I was wondering, how much ammo does an infantryman carry to battle for all types of guns from rifles to smg? Question also covers British and American infantryman.
Thanks,
Saaumm.:rolleyes:
Which war?
Which army?
Anything from 20 to 50 rounds was standard issue (when a standard issue was available) for Australian troops in WWII and, as I recall up to 60 rounds even in Vietnam when we had moved from repeater to semi-auto rifles, although many troops made their own arrangements for more.
I don’t know about Australia, but in Vietnam 120 I think was the standard for the M-16.
Deaf
That could well be right as the M16 had an automatic capacity and smaller, lighter rounds than the semi-auto Australian 7.62 L1A1 SLR.
i am pretty sure the ammount issued for the mauser is 25 cartidges. thats the germans ofcourse
Actually more like 60. Two ammo pouches with 6 clips (5 rounds) each.
Puh, that’s quite a bit. The Mauser ammo is pretty darn heavy, too…
So how much MP40 or StG44 ammo would they carry around with them? Considering how the weapons would fire a lot more rounds at once, but would also be lighter, it would have to be a good bit more? An uneducated guess on my part would be something around 90 - 120?
By the Cold War, about 210 rounds of 5.56mm was typical…
In WWII, combat loads varied of course. But I forget the exact amount US soldiers were issued in Torch and Italy. I want to say for the typical M-1 toting rifleman it was about 72 rounds with theoretically, hopefully more not far away…
i read in a book they were issued 25 cartridges being 5 clips but then again it was russia and supplies are short
MP40: six magazines with 32 rounds each = 192
StG44: six magazines with 30 rounds each = 180
Looks like my memory of 60 rounds being basic Australian issue in the Vietnam era might be wrong, as shown by this recollection by an infantryman who served there.
The standard weapon of the infantry soldier in Vietnam, the SLR (self loading rifle). The L1A1 is the Australian version of the Belgian FN FAL rifle. It entered into service with the Australian Army in 1959. The L1A1 was a reliable, hard-hitting, gas-operated, magazine-fed semi-automatic rifle, with a maximum battle range of 300 metres and a practical rate of fire of 20 rpm. It fired a 7.62mm long round. With a full 20 round magazine it weighed 4.96Kg. We generally carried 150-200 rounds of ammunition.
http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bobw/weapons.htm
Then again, my recollection of basic issue being 60 rounds might be correct, because I recall that I always thought that if I ever got up the sharp end I’d carry about two to three times the basic issue, which is in the range he says they actually carried.
As the quote comes from one of the last Australian units to serve in Vietnam, the rounds carried reflects a lot of experience since the mid-sixties on what the average grunt needed in the field, regardless of whatever the issue table said.
More on the Australian ammo carried in Vietnam, for a different battalion to the one in my last post and covering service during the Vietnam war.
L1A1 Self Loading Rifle (SLR) - semi auto - fired a 7.62mm standard NATO round - weight 10lbs - magazine capacity 20 rounds - range 300metres - standard issue weapon for all soldiers in the Australian Army. Very robust and dependable weapon. Each soldier carried at least 150 rounds each.
http://www.4rarmuseum.com/Unit%20Organisation.htm
The ammo was included in the grunt’s basic load (which I think I’d be struggling to lift off the ground now) which indicates distribution of MG ammo, MG spare barrel and other items.
A Typical Load carried by an Infantry Soldier.
Individual items of gear included, basic webbing harness, weapon and ammunition, a shell dressing, entrenching tool, machete, M26 grenade, nine full water bottles, five days rations, small stove and hexamine tablets for cooking, shaving gear, steel mug, shelter, lightweight blanket, hammock, spare socks and bayonet.
In addition each 10 man section shared a load of, 6 x 100 round belts for the M60 MG, spare barrel for the M60 MG, M49 flares, smoke grenades, white phosphorus grenades, grenade spigots and ballastite cartridges, claymore mines, detonating cord, plastic explosive, M79 rounds, M72 LAWs, spare radio batteries, torch, starlight scope night vision device, panel markers for identification to aircraft, binoculars, compass, maps, protractor, pace counter, strobe light, secateurs, medical kit, watches, codes and writing equipment.
Signallers carried the ANPRC Radio with spares batteries and handset and antennas.
Platoon medics carried a comprehensive medical kit.
http://www.4rarmuseum.com/Unit%20Organisation.htm
I’m a bit surprised by a Section carrying a Starlight scope as standard equipment in the field as I thought they were pretty high tech in their day and were kept to places, being mostly static or well defended positions, where they weren’t likely to be captured.
Vietnam (1964-1971): soldiers carried 5-7 days rations and 5-9 water bottles.
1 RAR (1965-66) – Mortar Platoon MFC with Radio Set AN/PRC 25, three days rations and four water bottles - 123 pounds (55.9 kg)
8 RAR (1969-70) -
Machine Gunner - 105 pounds (47.72 kg)
Platoon Commander - 80 pounds (36.35 kg)4 RAR (1971) - average loads of 77 pounds (35 kg) to 88 pounds (40 kg)
Radio Operators - loads of up to 105 pounds (47.7 kg), probably applied to machine gunners as well.
http://www.defence.gov.au/army/ahu/books_articles/Articles/The_Infantrymans_Load.htm
Hm, how well did the FN FAL/L1A1 perform in the Jungle setting anyway? Made by a Belgian producer, I’d be surprised if it was meant for that kind of climate?
It performed very well, as testified unfortunately by the many people it killed in Vietnam.
What it hit tended to stay hit, unlike the lighter M16 round at times.
A standard demonstration to recruits to give them confidence in the power of their weapon, which I experienced, was to have an instructor fire a round into a 44 gallon steel drum filled with water up the range. It caused sudden and spectacular damage to the drum, as it would to a human even though the human was not as constrained as the water was by the relatively thick steel.
The Australian version wasn’t produced in Belgium but at Lithgow in the State of New South Wales in Australia.
The weapon wasn’t complicated, apart from my clumsy experience of never being able to work out which gas setting worked best, and was easily field stripped on the fairly rare occasions it couldn’t fire.
There was no reason it couldn’t work as well in jungle, or perhaps more accurately the tropics, than anywhere else if properly maintained for its environment, which is the same for any other weapon.
The only aspect for a rifle in jungle that differs from other applications is length, because it’s close country, but in reality there’s not that much difference in most cases as shown by the fairly small reduction in length between the standard SMLE and the jungle carbine version,
Can you define just exactly you mean by “Spare Ammo”. I mean do you consider what is carried in the basic kit as Spare? The basic kit can be called a standard loadout. Or are you referring to how many bandoleers or ammo over and above what is carried in pouches or on a harness?
I heard they issued 60 in the civil war…
Well, but that’s for muzzle-loaders, so that’s plenty.
i dont think 60
u see the puchs they used to hold cartridges and there is deffinately not 60
Again, Riceman, you have to be careful. If I am correct in assuming that the 60 bullets refer to Muzzle loading rifles, the pouches they held are plenty. All it has to carry is a small round bullet of the size of a earplug at its largest.
The powder would be carried separately.
i am pretty sure there are in cases with powder and shot in paper