A History Buff's discussion: Wars and Conflicts

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What's up. I am an Aspie and a history major in college, and I like the history of some of the 20th-Century American wars (World Wars I & II, Korea, Vietnam). If you want to talk about history, battles, weapons used in these conflicts, tactics, effects at home, resolutions, etc., talk about it here! Don't let me limit to just the American 20th century wars; it can be any country or kingdom, any conflict, from any time period.

This is to share education, and not to start a heavy political, religious, or moral debate. Remember, all forum rules apply.

I guess I'll start with my favorite area of military history, and that is what weapons were used in said conflict. For example, I'll use Vietnam, which had some pretty kick-butt firepower for the time. The Americans used the M16 rifle, the M60 machine gun, the M14 rifle, Thompson submachine guns, M79 grenade launchers, and so much more. The North Vietnamese had AK-47 variants (Chinese Type-56), RPD and RPK machine guns, RPG launchers, and some other obscure Cold War weaponry from Communist Bloc countries.

In the early years of the Vietnam War,the M16 (full-auto variant of the modern AR-15 rifle) was a select-fire rifle that was originally thought to never need major cleaning. It was considered a space-age gun of it's day with an aluminum alloy receiver and fiberglass or nylon-polymer furniture (back then, guns were made of steel and wood). Designed by Eugene Stoner for the Armalite Corporation in 1957, the M16/AR-15 fires from a closed bolt, and often uses a gas impingement system. When the bullet is fired down the barrel, the hot expanding gases go through a gap in part of the barrel and back through a tube. The force of the gas then push back on the bolt carrier, ejecting the spent cartridge and cycling the gun to load a new round from the standard issue 20-round magazine into the chamber (the currently issued 30-round magazines came around later on in the war). But, this gas impingement system tended to get dirty form prolonged use, and left uncleaned, caused the rifle to jam. This in turn, costed American soldiers their lives. this discouraged soliders from using the M16, and resorting to the more powerful M14 rifle or M60 machine gun.

In response to this, the US government sent in a comic-book like manual to teach soldiers how to clean their M16. The M16/AR-15 also uses the .223 Remington or 5.56mm x 45mm NATO round, but the AR is modular. The upper receiver can be switched out to different assemblies to fire different calibers. It can also be customized with various stocks and rails to hold lights, lasers, scopes, optics, bayonets, and even grenade launchers (Scarface, anyone?)

The Vietnamese used the Type-56/AK-47. Designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov for the Soviet Union in 1947, the AK-47 fires from a closed bolt using a piston system. The gun uses a stamped steel receiver and wood furniture. This way, the gun could be built to more crude standards, and not require much cleaning or maintenance. When the bullet goes down the barrel, the gases go through a gap and push back on the piston connected to the bolt carrier. Again, the bolt carrier cycles, ejects the spent cartridge, and loads a new one from a standard 30-round magazine or a 75-round drum. The AK-47 uses the 7.62mm x 39mm Com-Bloc round. Today, over 100 countries use the AK since it is cheap, reliable, and can be mounted with a variety of gadgets, stocks, and grips (though it's not as modular as an AR).

I've fired both AR-15's and AK-47's (all semiautomatic) in my target practice sessions, but only once have I fired a genuine, select-fire, fully-automatic M16 (owned by a gun range that I visit quite often). Full-auto firearms are very expensive, require registration, a $200 tax, percise federal paperwork, and a very long background check. In fact, they have to be made and put into the federal machine gun registry before May 19th of 1986 to even be available for civilian purchase and private ownership. Semiautomatic AR-15s and AK-47s are a lot cheaper and do not require the $200 tax or federal registration; just a form and a background check. I don't have the $20,000 for a transferable M16 gun or M16 registered lower receiver, but US gun laws are a story for another day.

I have a deep interest in the unbelievably violent history of mankind; unfortunately, I can't post the methods of torture and executions here because it'd be too graphic and my account would be banned.

Good point. If worst comes to worst, they can look it up on Google, but viewer discretion is advised on that route. No photos, videos, or graphic details on this forum. Torture can get pretty scary and nightmare inducing.

I like the guns of the wars for their history, their evolution in terms of design changes, engineering, and having a purpose other than anti-personnel defense. As an Aspie, I may be stirring up the pot (a cliche meaning to rally up attention on a potential controversial subject) by being a target shooter. But I want to show the world that we all are not a bunch of evil monsters or robots just because we aren't as social as someone without autism or Asperger's or that we like some objects that can be a taboo. It's a tough stigma to debunk, but I'm willing to do it. I shoot guns for fun, not to make myself look like Commando Kick-Butt nor some sort of thug. I have about five years experience, and I know and apply all of the cardinal rules of gun safety each and every time I handle a firearm, even if it's a toy gun, a BB gun, a paintball gun, or an airsoft gun.