wear patterns of the two different propellants. They stated this was especially important for overhead fire. I’d hate to know who found that out!

I took examples of different types of .303 ball cartridges, pulled the projectiles and weighed the components. For Mk VII ball, I had examples from 1949 vintage Radway Green and 1948 vintage Greenwood and Batley. For Mk 8Z I had examples made by Kynoch in 1963. And to make things interesting I used some Greek ball manufactured by Greek Powder and Cartridge Co., in Athens and Sellier and Bellot in Vlasim, Czechoslovakia (I have been extremely impressed with Sellier and Bellot .303 Ball, it’s really good stuff). Data is contained in the chart. I then trundled all my gear out to my car and drove to The Outdoor Sportsman in Northport, Maine. The range is class 3 friendly and the owner Carl Kosomo helped with the testing. To check for accuracy I used a custom No. 4 Enfield Tactical rifle with 26” heavy fluted Douglas match barrel, synthetic stock, and 3X9 Leupold.

I was pleased as the Mk 8Z shot into an inch at 100 yards. Not bad for machine gun ammunition. Average velocity was 2559 fps and recoil seemed no different from Mk VII ball, fairly mild. Point of impact was 1.5 inches higher than for MkVII ball. Bolt opening was normal and cases extracted easily. Primers were normal with no signs of higher than ordinary pressure.

While I did not have the opportunity to perform any long range tests, it has been my experience that the .303 Mk VII gives easy hits out to 850 yards or so (with a good rifle). Somewhere around 950 to 1000 yards though, for direct rifle fire the old girl runs a little short on steam. It would be interesting to see how much of an improvement the Mk 8Z offered. It doesn’t seem to be very different from some of the new 175 grain 7.62 NATO match loads that are now coming into vogue. In all truthfulness, the Mk 8Z probably doesn’t offer much of an improvement over the Mk VII for rifle use at typical infantry engagement ranges. For it’s intended purpose though I’m sure it was extremely effective. There is no doubt that a number of Vickers firing Mk 8Z ball could wreak havoc at incredible distances. One does not normally worry about rifle caliber machine gun fire at a distance of 4 kilometers. In this case it would be a mistake you wouldn’t make twice.

The Vickers Mk I machine gun passed into oblivion in 1968, and with it the Mk 8Z ball round. Their indirect fire role having been usurped by the 81 mm mortar. With its passing a chapter in machine gun history closed. It has been said that once one has tap traversed on the Vickers the fascination of the weapon remains for all time. The Vickers gun will stand for all time as a truly great machine gun. So the .303 British will stand as a truly great military cartridge.