Vietnam and the 1973 Trapdoor

I was a gun nerd who came of age in the 1970s. My world was covered in a thin patina of Vietnam veterans. One of the most controversial aspects of this most controversial conflict was the sordid saga of the M16 rifle. The details placed a taint on the weapon it took a generation to overcome.

The particulars have filled books. We entered Vietnam with the M14, a nearly 4′, full-power .30-caliber infantry arm optimized for combat on the plains of Europe. Within the tight confines of the Vietnamese jungles, however, the M14 was unduly bulky and awkward. When facing troops armed with the superlative AK47 and SKS, Army leadership pressed for something better. They found the answer in, of all places, the U.S. Air Force

Melon Buster

The flamboyant Air Force General Curtis LeMay actually met the AR15 rifle at a picnic where he used an early version to explode a bunch of melons. I’ve done it myself. I get it. LeMay then used his clout to buy a whole pile of the sleek Space Age rifles for his wing nuts. Some Army green-suiter got all lustful, and Colt got filthy rich.

There were several issues with the sparkly new guns. Firstly, the bores and chambers were not chrome-plated, something that should have been a no-brainer for weapons deployed to what was essentially an enormous sauna. Additionally, in 1963, some rocket surgeon decided to switch from extruded IMR 4475 gunpowder to the ball-shaped WC 846 sort. WC 846 decreased chamber pressures and increased velocity. However, the stuff also boosted the M16’s rate of fire and was undeniably filthy. Add to this many troops were told the rifles should be maintenance-free and you have the recipe for disaster.

About 80% of troops surveyed reported they had experienced a failure of the M16 in combat. In some units, 30% of their weapons were down at a time. The primary issue was a corroded chamber and subsequent failure to extract. Troops began taping cleaning rods to their handguards so they could punch out stuck cases. This was obviously no way to fight a war.

Young troops related tragic tales of dead GIs alongside partially stripped weapons. Uncle Sam did what it took to make things right, and the M16 has now become the longest-serving infantry weapon in American history. I carried an M16A1 myself and swore by it.

While the tragic tale of the M16 was a blight on the American military, it was not the first. Nearly a century before, U.S. troops facing a determined enemy desperately struggled to clear their weapons and stay in the fight. The parallels between the two narratives are striking.

1876 Montana

We know it as the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The Plains Indians called it the Battle of the Greasy Grass. When the dust settled, George Armstrong Custer along with 267 of his men lay dead. The resounding defeat at the hands of what most Americans viewed as unwashed savages came as a rude shock.

George Custer was an enigmatic, flamboyant figure. He graduated 34th out of 108 in his West Point class and was promoted to Brigadier General at age 23. No matter your historical biases, that was an accomplishment. Besting J. E. B. Stuart at East Cavalry Field during the legendary scrap at Gettysburg established his tactical chops. At the end of the American Civil War, Custer took a demotion from Major General to Lieutenant Colonel and headed west to fight Indians.

George Custer took the field at the Little Bighorn alongside two of his brothers, a brother-in-law and a nephew. They all perished alongside five of his 12 cavalry companies. There is a reason the bloody fight eventually came to be known as Custer’s Last Stand.

The combined forces of the Northern Cheyenne, Arapaho and the Lakota Sioux numbered between 1,100 and 2,500 warriors. Against them were arrayed some 700 cavalrymen and sympathetic Indian scouts. In an uncharacteristic exhibition of poor judgment, Custer diluted his forces based upon poor intelligence and led his men into a trap. The deftly-led Indians annihilated the Army troops. The few Cav troopers who survived were subsequently tortured to death. The only verified survivor was Captain Myles Keogh’s wounded horse, Comanche.

Custer’s body was discovered having been shot through both the chest and head. Unlike most of the fallen, he had not been scalped. However, victorious Indian warriors had forced an arrow up his penis.

The Weapons

The Indian force was armed with an eclectic collection of small arms ranging from handmade bows up through state-of-the-art Winchester and Henry lever-action rifles. Smoothbore muzzleloading trade muskets found their way onto the Little Bighorn battlefield. Civil War-surplus Enfield and Springfield rifles were in attendance as well. There was also a smattering of Sharps and Spencer rifles.

Of the roughly 2,000 Indian warriors who participated in the battle, about one in 10 carried cutting-edge .44-caliber Winchester Model 1866 lever-action repeaters. Sitting Bull had seen to it that his forces stockpiled ammunition in anticipation of eventual conflict. Native American forces did not seem to suffer from any significant shortages.

The troopers of the 7th Cavalry were equipped with two standardized small arms. The 7.5″ Model 1873 Single Action Army revolver has become inextricably linked with this fight. Most all of the Cav troopers carried one of these Colts along with a basic load of 24 rounds of .45 Colt ammunition. Possession of a verified Little Bighorn Colt today would be a lovely start toward a proper 401k.

The Cavalry troopers’ long gun was the 1873 Springfield trapdoor carbine. A stubby carbine variant of the original 1873 Springfield infantry rifle, the Cav versions fired a slightly underloaded but otherwise standard .45-70 cartridge. While these carbine rounds sacrificed a bit in range, they produced less recoil and were easier to manage on horseback.

Custer himself purportedly carried a .50-caliber Remington sporting rifle alongside a pair of privately purchased revolvers. These guns were most likely double-action .442-caliber British Webley’s. Nobody knows what ultimately became of them.

Aftermath

Roughly 3.4% of the Army cartridge cases recovered from the Custer battlefield showed evidence of having been pried from jammed rifles. Those cleared with a cleaning rod or similar tool would obviously not exhibit such stigmata, so the actual percentage was likely higher. Military rounds were subsequently built around brass cases that were much more forgiving. We use the same stuff today. Additionally, upgraded carbines were eventually equipped with a three-piece cleaning rod stored in a buttstock compartment.

War is the most inhuman of human pursuits. The inevitable lessons learned often come at terrible cost. In Montana in 1876 and then nearly a century later in Vietnam, U.S. troops struggled to keep their guns in the fight. Horror stories from these experiences eventually drove fundamental changes in the weapons they carried. It seems history does indeed repeat itself.

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