I took this screencap from episode 1 of the Ken Burns Vietnam doc.

What do these guys have in their hands? They look odd to me.

Also note the guy in the center. The mag is at an odd angle compared to his buddy.

MAT-49?

Google suggests French MAT-49

Nailed it.

Remember it was a French mess before it was ours.

Lots of French guns over there still when we got involved.

Swedish K ?

Also used in Vietnam, but the folding magwell/grip is a MAT giveaway.

yep y'all are right MAT-49

All kinds of odd stuff got used over there. I'll try to dig up a pic of my favorite....can't remember if it was MACV-SOG or the SEALs but someone decided a sawed off RPD would make a really good addition to their squad.

There were some crazy gun trucks too. Russian, Chinese, French guns, the Vietnamese made some super sketchy blowback 1911 lookalikes, Aussies used FALs....only the African bush wars had a crazier mix of equipment.

Madman said:

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Also note the guy in the center. The mag is at an odd angle compared to his buddy.

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I think it's simply busted

CanyonAg77 said:

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Madman said:

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Also note the guy in the center. The mag is at an odd angle compared to his buddy.

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I think it's simply busted

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It's designed to fold forward, so likely not broken, just in between deployed and folded.

Is it possible then that the two men in the screen cap are not americans? Their uniforms don't really look 100% USA.

Nobody knows this really but the US fielded some FN FALS to special forces on a trial run. I know a green beret that shipped one back disassembled in a radio and speakers. Beautiful wood gun with flawless finish and a number of US eagle stamps in the receiver. It sat in the closet of his trailer house for years with the excuse of "yall cant shoot that because I don't even own a magazine for it". One day in highschool me and his son had finally had enough and picked up a couple mags at a gun show along with a battle pack of ammo and took it for a joy ride while he was away for work. That thing was almost useless in full auto. You'd be trimming tree limbs by the 3rd-4th shot. Put it back in its place and I don't think it moved again until his youngest daughters crackhead boyfriend stole all his guns a few years back for drug money. Gun belonged in a museum but its probably sitting in the bottom of a river.

Episode 1 of Ken Burns Viet Nam documentary covered the French involvement in what was referred to then as the Indochina war. The French army's defeat at Dien Bein Phu in 1954 resulted in Viet Nam being divided into North and South Vietnam.
During that war the Mat 49's was issued to French paratroopers and later adopted by anyone that could get their hands on one. The magazine could be folded forward prior to jump.I would bet the soldiers in that photo are French paras.

Found it!

Cut down RPD (this was something also done in Africa and you can find pics of Rhodisians using a similar set up, but I think the Green Berets/MACVSOG guys did it first).



In case you don't know what the heck an RPD is, it's a belt fed Soviet gun chambered in 7.62x39. Kind of like the M249 SAW that the US adopted later on.

That thing probably shot a fireball 3 feet long and God help anybody close to the muzzle without hearing protection.

schmellba99 said:

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That thing probably shot a fireball 3 feet long and God help anybody close to the muzzle without hearing protection.

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What???????

Alte Schule said:

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Episode 1 of Ken Burns Viet Nam documentary covered the French involvement in what was referred to then as the Indochina war. The French army's defeat at Dien Bein Phu in 1954 resulted in Viet Nam being divided into North and South Vietnam.
During that war the Mat 49's was issued to French paratroopers and later adopted by anyone that could get their hands on one. The magazine could be folded forward prior to jump.I would bet the soldiers in that photo are French paras.

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Yes, they are French paratroopers

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/571535008934949337/

BenderRodriguez said:

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Found it!

Cut down RPD (this was something also done in Africa and you can find pics of Rhodisians using a similar set up, but I think the Green Berets/MACVSOG guys did it first).



In case you don't know what the heck an RPD is, it's a belt fed Soviet gun chambered in 7.62x39. Kind of like the M249 SAW that the US adopted later on.

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Pre-Stoner 63?

BlueSmoke said:

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BenderRodriguez said:

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Found it!

Cut down RPD (this was something also done in Africa and you can find pics of Rhodisians using a similar set up, but I think the Green Berets/MACVSOG guys did it first).



In case you don't know what the heck an RPD is, it's a belt fed Soviet gun chambered in 7.62x39. Kind of like the M249 SAW that the US adopted later on.

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Pre-Stoner 63?

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That RPD barrel has been chopped. The 163rd MI had them at Ft Hood for OPFOR training back in the 70s on loan from the Army's Foreign Science and Technology folks. They were decent weapons, but costlier to produce and less reliable than the RPKs that replaced them as SAWs.

CS78 said:

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Gun belonged in a museum but its probably sitting in the bottom of a river.

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BlueSmoke said:

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Pre-Stoner 63?

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I don't know the history well enough to know when they were using what, so maybe?

But big internet points for being enough of a gun nerd to know about the Stoner 63.

Speaking of being a gun nerd, here's another oddball gun used in Vietnam by some SEALs.

H&K HK33?

I'd say FN FAL but the barrel doesn't appear long enough.I'll also go with HK 33.

AgTDub said:

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H&K HK33?

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Yep.

I mentioned Vietnamese made blowback 1911 copies.

Here's a video on them too.

Forgotten Weapons is really a gem for gun history nerds.

BenderRodriguez said:

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Forgotten Weapons is really a gem for gun history nerds.

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Agreed. I've been addicted "Gun Jesus" for a long time now.

I don't know if any of you guys listen to the Jacko podcast but this summer he had John Stryker Meyers on for three episodes with some amazing stories of SOG working in Laos. Meyers did three tours and the dedicated maybe an hour to talking about the weapons they used and the modifications they made. Including how to saw off an M79 so it weights as little as possible ie sawing it almost down to the break.

It's well worth the listen.